One of the bands who seemed to navigate the troubled waters of the grunge years quite well were British veterans Bad Company. Their chart success with ‘Holy Water’, this one ‘Here Comes Trouble’, plus the release of their 1993 live album and 1995’s ‘Company Of Strangers’ seemed to fly in face of popular opinion and music industry trends.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Bad Company
ALBUM: Here Comes Trouble
LABEL: Atco
SERIAL: 7 91759-2
YEAR: 1992
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Brian Howe – vocals * Mick Ralphs, Dave Colwell – guitar * Simon Kirke – drums * Felix Krish, Rick Wills – bass
Additional Musician: Luke Antonello – sax
TRACK LISTING: 01 How About That * 02 Stranger Than Fiction * 03 Here Comes Trouble * 04 This Could Be The One * 05 Both Feet In The Water * 06 Take This Town * 07 What About You * 08 Little Angel * 09 Hold On To My Heart * 10 Brokenhearted * 11 My Only One
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
During the early 90’s, it was a strange time for melodic rock acts/artists. The tide was on the way out, taking many out to sea; some never to be seen again, while some were waiting for the next king tide to sweep them back in to popularity once again.
One of the bands who seemed to navigate the troubled waters of the grunge years quite well were British veterans Bad Company. Their chart success with ‘Holy Water’, this one ‘Here Comes Trouble’, plus the release of their 1993 live album and 1995’s ‘Company Of Strangers’ seemed to fly in face of popular opinion and music industry trends.
Even more mystifying was the fact that Atco Records and East-West Records stuck with the band all the way through the grunge era. At the time, Bad Company was an easy sell to melodic rock fans devoid of genuine CD offerings. Remember, the timeframe was still pre-Internet and pre-online retailers.
Many indie and established artists found it difficult to get exposure on a global scale. Not so Bad Company, who were still successful on radio back then. Most of the songs were written by Brian Howe and producer Terry Thomas (8 of 11 songs).
The Songs
Leading out with ‘How About That’, this track made it into Billboard’s top 40 (#38). It’s a pretty cool song and easy to see why it made the charts. ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ is a really likeable track, great vocals from Brian, add some pumping bass and vocal choirs for effect.
The title track ‘Here Comes Trouble’ is an absolute copy-cat for material off Giant‘s ‘Time To Burn’ album also released in 1992. ‘This Could Be The One’ was the second single lifted from the album, the logical follow-on from their previous hit ‘If You Needed Somebody’ (from ‘Holy Water’). It’s very similar in style.
‘Both Feet In The Water’ was more of a band contribution songwriting wise, and seems to be true to the earlier style of the band. It’s back to the Howe influenced strains for ‘Take This Town’ which pumps away similarly to the first track ‘How About That’, which is a good thing right?
‘What About You’ drops into mid-tempo mode, it has a shuffly drum beat which makes this one sound more pop than rock. ‘Little Angel’ has a melodic southern feel, think Tangier with a different singer. Pretty cool chorus too.
‘Hold On To My Heart’ sounds like a powered up version of The Outfield, the structure of the song is very much like Tony Lewis’ mob, while ‘Brokenhearted’ takes the ‘power’ term up another notch. Howe sings tough on this one.
For something out of the ordinary, ‘My Only One’ was written and sung by Simon Kirke. It shows a different aspect to Bad Company, and is a welcome addition to the album.. in fact, it’s AWESOME! It’s a pity Simon and Mick didn’t provide more material like this on this and the prior album.
In Summary
After the success of the ‘Holy Water’ tour during 1991, things weren’t quite up to the same level for the ‘Here Comes Trouble’ tour. It’s since been revealed that there was friction in the BC camp, to the point that Howe nearly walked away from the band mid-way during the ‘Holy Water’ tour.
Beyond 1992, the following years first major and ‘official’ live album ‘What You Hear Is What You Get’ featured material from both the Paul Rodgers and Howe era’s.
The 1993 live album was some 20 odd years after their arrival onto the scene. ‘A long time between drinks’ as they say, considering the band has since released 6 live albums from 2002 onwards (check RateYourMusic). Anyone with half a brain would accuse the band of profiteering without releasing any new product since 1995/96!
‘Here Comes Trouble’ would be the last studio appearance for singer Brian Howe who by this time had decided enough was enough, as he doing most of the songwriting work with no real contribution from Ralphs or Kirke.
Howe’s spot was eventually taken by former Distance lead singer Robert Hart; also an accomplished solo artist in his own right. The band have undergone further personnel changes into the 21st century, which you can read about on Wikipedia, or the band’s own website.
Bad Company on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
