Labels: HHBTM Records
Review by: MH
I’d left this one untouched for a while after it was sent in. Not sure why as The Wedding Present themed many a paper round and bus journey to school for me in the early 90s and I went to see them live a few times. I still stick on the odd song now and then – songs like “Brassneck”, “Dalliance”, “Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?” and “Kennedy” amongst others. My interest started to waver around the time they were doing Right Said Fred and Tom Jones cover versions and I haven’t heard anything new from them since “Watusi” in 1994 so my knowledge of the band’s output is blank after that time. Fast forward 23 years though and here I am listening to this new one.
First of all, this is a long record at 20 songs long. It’s actually pretty good too. The opening 4 tracks were far from what I was expecting in that they are all (bar the harmonies on the brilliant “Marblehead”) instrumentals that are both somber and haunting. “Two Bridges” announces the arrival of the more familiar sound of The Wedding Present I know. From this point on it’s a record that sounds like The Wedding Present and there are a bunch of fine tunes along the way whilst the lyrics are nostalgic, weary and wistful. It’s not a perfect record but there are plenty of good songs on here – the sometimes fragile “Little Silver”, “Wales” with its spoken word vocal all in Welsh, and “Rachel”, which is just a brilliant pop song, to name a few.