THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Parts Twenty-Five and Twenty-Six)

I’m sure I read somewhere once upon a time that while David Gedge had no regrets about doing 12 singles in a year, he admitted to being relieved after the final recording session as the task had been more demanding from a songwriting perspective than he had anticipated.

The single released in November 1992 kind of reflects that.  It had only been a few months since Flying Saucer, a science-fiction inspired song, had been part of the series, but here was one on a similar theme.

mp3: The Wedding Present – The Queen Of Outer Space

I quite like this one.  It’s very reminiscent of some of my favourite bits on Seamonsters with the quiet-loud-quiet changes and there’s something of a shouty chorus too, a necessity to be heard above the loud guitars.  I’m not claiming it’s close to the top of any list of favourite 45s, but it’s one that I hear and think that it’s much better than I ever recall (if that makes any sense!!)  Here’s the promo, directed by Marco Posia.  By now, the limits of having small budgets are beginning to show, as it’s a variation on a theme of the band ‘performing’ in an unusual setting.

The previous sci-fi single had a sci-fi related cover. So did this one.

mp3: The Wedding Present -UFO

The theme tune from a UK science fiction series that was broadcast in 1970.  I don’t have too many clear memories of the show, and I certainly couldn’t recall the theme tune.  I’m guessing the show was aimed more at adults than kids, despite it coming from the same Gerry and Sylvia Anderson/ITC Entertainment stable as the puppet-led shows such as Joe 90, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlett, all of whose theme tunes I can still hum.

The Queen of Outer Space peaked at #23. It was a time of year when the number of new singles released each week gradually increased with eyes on the festive market sales.   Surely The Weddoes wouldn’t fall at the final hurdle?

mp3: The Wedding Present – No Christmas

Of course they didn’t, albeit this one, which was pressed on red vinyl, (all the others had been black vinyl), only hit #25 which was the second-lowest placing after Blue Eyes back in January.  It just shows the vagaries of the charts. Every single sold 10,000 copies, but their entry points varied between #10 and #26.

No Christmas must be up there among the bleakest festive songs ever composed. It opens in a very lo-fi and distorted fashion, and then about 30 seconds in, there’s a lyric, but it’s really low down in the mix, so it’s almost impossible to realise that David is singing:-

I wonder if you’re going to ask me why I lied
I wonder if you’re going to show you’re angry with me
I wonder if I could explain this if I tried
I wonder if I’m going to know when you forgive me

He sounds absolutely petrified.  Then there’s a single drum note and the song gets loud. That’s when the fear is replaced by desperation and an anguish which comes through in how the lines are sung.

When you forgive me, you forgive me, you forgive me
Will you stay with me, you stay with me, you stay with me?

And all those awful things you said at first
Don’t shout, I understand, you’re pretending to punish me
Well I’m listening, so do your worst
I don’t doubt that you’re mad but it can’t be ending

It can’t be ending, it can’t be ending, can’t be ending
You’re still pretending, still pretending, still pretending

Then it seems to come to be fading to an end about two and a half minutes in.  Indeed, the song apparently stops altogether, and then, like the scariest bits in a horror film, something jumps out of the shadows wailing helplessly:-

Don’t say we’ve reached the end; you can’t be right
For goodness sake, you must know I care about you
Please stay my best friend one more night
I couldn’t face another day alone without you

Alone without you, alone without you, alone without you
I care about you, I care about you, I care about you

Alone without you, alone without you, alone without you
I care about you, I care about you, I care about you

And then, after what seems like an eternity, it stops and the listener can draw breath.  There’s very few Wedding Present songs quite like this….it was a helluva way to bring the epic series to an end.  I really hope this was one of those where David used his imagination rather than leaning on real-life. 

Here’s the very claustrophobic but effective promo, directed by Philip Harder and Simon Blake.

The cover version couldn’t have been more of a contrast. 

mp3: The Wedding Present – Step Into Christmas

One of Elton John‘s jauntiest numbers.  Specifically (and cynically?) written in 1973 with the intention of being a perennial.  It might only have made #24 when released, but more than 50 years later, it has notched up well over a million sales and probably just as many again streams, with it hitting the Top 20 every year since 2017…..last year it reached #2!

The Weddoes attack it with great gusto…highlighting its pop credentials all the way through.  One of the things I most enjoy about it is that the final minute or so is given over to an acoustic guitar, which is deployed in a very similar way to the Albini version of Brassneck.

1992 was a year in which The Wedding Present became better known than ever before, thanks in part to the four Top of The Pops appearances and their single getting played once a month on chart rundown shows, but it’s difficult to judge whether it increased the fanbase. The fact that they no new material would emerge until 1994 makes it even harder to judge.

JC