today

Boy, today was slow on the message board. Not even any Tim Tebow talk? How do you like the new Wedding Present record? I think its pretty damn good.

Yeah, I think it's highly enjoyable too. Love the guitars and drums. Have yet to listen to it, though.

I'm pretty happy the Jest [sic] picked up TebowBieber. It'll make those Patriots victories all the sweeter.

I'm indifferent about the bounty punishment for the Saints.

And I'm very unhappy that Oasis's Manchester City came back from a 1 - 0 deficit to beat Chelsea 2 -1.

And that's my yesterday in sports.

Bring on the Red Sox, I say.



Post Edited (03-22-12 07:39)

I don't know about the record, but I saw the Wedding Present during SXSW. To be honest, I was pretty underwhelmed.

The Wedding Present were never a great band. They were always just a very good band. I think that was actually part of their appeal in a weird way. They strummed hollowbody guitars really fast - leading to the inevitable Velvet Underground comparisons (even though VU has maybe 2 songs like that in their whole repertoire). They had a singer who sounded like Bert from Sesame Street. They mostly stuck to a few satisfying chord progressions and made the bass distorted and the melodies tuneful. They put out a lot of interesting cover songs on 7". And their lyrics had an appealing British sensibility to them ("Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft", "What Did Your Last Servant Die Of?", etc) And they put out one spanker of a record: Watusi. Their records are formula for the most part, but a formula I enjoy.



Post Edited (03-22-12 10:54)

I love love love the Wedding Present, but disagree about the spanking.

"Bizarro" is their best LP.

Formula? Guitar. Bass. Drums. Singer.

I guess that's a winner.

If David Gedge is Bert, who'd be Ernie?

I think I might have gone into the show with higher expectations. I was never a huge fan (owned Seamonsters and one of the singles comps 20 years ago) and was hoping this show would lead to a fresh rediscovery. Instead I thought, "That was nice," and went on to the next show. By the time I saw Lee Fields, I'd forgotten all about it. Their diehards packed the (admittedly small) place and loved it, though.

They did a gig later in the week where they played all of Seamonsters, but I missed it.

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...all of Seamonsters...

I love the songs and performances on Seamonsters, but it always sounded a little thin and muted in comparison to the other records (read: on mix tapes, CDs, etc).

On it's own, it's fine. I just turn it up a bit.

It's a photo finish between that LP and Bizarro, with "Take Me" being the deciding factor. That song is all killer and no filler ... even given the extended "Jazz Odyssey" rave-up section. It's perhaps the definitive indie strum-a-thon masterpiece.

...

I can recall a letter to the editors of SPIN back in the day that was written as a response to a Smiths article. The letter said something like: "All Morrissey needs is a cheeseburger and a good #$%&."

I've always thought that the Wedding Present was the answer to the unasked question: "What would the music sound like after those two objectives had been met?"

I thought SOMEBODY here would've rated George Best.

George Best is my second favorite after Watusi, Aitch Though I spent the day listening to SeaMonsters, Bizarro, and Hit Parade 2 to refresh my memory.

"I thought SOMEBODY here would've rated George Best."

And, for one split second, I thought, "Finally a thread about Premier League football history."

No worries there, Erik

[www.youtube.com]

Double hat trick. . . Now THAT's what I'm talking about, Aitch!

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How do you like the new Wedding Present record?.

I'm starting finally to warm to Valentina. I generally like Gedge better when he's near suicide, but he's closer to homicide here so it's taken some time to adjust.

Now I'm thinking I should go back and see if El Rey strikes me differently. I just wasn't crazy about it at the time, and didn't stick with it for long.

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I generally like Gedge better when he's near suicide

When exactly is that? He's never exactly seemed all that slash-your-wrists distraught to me. That's part of the fun. He's just wound up over some girl and making a huge fuss over practically nothing. In fact, if "Why Am I Making Such A Huge Fuss Over Practically Nothing?" wasn't the title of an early WP single ... it should have been.

The local Mom 'n Pop hasn't seen fit to stock a copy of Valentina. I'm certain that I like the album a lot already. What's he gonna do ... go disco?

...

I did a cut-n-paste job of a Wedding Present band photo with Bert (of Ernie & Bert fame) in place of Gedge, but didn't bother to post it. It didn't feel like art ... and you know how high my standards are for that sort of thing.

I guess we need emoticons here at TP, 'cause exaggeration sometimes does not translate. There are, however, plenty of songs where DG is more than a little down in the mouth, or sounding defeated/resigned. I just meant that I sometimes prefer him in the role of the hopeless underdog/guy-trampled-under-the-high-heel. His Cinerama discs are rife with such wince-inducing vignettes.



Post Edited (05-28-12 14:17)

Of course, the title of the CD-only, French language bonus track would be ...
Pourquoi je Convertis une telles Histoires Enormes Pratiquement Rien?



Post Edited (05-28-12 19:22)