Category: Wedding Present

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

# 106: The Wedding Present – ‘Once More’ (Reception Records ’85)

Dear friends,

‘Don’t Try And Stop Me, Mother’ was a 12“ compilation of the first two 7“ singles by The Wedding Present, their A-Sides and B-Sides. Also, it was the first record by the band that I managed to get my hands on in 1985.

You know, I really made a long pause before starting this second paragraph, contemplating whether there has been another record in 1985 which spent nearly as much time on my turntable as this one did. I did not come up with a satisfying answer, which might or might not show you how outstandingly brilliant this 12“ was. And still is, of course! I played it to death, believe me, frantically trying to figure out what the hell the lyrics might mean in detail – to no great avail, of course. I mean, the boy Gedge certainly was not really ‘Abba-esque’, that much I could understand, in fact his lyrics quite profoundly seemed to mirror me and my unmet teenage desires … something I could instantly cope with, of course.

But back to the 12“, the B-Side, confusingly enough, featured the first single, ‘Go Out And Get ‘Em Boy!‘ plus ‘(The Moment Before) Everything’s Spoiled Again’ whereas the A-Side had the second single on it, which was ‘Once More’ backed by ‘At The Edge Of The Sea’. I’m pretty sure all of you know all these tunes by heart and as great as both 7“ B-Sides are, the A-Sides are even better.

Now, from 1985 to 2025 is 40 years, even it’s hard to believe. But still, and I am brutally honest, in those 40 years, even up to this very day, I never, never, never have been able to decide whether ‘Go Out’ is better than ‘Once More’ … or vice versa! To me, both songs are total killers, always were – and they were the reason why I followed The Wedding Present quite religiously in the earlier stages of their career. Well, this 12“ and the fact that the band played my home town Aachen a year or so later, shortly after ‘George Best’ had been released. It was a tiny little venue, I was there early, and I stood right in front of the stage (which was just a few inches in height anyway, but let’s call it ‘stage’ nevertheless, shall we?) – and I was fully, completely and utterly blown away by this gig!

Musically and/or song-wise it really had everything you’d wish for, but in hindsight there was another thing which astonished me most: the sheer velocity Gedge and Salowka (but mostly Gedge) managed to strum their guitars with: I remember that I stood there literally open-mouthed, my eyes were not capable to follow Gedge’s hand, it moved just so damn quickly when he started playing … you’d see him placing his plectrum correctly – and then, all of a sudden, his hand exploded above the strings!

Perhaps my battered brain likes to believe that he was even faster with this when doing ‘Once More’ in comparison to ‘Go Out’, I don’t know. But as there can only be one single in the box by a band, I had to make a choice:

 

mp3: The Wedding Present – Once More

Mind you, on a different day it could well have turned out to be ‘Go Out’, I’m still unsure! Or, for that matter, basically anything they put out before ‘Kennedy’. Or ‘Kennedy’ itself, for what it’s worth …

Fun fact: some twenty years ago I was in a Peel-related Yahoo forum and out of the blue I got a private mail from Gedge, asking about some CD I had of some specific Peel show – I must have mentioned it in said forum. I could be wrong, but I think it was the last broadcast before his death. Anyway, I posted a copy of this CD to Gedge and he – very kindly – asked me whether he could send me something from ‘Cineramaland’ (his words, not mine) in return. I politely declined and told him about the above gig, saying that with this experience – and of course everything he did with The Wedding Present – he made my life rich enough. What a prick, me, right? I’d like to think that this statement was the reason for him to reform The Wedding Present, but hey, I might be wrong here … oh, I’m a friend of the stars!

Enjoy,

 

Dirk

 

George Best, the debut album from the Wedding Present, was released in November 1987.  Among its twelve tracks were two songs that had previously been released as singles – My Favourite Dress (February ’87) and Anyone Can Make A Mistake (October ’87) – although it must be pointed out that the album version of My Favourite Dress was a different recording.

The album was a relative success, reaching #47 in the charts, which wasn’t too shabby given it was issued on Reception Records, the band’s own label and there wasn’t a huge amount of money set aside for marketing and promotion beyond basic adverts in the UK music papers.  Bands on major record labels would probably have found themselves being in the situation of being asked to lift another single from the album, maybe a month or six weeks after its initial release, as a way of giving sales a further shot in the arm.

This would have been counterproductive for TWP in that most, if not all their fan base, would have already likely purchased the album, while there was also the risk of the music press turning against the band with the accusation of ripping off said fans – at the very least there would have been missives from disgruntled punters printed in the letters section, regardless of whether such letters were genuine or the figment of the imaginations of journalists seeking to start a row.

It meant that Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm, the band’s next single, released in January 1988, was a previously unreleased song.

Which also means the world was denied this bona fide classic ever being made available as a stand-alone 45:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – A Million Miles

It’s that rare TWP thing from that era – a storyline in which the male protagonist gets the girl.   It kind of is like a fairytale, given that for most of us, the scenario which  plays out in How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths (so you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own) was surely far more common than catching the eye of someone who not only returns a smile but is soon happy to chat with you and to agree to your suggestion that you walk her home given the absence of the friend she had come along with.

And the middle verse of the protagonist excitedly calling a friend all about it, possibly the next morning…..genius!

It is a delightful song in every possible sense of the word, lyrically and musically.  Almost forty years on, it remains one of the most popular TWP songs of them all, and is still aired to great effect in the live shows. It would have been a great single, but it wouldn’t have made the mainstream charts.

 

JC

From wiki:

Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California. With roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020, Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind only New York City; it is also the commercial, financial and cultural centre of Southern California. Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate, an ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a metropolitan area of 13.2 million people. Greater Los Angeles, which includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18 million residents.

And, all being well, soon to be the temporary home of this blog for the next 10 days.

This is our myself and Rachel’s third attempt at visiting LA as the guests of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer and his wife, Goldie the Friendly Therapist, at their family home in Santa Monica. The first was supposed to be as long ago as 2020 but was postponed due to the travel/lockdown restrictions imposed by COVID.  The second was last year, but it was called off at less than 24 hours notice after I took ill and ended up in hospital with a kidney infection.

As I said last year, I’d never have imagined back in 2007 when I got the blog up and running that so many new and wonderful people would come into my orbit.  I’ve been incredibly lucky to have met many of them over the years. We hooked up with Jonny and Goldie in Barcelona a few years back when they took a trip to Europe.  We all promised one another that we’d meet up again.  It is finally happening (fingers crossed) and I can’t say enough about the generosity of Jonny and Goldie for inviting us into their home for such an extended period of time.

There are a couple of gigs in the schedule, including The Wedding Present‘s final show on their current USA tour.  Makes perfect sense, therefore to have this as tune of the day:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Santa Monica

The six-plus minute of the 20th and closing track on the 2016 album Going Going…

Oh, and any excuse to post the 19th track from the same album:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Rachel

There may well be a couple of holiday postcards coming your way over the next week and a bit alongside the usual features.   Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for a superbly-conceived guest ICA.  I’m off to jump in a taxi to the airport.

JC

 

I started this series on 23 October 2013.  I had no idea how many parts it would entail, as I wasn’t quite sure how to actually define what had been a single.  Would I count EPs? Digital only-releases?  Foreign-language songs recorded for issuing on Record Store Days?  Limited edition releases which had only been available if ordered direct from the band’s website or purchased at gigs during particular tours?  In the end, the answer to all of the above was yes, and I do think I’ve featured everything that could conceivably be considered as a single by The Wedding Present.

I also had no idea that the series would take a welcome break, thanks to strangeways offering to pen a series on all the singles released by Cinerama – and it was his forensic approach to that particular era of the career of David Lewis Gedge which set the standard for how I went about the second half of the TWP series.  Before getting to the final single and it’s b-side, here’s a reminder of what has already featured:-

1. Go Out And Get ‘Em Boy (1985)
2. Once More (1986)
3. You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (1986)
4. Peel Sessions EP (1986)
5. My Favourite Dress (1987)
6. Anyone Can Make A Mistake (1987)
7. Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm (1988)
8. Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? (1988)
9. Radio 1 Sessions : The Evening Show (1988)
10. Kennedy (1989)
11. Brassneck (1990)
12. The 3 Songs EP (1990)
13. Dalliance (1991)
14. Lovenest (1991)
15. Blue Eyes (1992)
16. Go-Go Dancer (1992)
17. Three (1992)
18. Silver Shorts (1992)
19. Come Play With Me (1992)
20. California (1992)
21. Flying Saucer (1992)
22. Boing! (1992)
23. Loveslave (1992)
24. Sticky (1992)
25. The Queen of Outer Space (1992)
26. No Christmas (1992)
27. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah (1994)
28. It’s A Gas (1994)
29. Sucker (1995)
30. The Mini EP (1996)
31. 2, 3, Go!(1996)
32. Montreal (1997)
33. Interstate 5 (2004)
34. I’m From Further North Than You (2005)
35. Ringway to Seatac (2005)
36. The Thing I Like Best About Him Is His Girlfriend (2008)
37. Don’t Take Me Home Until I’m Drunk (2008)
38. Santa Ana Winds (2008)
39. Holly Jolly Hollywood (2008)
40. You Jane (2012)
41. Club 8 aka Metal Men (2012)
42. 4 Chansons EP (2012)
43. Journey Into Space (2012)
44. 4 Lieder EP (2013)
45. Two Bridges (2013)
46. 4 Cân EP (2014)
47. The Home Internationals EP (2017)
48. Huw Stephens Sessions EP (2018)
49. 7777777 (joint release with Cinerama and featuring White Riot) (2018)
50. Davni Chasy (2019)
51. Jump In, The Water’s Fine (2019)
52. Shaun Keaveny Session EP (2020)
53. We Should Be Together (2022)
54. I Am Not Going To Fall In Love With You (2022)
55. Go Go Go (2022)
56. Monochrome (2022)
57. X Marks The Spot (2022)
58. Once Bitten (2022)
59. We Interrupt Our Programme (2022)
60. Each Time You Open Your Eyes (2022)
61. We All Came From The Sea (2022)
62. Astronomic (2022)
63. Science Fiction (2022)

I’ve only just realised, the way I’ve gone about this task means there were 32 singles prior to Cinerama forming and there have been 32 since The Wedding Present reformed, thanks to this being the last in the 24 Songs project, released in December 2022:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – The Loneliest Time Of The Year (7″ version)

It’s a Christmas song.  A proper Christmas song.  Complete with a video. 

You’ll possibly recall that the previous effort to compose and record a Christmas song, Holly Jolly Hollywood, had left me quite cold when it was released at the tail end of 2008.  It doesn’t help that Christmas records, by their very nature, have a ridiculous ability to annoy me to the extent that I have something of a gag reflex with most of them.

But…………..there’s something about The Loneliest Time Of The Year which doesn’t provoke such a reaction.

Sure, it’s got a kind of soap opera feel to the lyric with the protagonist basically saying that his other half shouldn’t leave because not only is it Christmas, but the snow has started falling.  It’s the sort of plea that’s made by someone who really has reached rock bottom, and what’s more, the musicians have come up with a tune that is equally tear-jerking, with Melanie’s choir-like vocal contribution being nigh-on perfect….oh, and let’s not ignore the casual way the sleigh bells close things off (although you don’t get to hear that in the 7″ edited version as it fades out about a minute or so before the end, but watch the video version for the full effect).

It’s something quite different from the norm in terms of what The Wedding Present have long been feted for, and as long as there’s a promise that any new material will revert to the fast and frantic style with which we have all become accustomed, then I’m more than OK with it.

The b-side?

mp3: The Wedding Present – Memento Mori

I’m sure someone once said that all TWP songs sound the same…..but then again, when they’re all this good, why worry?

I think that’s an apt way to close this series off.

A huge thanks to everyone who has dropped by for a browse over the past 15 months, and an extra thanks to those of you who have offered up your views, thoughts and opinions via the comments section along the way.  And an extra special word of thanks to strangeways for providing loads of inspiration.

Oh, and I think it’s now that I can reveal that later this year, all being well, myself and Rachel will be seeing the band outside of the UK for the very first time.  A major tour of North American tour is scheduled from 16 May–7 June, opening in Austin before heading to Dallas, Atlanta, Columbia (South Carolina), Durham (North Carolina), Washington DC, Brooklyn, Cambridge (Massachusetts), Montreal, Toronto, Cleveland, Chicago, Saint Paul, Seattle and San Francisco, before the tour ends in Los Angeles….which is where we will catch them, courtesy of being invited to visit and stay at the home of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer (aka fiktiv) and Goldie the Friendly Therapist.

Can’t wait…….let’s just hope that I don’t suffer another unexpected bout of ill-health at the 11th hour that stops us travelling.

JC

 

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

 

I’ve mentioned previously how tough an ask it is to release 12 singles across a calendar year while maintaining quality control.   The challenge in 2022, as opposed to 1992 when The Wedding Present had first taken on the task, was that the earlier effort had seen twelve new songs and twelve covers, while the latest take had seen just one cover issued as a b-side. 

Yes, some of the songs did date back to maybe 2018/19 when the band had a slightly different line-up, but there must have been real stresses, strains and tensions as the year progressed for David Gedge, Jon Stewart, Melanie Howard and Nicholas Wellauer, especially given that it was a year when they also went out two long tours – the UK in April/May and Germany/Netherlands/Denmark/France in September, as well as a number of one-off shows in the UK as well as their own Edge of The Sea Festival in Brighton in August.

As such, I’m prepared to cut some slack for some of what I’d call the rather underwhelming releases as part of 24 Songs.  Having been very thrilled and happy with both sides of the September release, the single which arrived at Villain Towers in October proved to be one that was quickly consigned to its place on the shelf:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – Astronomic

OK, it picks up a bit after the opening very dreary minute-and-a-half, but not to the extent that it becomes a song that’s worthy of repeated playings.

The b-side is a ballad.  It also contains some of the most bitter break-up lyrics that David Gedge has ever penned:-

So, let me ask you, let me ask you, let me ask you how you thought you get away with doing something like that
Well, it transpires you’re a liar and I think it’s time to call it a day
And, darling, that’s where we’re at

Because you have stolen something from me that I can never replace and you have caused catastrophe
You’re a complete disgrace

Just a pity that the tune was a bit of a letdown.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Whodunnit (7″ version)

Ten down, two to go.

JC

 

16 September 2022 was the release date of the ninth of the 24 Songs singles, and this time it consisted of two very fresh songs as the writing credits are attribute to the four touring and recording members of that year – David Gedge (vocals, guitar), Jon Stewart (guitar), Melanie Howard (bass, keyboards and backing vocals) and Nicholas Wellauer (drums).

mp3: The Wedding Present – We All Came From The Sea

Bit of an unusual one in that it almost has a dance beat to it, with some great bass lines from Melanie driving it along while Jon throws out some excellent guitar licks. I recall it being a real highlight in the live setting on the one occasion I heard it played, which happened to be in Brighton in 2023 at the Edge of The Sea Festival.

mp3: The Wedding Present – We All Came From The Sea (live at Concorde 2)

Seems I wasn’t alone in thinking it could make for a more than decent dance number, as it subsequently became one of the very TWP songs to ever have been given the remix treatment:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – We All Came From The Sea (Utah Saints Remix)

As made available on one of the bonus CDs that came with the 24 Songs box set, released in 2023.

The b-side, and this is far from a criticism, is kind of TWP by numbers….indeed it’s one that I’ve a lot more time for than some of the songs released as A-sides during 2022.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Summer 

Just three more to go and this particular series will come to an end.

JC

 

I know that I’ve banged on a fair bit these past few weeks about the writing credits on the tracks released as part of the year-long 24 Songs project, but I make no apologies….especially as I’m going to do so again today!!!

A reminder that The Wedding Present, in terms of the touring and recording line-up in 2022 consisted of David Gedge (vocals, guitar), Jon Stewart (guitar), Melanie Howard (bass, keyboards and backing vocals) and Nicholas Wellauer (drums).   These were the four credited with writing We Interrupt Our Programme, the seventh of the singles in the series, released in July and which featured on TVV last Sunday.

It would have been natural to expect that the same line-up would be responsible for the eighth release, which landed on our doormats on or shortly after 18 August 2022.  But no……this turned out to be a song whose composition appears to go back to early 2018, to a time when Terry de Castro briefly rejoined on bass guitar prior to Melanie Howard’s arrival as the writing credits are Gedge, Wadey, de Castro and Layton…..and yet it appears to be a song that wasn’t ever played live until 2022!

mp3: The Wedding Present – Each Time You Open Your Eyes (7″ version)

A ballad with minimal playing up until around the 1:30 mark, at which point it gets very loud…..and then it goes all quiet and minimal again to the point that David Gedge’s delivery is almost down to a whisper before the volume is again turned up above the same lines as before:-

You’ll always know which side I’m on because, without you, well, I’m not anyone
We might have bad days but I will always thank my lucky stars the world revealed you

Shortly after, the song fades out quickly….and I’ve always felt it was something of a clumsy and ill-judged fade-out.    The full version of the song, eventually made available a few months later on the 24 Songs album is almost exactly two minutes longer, and is very representative of the harder edged rock sound that had been increasingly embraced by the band since coming back again in the era after Cinerama had run its course.  The late-20s and 30-something me would probably have hated Each Time You Open Your Eyes, but the 59-year-old me very much appreciated and enjoyed it. 

mp3: The Wedding Present – Each Time You Open Your Eyes (album version)

The band, in addition to the monthly singles in 2022, had found time to release an album Locked Down and Stripped Back Volume Two, of songs that had been recorded at home during the COVID lockdown in the summer of 2021 and which had formed the basis of the on-line version of the August 2021 Edge of The Sea Festival (temporarily renamed as The Edge of The Sofa festival).  A few very welcome guests had contributed, including Peter Solowka adding accordion to a fabulous version of Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm, to which Amelia Fletcher also dropped by to reprise and indeed add to her vocal part to the 1988 single:-

 Locked Back….Vol 2 contained a previously unreleased song, This Could Only Happen In A Movie, which had been written by the 2021 line-up of the band, namely David Gedge, Jon Stewart, Melanie Howard and Chris Hardwick (all of whom can be seen in the above clip for Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm). Just a few weeks after the album came out, it was given a release as the b-side to the eighth of the 24 Songs releases:-

mp3: The Wedding Present – This Would Only Happen In A Movie

It’s not too dissimilar to the version that can be found on Locked Back….Vol 2.   It’s a more than decent enough b-side. 

JC

It really was Lucky 7 when it came to the Wedding Present‘s 24 Songs project of 2022 as the single released on 15 July turned out to be a gem.

mp3: The Wedding Present – We Interrupt Our Programme (7″ version)

A spiky and upbeat tune that plays host to a catchy chorus of ‘what we want and what we get are not always the same’.   And it’s one of those Gedge tales, of the type that I’ve always thought he does better than any others, in that he’s on the receiving end of the ending of a relationship.  But in this case, he sounds as if he’s quite relieved about it all.

Spoiler alert!!!   After all 12 singles had been released, they were compiled into an album, unsurprisingly called 24 Songs.  Some of the tracks were now made available in their full form, having been edited down a bit for the 7″ release.  We Interrupt Our Programme was one of those, with the album version not fading out just after the 4:20 mark but continuing on its merry and noisy way for another 80 seconds or so – and it was always the longer version that was aired in the live setting.

mp3: The Wedding Present – We Interrupt Our Programme (album version)

The single was attributed to the four members of the band who were active throughout 2022 – David Gedge, Jon Stewart, Melanie Howard and Nicholas Wellauer.  The flip side, Telemark, is a tune that was dusted down from a few years previously, as it is attributed to the line-up which had been together up until the end of 2019 – David Gedge, Danielle Wadey, Melanie Howard and Charles Layton, which, if you recall from earlier entries in this long-running series, was broken-up when Danielle and Charles became parents to a newborn baby. 

mp3: The Wedding Present – Telemark (7″ version)

The unusual thing about this one is that the verses are delivered in a spoken-word manner, while the chorus is sung.  There’s also a distinct change in tempo and pace just short of the three-minute mark, which is not something that the band have done too often over the near 40 years that their music has been written and recorded. 

As with the A-side, the full length version (just under a minute longer) was made available on the subsequent album.  Not only does it not fade out, but there’s an additional spoken-outro from a female voice, with the words presumably being in Norwegian, given that Telemark is a region of Norway……

mp3: The Wedding Present – Telemark (album version)

One of the many fan sites dedicated to the band, indicates that Telemark was originally part of the live set back in 2019, only to be heavily re-worked and released for the 24 Songs project, and looking back on the set list for the show at the Classic Grand in Glasgow on 25 October 2019, it was indeed aired.  But as this fan-shot footage from a gig in Paris a week prior to Glasgow demonstrates, it was indeed a bit different from the version that was eventually recorded, albeit the change in tempo and pace was there.

 

 

I’ve long felt, in terms of quality control, there’s an enormous risk attached to issuing twelve new singles across a calendar year.  I say that as I would have thought it’s a hard enough challenge for a band, especially one that’s been on the go for over thirty years in some shape or form, to come up with say 14 new tunes in a year from which a decent album could be made up, including a couple that could be held back to support any release of a single in some sort of physical form.  Even when a band comes to selecting the dozen or so songs for the new album, there will most likely be some that aren’t as ‘strong’ as others, a position that surely is only intensified when it comes to working out if something is ‘good enough’ to be an actual single.

Which is my sort of confused way of saying that Once Bitten, the sixth single across the 24 Songs project, released on 17 June 2022 is merely an ‘ok tune’.  

It actually has a really decent opening lyric, the sort which David Gedge has been coming up with all his life.

You are an empress so I’ll grovel
You’re a beauty from a bygone age
You are a pop song
You’re a novel and I can’t wait to read another page

But it kind of descends into some bad sixth-form lovelorn poetry by the end which is just a bit too cringey:-

Is this the moment when we kiss because I’ve been hurt before when I’ve been through things like this?
I long for your touch but it can wait; the thought of getting it wrong again’s too much to contemplate

On the other hand, it has a decent enough tune of the sort that The Wedding Present seem so capable of writing, recording and performing without breaking any sweat.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Once Bitten

It turns out that this is another of the 7″ releases in 2022 when I found myself preferring the b-side, one that was given the strange title of Kerplunk!, which itself is the name of a children’s game invented in 1967 that involves sticks and marbles:-

“With the Kerplunk game, kids test their skills and their nerves. Players compete to keep their hand steady enough to pull out the sticks without dislodging the marbles. One wrong move and the marbles will come rolling down the chute! Take turns carefully pulling out sticks from the Kerplunk bowl but watch out for a marble avalanche sending marbles rolling down the chute! The player who finishes the game with the fewest marbles wins.”

mp3: The Wedding Present – Kerplunk!

This is actually a bit of a hidden gem.  It’s one of those Gedge-imagined tales of bad romance in which he’s been on the receiving end of his partner calling an end to the relationship to run off with someone else, and then he bumps into his old flame about a month later and learns she is on her own again.  He takes a bit of delight in this new twist…….

 

 

I mentioned last week that I was particularly struck by the fact that the four musicians in The Wedding Present – David Gedge, Jon Stewart, Melanie Howard and Chris Hardwick – were given writing credits on the fourth 7″ single to emerge as part of the year-long 24 Songs project during 2022.

The credits on the fifth single offered up a number of different names, including former members of the band, which was maybe an indication that a couple of old(ish) songs had been dusted down.

To begin with, it feels as if the A-side, for the second month in a row, was going to be one that was slower than normal. Unlike Monochrome, this has quite a lot going for it in terms of a tune, as well excellent melodies between Mr Gedge and Ms Howard. And then, in a way quite similar to Come Play With Me, the fifth single from the year-long series back in 1992, it speeds up at the end with some excellent guitar work. A coincidence or deliberate? I’m really not sure.

mp3: The Wedding Present – X Marks The Spot

The writers on this one are Gedge/Howard/Wellauer/Beer-Pearce.

It’s only now, a long time after the event, that I’ve been able to piece this one together, and even then, there’s a fair bit of conjecture on my part.

Samuel Beer-Pearce had been the guitarist with The Wedding Present a few years previously, between 2013 and 2016, and he featured on the Going Going…album as well as being part of the touring band during those years. Nicholas Wellauer was the new drummer with The Wedding Present – something I had discovered just a few weeks prior to the postman delivering this single when I’d gone along to see the band play a gig in Glasgow and found that Chris Hardwick, whose face had become so familiar with the YouTube videos during lockdown, was not on stage.

Here’s the conjecture. I’m assuming that X Marks The Spot is a song originally worked up between Gedge and Beer-Pierce, and then a few years later additional contributions came from Howard and Wellauer to deliver the finished article to take into the studio. But however the jigsaw was put together, the end product was a more than decent effort. A ‘live’ video was made to accompany the release.

This was the same line-up that had played Glasgow the previous month – a tour in which Seamonsters was played in its entirety, followed by a dozen more tunes, including a handful that hadn’t as yet been released, but were due out later in the year as part of 24 Songs. As you might imagine, given my love for Seamonsters, this particular gig is up there as one of my very favourites by the band.

The b-side is fast and furious, and at a little over two minutes in length, a bit of a throwback to the very early days.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Strike!

The writing credits on this one are Layton, Wadey, Gedge and Howard. You may well recall from previous entries in this series that Charles Layton and Danielle Wadey had taken their leave of The Wedding Present at the end of 2019 when their baby was due. Melanie Howard had joined the band in 2018, and given the four musicians credited on Strike! was the touring line-up for a couple of years, I think it’s a fair assumption it’s a song which was worked up during that period but never given any studio time

 

 

The fourth 7″ within the 24 Songs project emerged blinking on 15 April 2022.

It was inevitable that a slower number would, at some point, emerge as a single in this series, and it duly arrived with Monochrome.  It opens with a lovely couplet:-

And every day spent without you
Just becomes so monochrome
There’s no colour
Life’s just duller

mp3: The Wedding Present – Monochrome (7″ version)

And, I’m sorry to say, is about all the positive things I will say about it.   David Gedge has, over the decades, written some wonderful ballads, but Monochrome isn’t one of them.  The tune plods along almost as self-pityingly as the rest of the lyric, although Jon Stewart (I assume) does try to breathe a bit of life into it towards the end with a guitar solo in which the effect pedals make a mighty contribution.

But I’m pleased to say that the release is saved by a rather excellent b-side………one which had been premiered during the virtual ‘At The Edge of The Sea’ festival held on 15 August 2020, and later included on the Locked Down and Stripped Back album released the following February:-

Locked Down and Stripped Back was an interesting and timely release.  The idea of re-recording songs from the back catalogue in the only way that was possible during the COVID restrictions was a good one. The experience of getting to hear the re-recordings via YouTube recordings was enjoyable enough, but picking them up in a physical form was far more satisfying, with the bonus being that the two new songs – We Should Be Together and You’re Just a Habit… – felt like a real return to form.  It also looked from the video clips, and indeed hearing the music, that The Wedding Present were very much a band again and not just some musicians brought in to back up David Gedge.  The fact that the new songs gave writing credits to all four musicians seemed to be quite telling.

mp3: The Wedding Present – You’re Just A Habit That I’m Trying To Break

The studio version isn’t too far removed from the locked down take on things, albeit it’s about thirty seconds longer, thanks to a keyboard outro.

JC

JC

 

The third 7″ within the 24 Songs project dropped through the letterbox on 18 March 2022.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Go Go Go

A rocky number with a softer edge, thanks to the co-vocal from Melanie Howard.  It’s one that I wasn’t really too sure of on the initial listens, but it proved to come across better in the live setting, with it demonstrating just how big and vital a part Melanie had in this new-look and different sounding version of The Wedding Present.  The signs had been there thanks to some of the music and footage that had emerged during the lockdown period, not least this wonderful take on an old single. 

The b-side, given its title, I suspect was written specifically to be the flip side of this particular single

mp3: The Wedding Present – La La La

It’s a song which is very much split in two.   The opening 2 mins and 45 seconds or offer up a take on the sort of indie-rock that the band over the years, no matter who was in the line-up, can do so effortlessly and effectively.  It’s a decent, if not spectacular, listen. 

But the final 45 seconds, from which the song takes its title, does absolutely nothing for me. It’s one of the very few TWP songs that I’d be quite happy not to listen to again in future years.

JC

 

Last week’s lengthy post provided all the background and detail for the 24 Songs project which would see The Wedding Present issue a monthly 7″ single throughout 2022, and so I’m going to be very brief today, and indeed for the remainder of the posts dealing with 24 Songs.

The second single in the series was released on 18 February

mp3: The Wedding Present – I Am Not Going To Fall In Love With You

It’s one of the first fruits from the songwriting partnership David Gedge was developing with the new-look band, with writing credits given to Jon Stewart, Melanie Howard and Chris Hardwick.  It’s a tune and lyric which feels as if it could have appeared on any number of the classic albums from years gone by, and yet it has a sound that was different, invigorating and fresh, which really did offer a great deal of hope for what else was to come throughout the year.

The b-side was a real surprise and a source of huge joy for this fan.

mp3: The Wedding Present – A Song From Under The Floorboards

I had been under the impression that the 24 Songs would all be originals – it turned it that the vast majority of them were, but the inclusion of this Magazine classic, which TWP had included in most of their live shows back in 2019 certainly put a smile on my face.  Across a career littered with many magnificent cover versions, this is up there with their very best.

JC

 

The hard work and efforts of the lockdown period, as mentioned in last week’s posting, delivered something quite special for fans in early 2021 with the release of the  album Locked Down And Stripped Back. It contained twelve songs, of which ten were new takes on some classics, while two were completely new altogether, albeit one of them was a cover version.

All the songs had involved each band member – David Gedge, Jon Stewart, Melanie Howard and Chris Hardwick –  recording their parts at home under lock-down restrictions.  It had stemmed from The Wedding Present‘s contribution to the 2020 At The Edge Of The Sea Festival, by necessity an ‘on line event’, in which songs had been re-worked in a semi-acoustic style, with the tunes and films then stitched together for broadcasting.  Here’s how California, a single from 1992 turned out.

Jon Stewart, formerly of Sleeper, was now very much part of The Wedding Present, and the cover version mentioned above was of one of his old band’s songs, but with the twist that Sleeper had never got round to recording it.  An approach was made to Louise Wener to ask if she would consider duetting with David Gedge on the version that The Wedding Present were proposing to make as part of the Lockdown project, and to everyone’s delight, she agreed. The album, was very well received, particularly the collaboration on the cover version.

By mid-late 2021, things were returning towards a degree of normality, and live shows, with restricted numbers, became a possibility again. The Wedding Present wasted no time in getting back on the road and played a total of 19 shows in the UK and Ireland across August, October and November.  It was during the middle part of the tour that news came out of an exciting project for 2022.

It was called 24 Songs, and it echoed what had happened back in 1992, with a new limited edition 7″ single being issued each month.  They would be issued by the Leeds-based Clue Records and made available in shops across the UK, along with an option to subscribe in advance and receive a signed postcard with each delivery along with the promise that a specially designed box would arrive during the year in which the newly acquires single could be stored.

You can probably guess which option I took!!!

The first single arrived on 21 January 2022. It was a re-recording of the Sleeper cover that had proved such a hit on the Locked Down album:-

mp3: The Wedding Present (featuring Louise Wener) – We Should Be Together

The flip side was a track that had been written and occasionally performed back in 2019, with the writing credits including two former members of the band – Danielle Wadey and Charles Layton.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Don’t Give Up Without A Fight

It was an appropriate song with which to make the studio comeback, and yes, I agree entirely with the promo blurb that came with the release that Don’t Give Up Without A Fight combines classic Wedding Present feistiness with a Krautrock finale.

And so, we are now on the final stages of this epic journey through the singles from The Wedding Present.  Please stay in your seats with your seatbelts securely fastened until we do finally come to a halt….which will be sometime in early 2025

JC

 

2020.  The year of the COVID lockdown restrictions.  David Gedge turned his hands to providing fans with an online presence that turned out to include live streams and home recordings.  The Edge of The Sea Festival was planned and delivered as an online event.  The Wedding Present then actually managed to deliver an online gig in October, thanks to cameras being set up in each of the individual houses of the band members.

The purchase of vinyl and CDs also had to be done differently.  Record shops being closed meant that owners had to enable customers to order online, with arrange for everything being to be delivered in due course.  Record Store Day in 2020 was adapted to deal with the unusual circumstances.  Instead of stock coming into shops on one day and potentially causing so much chaos that systems would collapse, it involved what were described as ‘drops’ over three Saturdays in August, September and October.

The Wedding Present’s contribution was issued on 26 September.  It was a 7″ EP, on blue vinyl, released on Hatch Records, a Leeds-based label.  It consisted of the three songs the band had recorded on 5 August 2019 for the Shaun Keaveny Show, broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music.  It’s a fine reminder of how tight the band were at that point in time, with Danielle Wadey on guitars and backing vocals, Melanie Howard on bass and backing vocals and Charles Layton on drums.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Don’t Ask Me (Shaun Keaveny Session)
mp3: The Wedding Present – Panama (Shaun Keaveny Session)
mp3: The Wedding Present – No (Shaun Keaveny Session)

The first song was a new one.  Its title would change in due course, and it would be released in 2022…..and that’s something I’ll get to in the not too distant future.  The middle song was relatively new, having been the b-side of the 2019 Record Store Day release, and which featured in this series just seven days ago.  The third track is a fresh and slightly less frantic take on one of the songs to be found on the 1989 album, Bizzarro.  

All in all, a decent enough release to help the band and fans get through what was proving to be a difficult and challenging time.

JC

 

The Wedding Present were in a good place when 2019 rolled around.  The line-up was really settled with Charles Layton now a ten-year veteran on the drums, Danielle Wadey proving to be a great foil on guitar having initially joined the band as bassist in 2016, while the new bassist, Melanie Howard, was bringing youth and a fresh energy to the live shows, of which there had been plenty across the UK between March and June as part of a 30th anniversary tour of Bizarro, which then moved on to Japan, China and Thailand in July.

A new single, issued on the Leeds-based label Come Play With Me Records, and released on 2 August, broke some new ground for the band in that one version of it was their first ever picture disc.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Jump In, The Water’s Fine
mp3: The Wedding Present – Panama

Two new songs, available on standard 7″ or 10″ picture disc.

It’s one of the more unusual and hard to categorise singles in the band’s history.  It starts off as if it’s going to be a rock number with loud guitars, before easing off to a more gentle-pace with the chorus relying heavily on the backing vocals offered up by Melanie Howard, something that had been a feature of the live shows throughout the year. 

The b-side begins with handclaps and a prominent bass line, courtesy of Terry de Castro, with had come back, as a one-off, to play on the single.  Again, it’s just a tad different from the norm, and yet it sounded exactly as you’d expect.   It’s one that I’ve long felt was wasted as a b-side – it’s certainly a better and more instant song than Jump In…

The band would then perform at the 2019 edition of The Edge of The Sea Festival, and spend much of the rest of the year on the road in the UK and Europe, with 41 shows all told. I caught the show in Glasgow in late October, and it was proved to be incredibly  enjoyable, with the musicians clearly having a fantastic chemistry, aided by the fact that so much of the set was made up of songs from Bizarro.  Oh, and the fact that the unexpected cover on the evening was A Song From Under The Floorboards, originally recorded by Magazine.

But the last 14 dates, involving shows in Germany, Holland, Belgium and England, by necessity featured a changed line-up.  Danielle had toured while pregnant, but there had to come a time when common sense prevailed, and her last show was on 16 November.  Her partner, and father of her child, is none other than Charles Layton and so, after more than a decade of being the band’s drummer, he also took his leave.  In their place came Jon Stewart, formerly of Sleeper on guitar, and Chris Hardwick, formerly of My Life Story on drums.  This would be the new line-up, anticipated to head into a studio sometime in 2020, as well as going out and playing live. 

JC

 

The next single from The Wedding Present was released on 7 December 2018.

It was actually featured previously, and just a few weeks ago, as part of strangeway‘s fabulous series on Cinerama. Here’s a reminder of what he said:-

“Closing (almost) this Cinerama series is a cover, and another split single. On one side you’ll find Cinerama’s take on The Name of the Game. And, yes, it’s the ABBA song. It’s an OK listen, if kind of inoffensive.

mp3: Cinerama – The Name of The Game

The Name of the Game was released by Where It’s At Is Where You Are, a label whose seven-seven-inch-singles-a-year club, which launched in 2012, ended as planned in 2018, this release closing the project.

Of more interest is the flipside. There you’ll find a cover of the Clash’s White Riot. As fast and manic as the original, it’s not however by Cinerama. It’s by a band named The Wedding Present.

mp3: The Wedding Present – White Riot

The next release was for Record Store Day on 13 April 2019. Those of you who have been following the series closely will know that TWP had previous in this regard, with three 10″ EPs featuring songs song in languages other than English.

The 2019 release was a variation on this theme, as it was a 7″ single featuring two tracks that had been recorded for John Peel sessions back in 1987 and 1988.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Davni Chasy
mp3: The Wedding Present – Katrusya

Yup…..from the sessions when the band recorded songs in Ukranian.  

JC

 

The Home Internationals EP, as featured last time around, had been released in May 2017.   It was a full 18 months later that the next EP was put into shops.  For those of us who perhaps had found our patience tested with Home Internationals, the new 10″, issued on Hatch Records, did feature four songs on which David Gedge did sing….and in English!!

The thing was, it wasn’t exactly something new that was on offer as the EP was a recording of songs that had been recorded for a BBC radio show back in 2006.

At the age of 17, Huw Stephens had become the youngest ever DJ to broadcast on BBC Radio 1, back in 1999, as part of what was a regional opt-out in Wales.   In 2005, he gained a UK-wide slot when he became one of three replacements for the late John Peel as part of Radio 1’s One Music strand, which was intended to keep the spirit of Peel’s show.

His show on 19 July 2006 featured a session by The Wedding Present, recorded at the famous Maida Vale studios, the location of many of the Peel sessions previously recorded by the band.  It featured four cover versions.

mp3: The Wedding Present – Step Inside Love
mp3: The Wedding Present – Lovin’ You
mp3: The Wedding Present – Our Lips Are Sealed
mp3: The Wedding Present – Back For Good

The DJ contributed notes to the release, and here’s what he had to say about each of the songs:-

“Listening to it now, it still sounds great. Maida Vale has a sound of its own. 

Step Inside Love was written by Paul McCartney for the late Cilla Black‘s TV show of the same name. Just a throwaway TV theme tune that happens, of course, to be a classic.

Lovin’ You is one of my all time favourites. Minnie Ripperton‘s voice is exquisite on the original recording. David Gedge doesn’t quite the high notes on this version but the guitars do a good job in taking it somewhere else. And excellent use of the Maida Vale glockenspiel!

The Go-Gos Our Lips Are Sealed sounds brilliantly frantic. And Gary Barlow‘s Back For Good? It’s heartbreaking stuff.”

———

The session was recorded by musicians who had long taken their leave of TWP, with Terry de Castro on bass and backing vocals, Graeme Ramsay on drums and percussion and Chris McConville on guitar.  They were joined by Catherine Kontz on keyboards and glockenspiel.

You’ll perhaps recall that a studio version of the Take That tune was released in 2008 as part of the Holly Jolly Hollywood EP.  This radio session version predates it.

 

JC