THE WEDDING PRESENT SINGLES (Part Sixty-Three)

The 1992 run of monthly singles included Flying Saucer and The Queen of Outer Space. It kind of felt inevitable that some sort of sci-fi title would find its way into the 2022 series, and so it proved for the November release:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Science Fiction (7″ version)

A break-up song. It’s also a ballad, of sorts, in that it begins very slow and quietly, but it then builds over the next few minutes in pace and noise. It’s rather beguiling, partly from the rather lovely backing vocal provided in places by Melanie Howard. It’s one of the tracks from the 2022 project that I enjoyed from the get-go, and indeed have grown increasingly fond of over the past six or so months, and that’s got a lot to do with a very enjoyable live rendition at last year’s Edge of The Sea festival, where it more than survived Melanie not being on stage to sing her part. The fact it was placed in the set list immediately after Corduroy and prior to My Favourite Dress towards the tail end of the gig, demonstrates just how much David Gedge thinks of it, and the fact it maintained the momentum of the show just highlights that it is a good tune.

The disappointing aspect of the 7″ version is that it fades out when there really was no need for it. The full-length version included on the later 24 Songs album/box set is just 18 seconds longer, and comes to a perfect halt, and so I’m kind of bemused as to why an edited version was issued.

The b-side is quite different in sound and tempo.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Plot Twist

There’s a catchy riff at the heart of the tune. Even after all this time, I can’t make my mind up if it is inspired or irritating. It’s a song which is unmistakably The Wedding Present with the sort of wry lyric about the end of a relationship that David Gedge has delivered on countless occasions over the decades.

But for once, he’s not at the centre of the tale….he’s very much an interested observer. There’s a couple of lines at the 2:15 mark, just after an instrumental break, which are guaranteed to bring a smile to one’s face.

They used to send each other Fall songs
She tried to teach him Spanish
But then he waited for much too long
She just seemed to vanish

We’ve all, at some point in our lives, sent mixtapes or the likes to someone we’ve been trying to impress in the would-be-love stakes. It wouldn’t really have occurred to me to include too many Mark E Smith compositions – he wasn’t really renowned for his romantic streak.

Next week will see the 64th and final part of the series. I hope you’ll tune in.

JC