THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part One)

So…..the very large tasks of sharing the singles by The Fall and Pet Shop Boys have been completed.  I thought about now turning my attention to a singer or band whose output has been slightly less in number, but as you can see I’ve changed my mind.

The opening sentence of The Wedding Present discography page at wiki states:-

The Wedding Present’s discography consists of 54 singles, 17 extended plays, 9 studio albums, 24 live albums and 21 compilation albums.

It’s gonna be a long ride….and I hope you’re all up for it.

There’ll be a lot of things over the next year-and-a-bit lifted from previous witterings on the blog as so many of the 45s have been written about already.

It’s time to head back to  24 May 1985, and the very first single, and b-side, released on 7″ via the newly formed Reception Records.

mp3:  The Wedding Present – Go Out And Get ‘Em Boy
mp3:  The Wedding Present – The Moment Before (Everything’s Spoiled Again)

500 copies were pressed up.  Later in the year, it was re-released on City Slang Records, again in fairly limited numbers and with different artwork.  Both songs were later included on the compilation album Tommy, released in 1988.

In 2019, Optic Nerve Records brought out a fresh pressing of the  debut single, on white vinyl, and using the same sleeve as had been used on the Reception Records release.

As calling cards go, it’s not too shabby, although the lo-fi nature of the production kind of gives away that things were basic in the studio and money was tight.

The Wedding Present line-up back then was David Gedge (vocals, guitar), Peter Solowka (guitar), Keith Gregory (bass) and Shaun Charman (drums).  However, it’s not Shaun who is drumming on the a-side of the debut. He would later explain:-

“The reason why…..is because I couldn’t play the drums well enough, and thought it would be a better single if I got somebody else in – I still think so.  I asked Julian Sowa, the drummer of the band I played the bass in, to play for me.

“The b-side has a slow bit in the middle. The reason I could play that song is because it had the slow bit. I ran out of puff, had a bit of a rest and then launched into the second half of it.  That’s how the first single came about.”

JC