THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Thirty-Five)

I finished off last week by referring to the February 2005 release of Take Fountain, the so-called ‘comeback’ record by The Wedding Present, their sixth studio album all told, but their first since September 1996.

It was perhaps a bit disappointing for all concerned that the album only reached #68 in the UK charts, which was a much poorer performance than any of the previous five efforts.  But then again, it performed way better than any of the three Cinerama albums that had been issued in the intervening years, as none of them cracked the Top 100.

I think that what makes it all the more disappointing is the fact that Take Fountain is an excellent record, packed throughout with great songs.  Sure, it is completely different in sound from the 80s and 90s ‘classics’, but David Gedge‘s songwriting skills and talents had matured considerably, and there was never really any chance of him churning out another set of tunes akin to George Best or Bizarro.

There is a (mostly) fine summary of the album over at allmusic, written by Andy Kelman:-

“From the start, Cinerama was not a drastic diversion from the Wedding Present. David Gedge rounded off whatever remaining edges were left in the Weddoes’ sound and developed a crack chamber pop group. Softer songs off Watusi and Saturnalia, such as “Catwoman,” “2, 3 Go,” and “Real Thing,” dropped hints.

Gedge’s gruff yelps vanished, replaced by bedroom whispers; roaring electric guitars were swapped out for delicate acoustic strums, with extensive use of strings, brass, woodwinds, and keyboards. After Cinerama released their first album, they began to sound more and more like the Wedding Present, to the point where the two groups were virtually indistinguishable from one another.

In 2004, Gedge and his associates began recording the fourth Cinerama album with Watusi producer Steve Fisk and resurfaced instead with the sixth Wedding Present album. To no surprise, Take Fountain sounds just like Cinerama and the Wedding Present. Opener “Interstate 5” gets it across right off the bat, its first six minutes an effectively repetitive chugging groove that shifts into a drifting hybrid of Ennio Morricone and John Barry for the final two minutes — a bracing zip up the West Coast turns into a restful gondola ride alongside an Italian village.

From then on, the album is populated by a range of three- to four-minute pop songs that you’re accustomed to hearing from Gedge. For every hushed, playful passage, there’s an explosive chorus, and for every verse dealing with some form of romantic frustration, there’s…a bunch of romantically frustrated verses. Most songs are of the standard that made Gedge one of the most loved indie figures of the ’80s and ’90s, though the bluntly sexual phrasings that repelled George Best/Tommy-era fans from Watusi, Saturnalia, and everything released by Cinerama remain. Take Fountain is a solid Wedding Present album, one that will satisfy those who have been following Gedge all along.”

While I take umbrage at his assertion that after Cinerama released their first album they began to sound more and more like the Wedding Present (a point of view which could easily be dismissed by reading all that strangeways has offered up on this blog in recent months), Kelman’s overall take is quite sound. 

One more single – a very low-key affair, was issued on CD, in October 2005:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Ringway to Seatac

Romantically frustrated indeed!!!

I’m thinking that the single was issued partly as a vehicle to finally release the one last song recorded during the Take Fountain sessions that hadn’t yet seen the light of day:-

mp3 : The Wedding Present – Shivers

No loud guitars or drums.  A slow and very resigned vocal delivery over what is almost a music-box style accompaniment.  More evidence that the musicians had gone into the Seattle studio prepared to make a Cinerama album.  And while it was mostly possible to re-arrange things so that everything now sounded like a TWP song, it just wasn’t feasible with Shivers.  It’s a real oddity, but one that has a certain amount of charm.

One other track was made available, but it was recorded separately and Dare Mason, who had been involved in all three Cinerama albums, is given a production credit.

mp3: The Wedding Present – American Tan

It’s a strange one.  There’s nothing remotely Cinerama-sounding about it, despite those involved in the production.  It’s only 95 seconds long, and it comes to a rather sudden stop, despite there having been a continuous lyric.  The lack of any instrumental break has me wondering if it was really a demo waiting to be worked up.  Either way, it’s kind-of TWP by numbers and I have no real strong feelings about it.

Next time around will see the series reach 2008….the year that the seventh studio album El Rey was released.  It’s a period of time when the TWP website makes no mention of any singles being released, but there’s three such items from 2008 listed on Discogs.   I’ll do my best to muddle through.

JC