Classics Or Duds: The Wedding Present

but I'm obsessed enough to get things like the American-only compilation of singles and tracks and things from 1989 to 1991

Oh that was from 7 years ago. Fuck it anyway.

If God is a grim northerner mumbling a monologue through clenched teeth about not getting shagged then please direct me to the Bathory section.

is there any album with a similar lyrical concept as Seamonsters?

could someone point me there? thanks.

Is there going to be a fancy 2-CD anniversary issue of _George Best_?

is there any album with a similar lyrical concept as Seamonsters?

elucidate slightly?

i had a 40-something tech teacher who loved them. which was weird 'cause most of those guys just listened to genesis or whatever.

Seamonsters has become my favourite Wedding Present album. back in the day i would've said Bizarro no question. i don't think i like Bizarro any less, but i have definitely come to appreciate Seamonsters more. there's a sinister edge to it that doesn't feature on their other records and doesn't really seem appropriate for the band, except that it works so well in practice.

is there any album with a similar lyrical concept as Seamonsters?

Not sure what this means exactly, but, probably because it was released around the same time and all that, I've always thought of Rid of Me being Seamonsters' sister album. Especially as ROM's title track and "Dalliance" pull the same slow-burn/explode trick. Both recorded by Steve Albini, of course, but even so, they seem to have been on the same page, sharing the same intensity.

ooooh i like that comparison, i definitely see the resemblance. hadn't thought of that before!

Damnit why didn't someone TELL me they'd covered Gang of Four's "I Found That Essence Rare"??? Why didn't someone tell me???

Love to see Ewing's explanatory thread start.

Dr C!!

Now this one's a no-brainer. Dud, dud, dud. Hopeless. Why? For a start they released too much stuff and Gedge was clearly too much in love with the idea of making records to bother with the tiresome detail of you know, putting a decent band together, sounding good, or having something to say - all that irksome stuff. He always struck me as the kind of guy who kept press clippings of all their reviews and had a spare room with all 'the Weddoes' back catalogue carefully archived in dust-proof sleeves. Is he really like that? I don't know or care. The fact is that his records conjour up that image and I hate it. No sex, no spontaneity, no rock n'roll. And a tinny half-arsed guitar sound.... and no rhythm.

The words - oh my! If you're a sad inadequate, Gedge, then face up to it with some wit and perspective. Don't just whine. No-one gives a shit. The song titles - northern bluntness? new realism? Wonder where they got that idea eh? Just across the Pennines I reckon. They happened to be around at just the right time to pick up on the Smiths audience after their demise - that is, those Smiths fans who were too stupid to walk away from this crap. The worst gig I ever saw in my life was the Wedding Present/Flatmates/Close Lobsters at Kentish Town in about 1988. All three bands clueless as hell. Clunkers all.
― Dr. C, Wednesday, 20 December 2000

You're a great man, Dr C !!!

And yet, we went to see them just after they'd done their "12 hits in one year" singles box set / club etc.. and they were great.

They came on just as we were discussing their hits total, when my g/f says "They have to start with "Kennedy" though.

Immediately: "dangdangdangd'd'd'dangdangdangd'd'd'CHANGGGGGLost yr love of life?..."

Best start to a gig ever..

I am not convinced that this band ever had any hits.

i am not convinced by anyone who dismisses this band out of hand.

Now this one's a no-brainer. Dud, dud, dud. Hopeless. Why? For a start they released too much stuff and Gedge was clearly too much in love with the idea of making records to bother with the tiresome detail of you know, putting a decent band together, sounding good, or having something to say - all that irksome stuff. He always struck me as the kind of guy who kept press clippings of all their reviews and had a spare room with all 'the Weddoes' back catalogue carefully archived in dust-proof sleeves. Is he really like that? I don't know or care. The fact is that his records conjour up that image and I hate it. No sex, no spontaneity, no rock n'roll. And a tinny half-arsed guitar sound.... and no rhythm.

The words - oh my! If you're a sad inadequate, Gedge, then face up to it with some wit and perspective. Don't just whine. No-one gives a shit. The song titles - northern bluntness? new realism? Wonder where they got that idea eh? Just across the Pennines I reckon. They happened to be around at just the right time to pick up on the Smiths audience after their demise - that is, those Smiths fans who were too stupid to walk away from this crap. The worst gig I ever saw in my life was the Wedding Present/Flatmates/Close Lobsters at Kentish Town in about 1988. All three bands clueless as hell. Clunkers all.
― Dr. C, Wednesday, 20 December 2000

i'm sorry, i genuinely have no idea what point you're trying to prove, other than that you know nothing about this band and have no original thoughts about them. i know what dr c thinks; i also think it's odd to base a dismissal of a band on what they were doing 20 years ago, but hey.

Just got home from seeing them play in Vienna..

First time i'd seem them in 15 years and wasn't disppointed.

Played a few handful of songs from the (disappointing) new album, and a whole load of classics from their back catalogue - even playing their cover version of "Going nowhere fast".

The new band sounded every bit as good as I remember the 'old' one.

And they still don't play encores which confused quite a lot of the audience...

Great stuff!

The Peel Session version of "Take Me I'm Yours" gives me chills all over and puts a tear in my eye.

Absolutely classic.

I have not always listened to the Wedding Present all that intensely or often, but each time I have, I've enjoyed it greatly.

A dear friend of mine is their bassist.

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs060.snc3/14766_200805611934_10748026934_3224507_3610603_n.jpg

Go see them this month. Here's the schedule.

April
1 : San Diego CA, USA - Casbah
2 : Los Angeles CA, USA - Troubadour
5 : Austin TX, USA - Emo's
7 : Atlanta GA - Earl with The Jet Age
9 : Washington DC, USA - Black Cat with The Jet Age
10 : Hoboken NJ, USA - Maxwell's with The Jet Age
11 : New York City NY, USA - Bowery Ballroom
12 : Cambridge MA, USA - Middle East Downstairs
14 : Toronto ON, Canada - Horseshoe Tavern
15 : Pontiac MI, USA - The Pike Room at The Crofoot
16 : Chicago IL, USA - Double Door
17 : Minneapolis MN, USA - 400 Bar
20 : Vancouver BC, Canada - To be confirmed
21 : Seattle WA, USA - Crocodile
22 : Portland OR, USA - Doug Fir Lounge
24 : San Francisco CA, USA - Independent

This tour is the Bizarro tour eh?

Yup. I'll be there in Cambridge with a mess o' my mates. Though I'm off their current incarnation they were absolutely tops from 86-95 or so.

love seamonsters so much

like ian curtis fronting pavement

or sunny day real estate even

...

oh shut up

love seamonsters so much

shoulda stopped here imo, great record though!

https://www.discogs.com/The-Wedding-Present-George-Best-30/release/10420257

.. Re-recording your debut album w/Steve Albini?

Huh.

Cheap Trick did this, dunno what I think abut the Weddoes doing it, let alone with a different lineup.

According to DG, it was re-recorded in 2008 but has only now got a proper mixdown:

'George Best', re-recorded by Steve Albini in 2008. It's about I got this baby mixed. pic.twitter.com/XhwxGnFxK4

— David Gedge (@weddingpresent) January 26, 2014

The press release says they re-recorded it im some spare studio time at the end of a session with Albini for 'El Rey', they were pretty well drilled on it after the 20th anniversary shows and here we are getting a release fornthe 30th.

Can't say I've much interest in hearing this, and George Best is one of my favourite albums. Seems a bit pointless. Has any band done this and it's been better than the original? I can only think of a couple of examples of this:

Suicidal Tendencies - Still Cyco After All These Years (remake of first album plus a few extra songs from later albums)
UK Subs - Timewarp (not a whole album remake but basically a rerecording of a Best Of)

Didn't Axl Rose do something like this to avoid paying someone royalties?

Gang Of Four did this when they released "Return The Gift", though I think that was strictly an effort to make some income. It was worth hearing though in no way better than the originals.

though I think that was strictly an effort to make some income

Is there ever any reason other than money?

Sure there is, but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Love this album and I'm sort of ok with this and curious to hear it. I'd rather they had done it at Toe Rag studios with Liam Watson but you can't have everything.

Not even when you are everything.

At Ardent with Richard Dashut would have been my pick.

Maybe Moby could've done it.

they/he are the (george) best

and alex in nyc should listen to torino

Torino might be the best album of them all

Torino thirded.

Yup, only Cinerama with staying power.

I know very little about this band, but their song “Dalliance” just came up on YouTube... OMG, such a good song!

They need a definitive compilation really bad

if you like dalliance you will probably like seamonsters in total. an album more or less on par with loveless and bandwagonesque.

They need a definitive compilation really bad

True. In the meantime, there's "Ye Ye: The Best Of The RCA Years" which is a good albeit brief sampler.

There was a bunch of rerelease sets a few years ago of each album, with two extra discs of bsides and live stuff, plus a dvd of vids, TV appearancesand a interview.

I have most of them, Watusi is underrated and excellent.

Can I find Bizarro? Can I trousers.

I was listening to Seamonsters in high school and my mom came in and listened for a bit and said: "They should let the singer stand closer to the microphone."

umm dang I had not heard this band until yesterday but wow Seamonsters is incredible, like, this is music I have heard in my head for years but now it's outside of my head. I don't love the guy's singing but the guitars and the production CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CH BANG-BANG-BANG like my friends have sometimes tried to push Sarah Records stuff on my & I'm like ok I don't need to hear more stories about your Raggedy Andy lunchpail with polite strumming but this album, sure it is indebted to the Smiths but it is so much direct. I buy Albini's dynamics always & it's perfect here, I can vaguely tell that these are songs of resentments lyrically but the music speaks much more loudly about this. anyway I am in love, I want to join this band (as it was in 1991, I don't think I need to listen any further than that, I can live inside this album alone (Bizarro is good too))