The next single, released in June 2000, was the subject of a previous post on this blog some two years ago. It’s cut’n’paste time, with no apologies!!

Between 1998 and 2004, David Gedge took a break from The Wedding Present and instead released music under the name of Cinerama.

In essence, it was a duo of the great man (on his releases he was known by his full name of David Lewis Gedge) and his then-girlfriend Sally Murrell, augmented by guest musicians. The initial songs were a long way removed from the guitar-driven indie-pop of TWP, and instead were often heavy on strings, keyboards and lush instrumentation. Lyrically however, they didn’t stray too far away from the subject matters that Gedge is such a master of – the joys of love, lust and romance, the misery of infidelities and heartbreak and the utter pleasure of revenge. Oh and there was also the occasional belter of a cover version.

Their fourth official single is an absolute masterpiece.

As you’ll hear, it is one of the songs about infidelity. What I love about this lyric is how the protagonist spends the first two and half minutes detailing all the nagging doubts about cheating on his girlfriend, even as he climbs the stairs to a bedroom. And then…….

…….he utters “But don’t close the door because I’m still not sure.”, after which there is a gap as he makes his mind up. A gap that is about two seconds in length…………….just long enough to let the listener know he’s feeling guilty but just short enough to let the listener know that lust has again triumphed over love.

Song writing of the raw and brutal variety.

mp3 : Cinerama – Wow

The CD single was released back in 2000, and thanks to the production involving Steve Albini, it’s not a million miles removed from the brilliance of Seamonsters, the classic 1991 LP by TWP. I reckon its one of the best songs David Gedge has ever penned. And the b-sides are rather good as well:-

mp3 : Cinerama – 10 Denier
mp3 : Cinerama – Gigolo

Later on, there was also a near seven-minutes-long extended version of the single made available on the LP Disco Volante on which the five-piece band were backed with additional musicians on flute, cello, violin, trumpet, french horn and accordion.

mp3 : Cinerama – Wow (extended version)

Magnifique.

The solution to the problems with record labels? Set up your own…….

And thus Scopitone Records was established in 2000 for the specific purpose of releasing records by Cinerama (actually, it was initially all CD based releases as that was the way the music industry had gone at the turn of the century).

First up was TONECD 001, released in February 2000:-

mp3 : Cinerama – Manhattan

Another epic and rich ballad from the prespective of a man caught between two loves. It was backed by two other songs:-

mp3 : Cinerama – London
mp3 : Cinerama – Film

His old band had of course been famed for tackling cover versions in ways that the songs sounded nothing like the original. And in 99% of the cases, he and TWP had pulled it off in style. Here’s the proof that he hadn’t lost that particular skill. London, for those of you who don’t know, is a fantastic take on a Smiths b-side. It is slowed down to a crawling pace where the original had been among the most frantic and energetic tunes that Johnny Marr had penned.

Film is another quality b-side in keeping with what we had been provided in the earlier singles on Cooking Vinyl.

Having said that, I prefer the version that had been recorded the previous year for a Peel Session:-

mp3 : Cinerama – Film (Peel Session)

Enjoy.

As mentioned last time out, 1999 was a year in which Cinerama were unable to release anything in the UK. They weren’t total strangers though, as John Peel continued to expresses his support with regular appearances on his show including a live acoustic performance from Peel Acres on 6 May in which two songs were broadcast. This was followed by a Peel Session which aired on 2 November 1999 while the band also played at the DJs 60th birthday party in August with the songs broadcast later in the year.

A single was recorded for the Madrid-based label Elefant Records, and issued via a limited edition 7″ on pink vinyl:-

mp3 : Cinerama – Pacific
mp3 : Cinerama – King’s Cross

By now, the duo of David Gedge and Sally Murrell had expanded into a five-piece band with the addition of Simon Gleave, Terry de Castro and Simon Pearson on guitar, bass and drums respectively.

Pacific is a tremendous, almost long-lost record with a lead vocal from Sally Murrell. It was as far from the sound of The Wedding Present as could be imagined. The Peel listeners loved it enough to vote it in at #13 in the annual Festive Fifty.

The debut single from July 1988 was followed with the debut album the following month.

Va Va Voom contained 11 songs and sixteen different musicians made some sort of contribution on others. It was a courageous move with cellos, violins, flutes, oboes and trumpets alongside the standard guitar/bass/drums and keys. Emma Pollock was on board again, this time as a co-vocalist to the track Ears which many thought would make a great single.

Instead it was the most radio-friendly number that was selected for release in October 1998:-

mp3 : Cinerama – Dance Girl Dance

This time, it came out as a CD single with two additional and otherwise unavailable b-sides:-

mp3 : Cinerama – Crusoe
mp3 : Cinerama – Model Spy

The first of these is truly extraordinary and one of the strangest things that David Gedge ever recorded. The tune was written by the English composer Robert Mellin as the theme to the TV series Robinson Crusoe which first aired in the UK in the mid 60s but was repeated constantly during school holidays for about a decade. Our songwriting hero took the tune and added lyrics to produce one of his great numbers about being on the wrong side of infidelity.

The second is an instrumental…..and is a tribute, to my ears, to the theme tunes of so many of the classic 60s and 70s cop/spy/mystery shows.

So by the end of the year, Cinerama had announced themselves with 17 distinctive songs quite unlike anything that had come via The Wedding Present. But just as they got ready to build on that success, there were problems with the record label and there wouldn’t be any more music officially released in the UK till early 2000….

I wrapped up writing the singles series on The Style Council a couple of weeks before it appeared on the blog and so I’ve had a bit of time to mull over who should be put under the singles spotlight next.

And I’ve decided it should be Cinerama.

For those who don’t know, the group came into being as a result of David Gedge deciding he wanted a new sound that was different from the guitar-pop he had been making with The Wedding Present. His new band started as a duo with his then-girlfriend Sally Murrell. Lyrically, it was still everything we had come to love about TWP and the music, once you got used to the idea of him composing complicated arrangements with strings, woodwind and all sorts, was delightful and immensely enjoyable to listen to.

The debut single appeared in July 1988 on the Cooking Vinyl label in the shape of 2×7″ singles and a CD single, each of which had a different and high quality b-side (the CD actually had two extra tracks). It was a very impressive way to announce yourself, but the single only reached #71 in the charts….which was never bettered by any of the subsequent singles:-

mp3 : Cinerama – Kerry Kerry
mp3 : Cinerama – 7X
mp3 : Cinerama – Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
mp3 : Cinerama – Love
mp3 : Cinerama – Au Pair

And yup,the co-vocalist on Love is none other than Emma Pollock, who was at the point in time one-quarter of The Delgados but is now of course a very well established solo artist.

The smoothless transition from one band to the next, and its acceptance by fans, can be evidenced by the fact that Kerry Kerry was voted in at #15 on the John Peel Festive Fifty for 1998.

I stated yesterday that today’s posting would look at covers recorded by Cinerama…and I’m going to be as good as my word.

Peel Session 2 : recorded 15 August 1999, broadcast on 2 November 1999

mp3 : Cinerama – Elenore

A cover of a 1969 single by The Turtles; the song has a very interesting back story as it was composed as a riposte to the band’s record label who were desperate to be given a happy-go-lucky pop song in the style of the #1 hit Happy Together.

Peel Session 3 : recorded 13 May 2001, broadcast on 24 May 2001

mp3 : Cinerama – Yesterday Once More (Peel Session)

There’s no doubt that the young David Gedge listened to the radio waiting for his favourite songs to sing along.  So it’s no real surprise that this 1973 single by The Carpenters became one of the dozens of covers he’s recorded over the years

Peel Session 6 : recorded 27 November 2003 , broadcast on 6 January 2004

mp3 : Cinerama – Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)

The smash hit club/dance single from 2003 is turned into a real heart-tugger of a love song, so much so it sounds like a Gedge original

b-side of Manhattan single, 2000

mp3 : Cinerama – London

In which the frantic and electric Morrissey/Marr composition is given a very fine and melodic makeover.

b-side of Superman single, 2001

mp3 : Cinerama – Yesterday Once More

Every sha-la-la-la, every whoa-o-whoa (etc)

b-side of Health and Efficiency

mp3 : Cinerama – Diamonds Are Forever

Well, if the call from the Bond folk to compose an original ain’t gonna come then you’re as well to show them what they’re missing.

Enjoy

 

 

Between 1998 and 2004, David Gedge took a break from The Wedding Present and instead released music under the name of Cinerama.

In essence, it was a duo of the great man (on his releases he was known by his full name of David Lewis Gedge) and his then-girlfriend Sally Murrell, augmented by guest musicians. The initial songs were a long way removed from the guitar-driven indie-pop of TWP, and instead were often heavy on strings, keyboards and lush instrumentation. Lyrically however, they didn’t stray too far away from the subject matters that Gedge is such a master of  – the joys of love, lust and romance, the misery of infidelities and heartbreak and the utter pleasure of revenge. Oh and there was also the occasional belter of a cover version.

The fourth single is an absolute masterpiece.

As you’ll hear, it is one of the songs about infidelity. What I love about this lyric is how the protagonist spends the first two and half minutes detailing all the nagging doubts about cheating on his girlfriend, even as he climbs the stairs to a bedroom. And then…….

…….he utters “But don’t close the door because I’m still not sure.”, after which there is a gap as he makes his mind up. A gap that is about two seconds in length…………….just long enough to let the listener know he’s feeling guilty but just short enough to let the listener know that lust has again triumphed over love.

Song writing of the raw and brutal variety.

mp3 : Cinerama – Wow

The CD single was released back in 2000,  and thanks to the production involving Steve Albini, it’s not a million miles removed from the brilliance of Seamonsters, the classic 1991 LP by TWP. I reckon its one of the best songs David Gedge has ever penned. And the b-sides are rather good as well:-

mp3 : Cinerama – 10 Denier
mp3 : Cinerama – Gigolo

Later on, there was also an near seven-minutes-long  extended version of the single made available on the LP Disco Volante on which the band were now a five-piece, backed with additional musicians on flute, cello, violin, trumpet, french horn and accordion.

mp3 : Cinerama – Wow (extended version)

Wow is a word I expect t0 be using a lot over the next 10 days or so.  Just a matter of hours after this post is published I will be boarding a plane and crossing the Atlantic. My eventual destination is Hilton Head Island in South Carolina where I will playing a lot of golf in the company of some great friends, including occasional TVV contributor Mr John Greer.

Mostly it will be the scenery which leads to the use of the word but hopefully I will also be able to utter it after the occasional spectacularly good hit of the golf ball.

In the meantime, TVV will continue in my absence with the usual weekend and S-WC features interspersed with a short run of old reposts from the old blog before normal service resumes on 14 May.