Over the last five years or so the UK music scene has been awash with spiky-riffed, sharp-quipping Northern indie-pop outfits. Since Alex Turner first transferred Mike Skinners bar-propping observational witticisms to a guitar loving (read; wider) audience, a hundred scruffy haired frontmen from bands like Milburn, The Pigeon Detectives, The Fratellis and The Courteeners have been vying for our attention with their quasi-cynical tales of struggling to be cool in stereotypically uncool Northern towns. Some, it has to be said, have fared better than others.

Little Man Tate are one of the bands who do it rather well. Their 2007 debut About What You Know was full of sneering putdowns and dripping with punchy one liners and gruff riffs. But the whole thing was delivered with a contrasting Northern optimism that on occasions manifested itself as cheekiness. A cheekiness that prompted parts of the music press to label them as laddish pub-rock. Despite a thriving fanbase, commercial success was less forthcoming and after parting company with V2 records Little Man Tate have reinstated their own Yellow Van label to bring out the follow up through a distribution deal with Brighton based Skint.

Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy is a case of same again, but with more distant poles. When this record peaks it far outstrips anything achieved by About What You Know, but when it dips, well…... The album gets off to a blistering start, the Oasis referencing, Money Wheel, with it’s addictively circular chorus and light hearted cynicism, feels like the song Reverend and The Makers wasted an album trying to make and is surely a single-in-waiting. What Your Boyfriend Said, may sound like a Pigeons Detectives title and it does steer itself lyrically towards Bowman territory with it’s imagery of cheating partners hiding under stairs but it’s delivered with an intensity that the feathered sleuths haven’t conjured up since the mammoth I’m Not Sorry and finishes with a Hey Jude inspired chant-along.

These two crackers however, just act as a pre-cursor for She Looks Like Audrey Hepburn. Easily the best thing the Sheffield four piece have come with up so far, this is blessed with a pounding bassline, bittersweet lyrics and high-soaring, life affirming choruses. It’s the kind of song that demands you throw your arm around the person next to and sing along with heads tipped back and arms outstretched.

Shot at Politics maintains the pace if not the intensity of the first three tracks, and by the time you finish track four you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve bought one of the best records of the year.

And then comes the dip. On Hey Little Sweetie, Windle's vocals overshoot the cheekiness boundary and delve headlong into a creepiness that isn’t aided by one of the most annoyingly repetitive and lyrically wince-inducing choruses you’ll hear all year. And from there, the album never quite climbs back to its earlier greatness. Placed immediately after such a shock to the system, it’s difficult to listen to the perfectly pleasant ballad Joined By an iPod without reading its sweetness cynically. (Although taken on its own merit it becomes infinitely more enjoyable). Face on a Wall and A Little Heart are decent enough fillers but would have been equally suited as uninspiring B-sides and whilst both the reflective Back of the Pub Quiz and London Skies, London Eyes allude to greatness again with giant sweeping choruses they would’ve be so much better were they not lacking the solid verses that should back them up. The less said about experimental closer, Shoulder to Cry On, the better.

All in all, Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy is a solid enough album of drinking buddy songs that sits somewhere between the cheekiness of the Pigeon Detectives and the catchiness of Kaiser Chiefs. Rattling along at enjoyable pace it forms an admirable follow up to About What You Know which demonstrates a modest lyrical progression whilst maintaining the boyish charm and upbeat energy that won the band a cult following. While it’s stand out moments ought to be good enough to provide a couple of hits and enlarge the fan base further, at times it’s clashing influences leave you wondering if there is a sound out there that is Little Man Tate’s and Little Man Tate’s alone. If they can find that sound and a little more consistency there’s still great things to come.

For now it doesn’t matter, they’ve succeeded where so many of their peers have failed and produced a second LP that’s at least worth listening to.

Reviewed by WINSTON’S ZEN for AltSounds