Bittersweet

From his first recordings with Any Trouble and his run of fine albums with Christine Collister on through his solo career, Clive Gregson has built a reputation for writing fine pop tunes that deal with the joys and disappointments of love in a clever but compassionate manner, and 2011's Bittersweet makes it clear this hasn't changed a bit in the 30-plus years since he began making records. Gregson wrote all 14 songs on Bittersweet, as well as producing the sessions, playing all the guitar and keyboard parts, and handling the bass on six more, and his skills as a studio hand have only gotten better with the passage of time; this sounds as good as anything he's done since the '90s, and the laid-back but committed vibe of these recordings is a solid match for the material. He's also in good voice, singing with quiet confidence and a sure instinct for handling the drama of his stories. However, as a set of songs, Bittersweet is good but not great; the craft of Gregson's songs remains strong, but many of these tunes cover the same ground he's covered many times in the past. That's not to say they're bad, since Gregson seems physically incapable of writing a tune that isn't assembled with care and intelligence, but Bittersweet is almost too apt a title for this album: nearly every song here is a wistful look back on a romance that didn't work out or a meditation on a current relationship that could stand to be in better shape. Just as Picasso decided he should lay off the color blue for a while, it wouldn't hurt Clive Gregson to change up his stylistic palette for a while, and Bittersweet confirms he still has talent to spare, he just needs to find a few new stories to tell.