THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Thirty-Two)

We’ve now reached 1997.   The Wedding Present had been on the go for almost 12 years.  1996 had been a frantic one, thanks to almost 100 live shows and the release of a new studio album, all while bedding-in a new guitarist.

January 1997 saw three dates in England In Portsmouth, London and Liverpool, a short burst of activity to support the release of a new 45:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Montreal

A quiet and reflective number lifted from Saturnalia.  It was one of the highlights of the album, and again offered evidence that not all TWP songs sound the same.

It was released across 2 x 7″ singles, along with a CD version, all of which offered up different b-sides.  This multi-format approach would have been a factor in helping the single reach #40, by far the best chart position since December 1992.

7″ single : FRY 053

mp3: The Wedding Present – Project Cenzo

Another of the tracks on which past-member Darren Belk is given a co-writing credit.  It’s one of the louder, rockier numbers in the entire TWP canon, during which David Gedge speaks a fair part of the vocal. 

The spoken part is in fact taken, word for word, from the opening narration of The Parallel, episode 11 of season 4 of the sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, originally broadcast on 14 March 1963.   It all makes for an unusual and intriguing song, one that I didn’t know anything about until I picked up, probably around 2006, a second-hand copy of Singles 1995-1997, a CD compilation released on Cooking Vinyl in 1999.

Cenzo?  Well, the band throughout 1996 had worked with Cenzo Townshend, one of the most prolific producers/engineers of the era, who has 800 credits to his name on Discogs.

7″ single: FRY 053X

mp3: The Wedding Present – Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Theme From Cheers)

The comedy series, which ran from 1982-1993, was very funny back in the day, but as with many TV and film comedy offerings, a lot of the humour hasn’t dated well. Maybe David Gedge was a fan – it’s the only treason I can think of as to why he went for this particular cover.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s a novelty that is thankfully all done and dusted in two minutes flat.    I know, however, that some regular readers of the blog don’t agree with my take on things.

CD single: FRYCD 053

mp3: The Wedding Present – Sports Car (acoustic version)
mp3: The Wedding Present – My Favourite Dress (live at Sound City, 1996)
mp3: The Wedding Present – Brassneck (live at Reading, 1996)

The first of these revisits one of the tracks from MIni, but in a clever way, changing the narrative somewhat thanks to the lead vocal being taken by Jayne Lockey.  Her delivery is really well suited to the acoustic take on the tune.  It also paved the way for what has become my favourite version of the song,  recorded for the Locked Down and Stripped Back album of 2001, on which the wonderful and now sadly departed bassist, Melanie Howard took the lead.

The two live recordings do exactly as they say on the tin.  The former is from the evening of 12 April in Leeds, while the latter was recorded on the afternoon of 25 August at the annual festival, and was one of the first live shows in which Simon Cleave had been involved.

And with that, we have reached the end of Phase 1 of the singles recorded and released by The Wedding Present….not that anyone knew that was the case back then.

David Gedge felt he needed a short break from band activities, initially thinking he would write some stuff on his own using samplers and sequencers.  He imagined it would be a short-lived thing.  As it turned out, The Wedding Present went on a hiatus until 2005, and it was under the name of Cinerama that the frontman would record for an eight-year period.

And starting next week, and for the next few months, this Sunday slot will be taken over by a guest contributor who will offer up some facts, info and opinions on all the 45s released by Cinerama.

JC