El Rey was released at the end of May 2008. It contained 11 tracks, but rather annoyingly, there was a 12th track made available but only through a download via the ITunes store.
The CD was purchased. And for the first time since The Wedding Present had ‘reconvened’, I found myself rather underwhelmed. Looking back, my expectations were far too high, thinking that El Rey, with the involvement of Steve Albini, was going to be Seamonsters Mark 2. It does have a number of more than very decent moments, but overall it doesn’t quite have the consistency of most other albums.
As mentioned last week, the album was preceded by a digital release of The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend. I was certainly anticipating a physical release for any future singles to be taken from the album, but that’s not how it turned out. I genuinely can’t recall if there was a digital download made available for this one, but there was a promo video put out for fans to enjoy
mp3: The Wedding Present – Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk
Track 8 on El Rey, and one that was co-written by guitarist Chris McConville who had joined back in 2006 but was soon to leave again after the promotional activities around touring El Rey were completed at the end of 2009. It’s the sort of song you could imagine Cinerama writing and recording, not least for all the references to Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the song title being akin to a line spoken in that film by Holly Golightly, played memorably by Audrey Hepburn.
Later in the year, a box set called How The West Was Won was issued by Vibrant Records. If you want to buy a second-hand copy via Discogs, it is listed under the singles section of music by The Wedding Present. If you head to the band’s website, it is listed under the albums section. No wonder it is proving awkward to keep track of what should be curated as a single for this particular series.
My rule of thumb is that EPs should be included. How The West Was Won contained four separate CDS, each being called as EP, and each with four tracks. The first of them saw the first physical non-promotional release of the ‘Girlfriend’ EP, while the second was called the Don’t Take Me Home Till I’m Drunk EP.
In addition to the album version of the song, there was an acoustic take and a remix, which was the work of the song’s co-writer, Chris McConville:-
mp3: The Wedding Present -Don’t Take Me Home Till I’m Drunk (acoustic version)
mp3: The Wedding Present – Don’t Take Me Home Till I’m Drunk (Team Wah Wah remix)
The former is, again, what you’d fully expect from its description. The latter has all sort of instrumentation and technical gadgetry thrown at it. It’s certainly different, but it really acts as a reminder that TWP songs don’t really benefit from any sort of radical type of remix.
The EP contained one entirely new song.
mp3: The Wedding Present – Pinch, Twist, Pull, Release
There’s no production credits given within the box set, so I’m not sure if this was one that was worked up in the Chicago studio with Steve Albini or at a separate session – the band had been in a couple of studios prior to making the trip to Chicago. It’s kind of TWP by numbers, but I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. It’s a slow, brooding and sad number, with quiet and loud moments throughout, with the protagonist trying hard to explain why this particular relationship has come to an end. It wouldn’t have been out of place on many an album, and feels as if it was kind of wasted by being tucked away on this EP.
I’ll return again to How The West Was Won next Sunday.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I’m with you, JC. Although an EP could be argued to be a standalone format it generally acts as a promotional item for an LP or fills a gap between LPs. I always enjoyed 12″ EPs which when buying such a long time ago felt like value for money.
Still enjoying this series and learning lots.
Flimflamfan
Some weird marketing really – no official singles, but a box set of CD singles instead. I think this was a period when no one really knew what to do with singles for anyone other than ultra-mainstream chart acts, and even then it was a transitional stage between physical and digital.
My favourite track off El Ray wasn’t released as a single – Spiderman On Hollywood still makes me smile with its opening couplet:
“I thought I saw a superhero, but it was Spiderman on Hollywood
I thought I saw a supermodel, but she had hair where I don’t think she should.”
Although we’re far past the point when I was listening to the band regularly, this series is always a great read. Terrific stuff, JC!
Another super read. But I don’t envy you having to navigate this era, JC – not regarding its quality – but more for the ‘is it, isn’t it?’ nature of the singles release that you comment on so well.
I’ve always liked ‘Pinch, Pull, Twist, Release’, largely for the sheer plain-talking of the chorus. Has anyone ever been dumped via such an unvarnished, sugar-free statement?
Strangeways