THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Seven)

Debut album George Best, released in October 1987, had been a hit.   The end of year polls in most of the UK music papers had The Wedding Present listed high in one category or another, whether it was best new band, best indie band, best band or best album. 

But for one person, the year ended on a sour note as drummer Shaun Charman was asked to leave the band.  It has since been admitted by all concerned that it could have been handled better, and Shaun himself says that while he didn’t deal with it well at the time, he has come to accept it was for the better.

The situation was only made public in late-January 1988 along with the news that another UK tour with an as-yet unnamed drummer (who would turn out to be Simon Smith) was taking place the following month as a way of promoting a new single.  The three remaining members of the band were given the accolade of a front cover by the NME around the time the new single came out:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm

I’ve always felt this marked a bit of a turning point in the way the songs were recorded and presented, with David Gedge‘s vocals much more prominent in the mix than previously.  A sign perhaps that he was finally getting much more secure about his abilities as a wordsmith?

This one came out on 7″, 12″ and CD, marking the first time a single had been released on that format.  As usual, the 7″ had one b-side, but the other formats had additional songs.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Nothing Comes Easy
mp3: The Wedding Present – Don’t Laugh
mp3: The Wedding Present – I’m Not Always So Stupid

Nothing Comes Easy was an unusual number in that it was a bit slower-paced than just about anything the band had released prior to this point in time, and with a running length of almost four-and-half minutes, it was one of their longest songs.   The other two songs were everything that fans had come to expect, with the mix of fast and frantic guitars accompanying lovelorn lyrics. 

I never thought I could live here on my own
But then I guess everybody’s got to live somewhere
Four tins of paint made this our home
Oh, I got less on the walls than I got in my hair

When we moved in here the dog was still a pup
Oh do you remember the time he chewed those curtains that we found?
I laughed the day you put them up
The day you left, I tore them down

(from Don’t Laugh)

It’s fascinating to look back and see how prolific the band were in those early days.  This was already the seventh single and there had been one album – and by my reckoning it meant 28 different songs were already out there, of which just two were covers.  I could easily come up with two ICAs on this early material alone.

JC