After a hectic fortnight, it's back to these reviews.
The Wedding Present are another band of whom I was aware at the time, but didn’t really hear much of for some reason. A friend lent me this a few years after it was released and I remember being disappointed that I wasn’t as blown away by it as I’d hoped.
Seeing it for a quid in Oxfam in Buxton recently, it clearly couldn’t be left there, and it’s well due a listen.
Opener Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft is a great start (such a wonderfully Northern word, daft) Peter Solowka (also of The Ukrainians) and David Gedge’s powerful guitar chords driving the song over Gedge’s words. What Did Your Last Servant Die Of feels a bit of a let down after such a superb opening song, but Don’t Be So Hard is brighter, and it’s the guitar which shines through, more than Gedge’s voice, which is something of an acquired taste. Similarly A Million Miles, but All This And More and Nowhere Fast feel much more powerful, real guitar thrashes, making their point quickly with no flourishes. Just fantastic.
The velocity and decibels reduce a bit for My Favourite Dress, allowing Gedge’s lyrics more room, but the hook is still that guitar tone. Shatner is another high energy song, but not as effective as the earlier short pieces. Something And Nothing has a nice feel, and the jangly guitar of It’s What You Want That Matters appeals. Give My Love To Kevin, is another belter with full guitar, narrative lyrics, and a 1960s northern feel. You Can’t Moan Can You? is slower but still nice, while All About Eve is an uptempo end to original album.
This CD version also compiles some early singles, so there's the wonderfully bright and cheery Nobody’s Twisting Your Arm while Nothing Comes Easy is a bit more plodding, bass driven but a certain appeal. Don’t Laugh and I’m Not Always So Stupid take us back to the fast strum guitar and Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now? is a great angry pop single.
To end there's an acoustic reprise of Kevin which lacks the impact of the electric Kevin, the fantastic Beatles' cover Getting Better and finally Pourquoi Es-Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable?, a French version of what came earlier.
Perhaps all 23 tracks one after the other is a bit much - Gedge's vocals don't always gel, and there's not much variety in the songs, but what they do on this debut album is certainly worth revisiting, and I seem to hear more with each listen.
4* - a fine debut, from a band with a distinctive, and very listenable sound
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