THE WEDDING PRESENT - VALENTINA
Scopitones

I was never a fan of The Wedding Present back in the day, finding them far too predictably Eighties indie for my tastes. Hardcore fans should take note of that right away – I’m not one of you. But time moves on, and having enjoyed David Gedge’s post Weddoes band Cinerama, I was willing to give this new LP a stab.

So, has my opinion changed? Perhaps… but not much. At its best, this is an album with an agreeable mix of jagged guitar rock with a pop sensibility underlining it. At worst, it’s Wedding Present by numbers, with the band showing all the musical adventurousness of Status Quo . In effect, it’s a record for fans, who don’t want experimentation or progression – they want their favourite band to sound exactly how they did a quarter of century ago. In which case, mission accomplished – if you are one of the band’s surprisingly obsessive fans, you will probably love this, and nothing I say will change your mind – and nor should it. If you are less committed – well, this isn’t going to be the album to open your eyes to what you are missing.

Tracks like Meet Cute, Back a Bit… Stop (with its wall of sound finale), Deer Caught in the Headlights and End Credits – by far the best thing on this album - have a bit of thrust about them and make the most of Gedge’s off-key but emotive delivery, as well as displaying the lyrical sharpness that he’s known for. At its worst, it seems a bit of a dirge, tracks like Stop Thief! and opener You’re Dead going nowhere rather too slowly. The disposable tracks – and they make up about half the album – are pretty grating, and feel very long. You rather wish that the band would step out of their comfort zone once in a while and try something different. Instead, they seem content to deliver exactly what people expect and want – befitting any band that has ‘reformed’ (without most original members). Gedge might not be quite ready for the Butlins circuit yet, but make no mistake – this is safe nostalgia nonetheless.

Ironically, the band still sound very current – which says more about how the indie scene has been stuck in a rut of predictability than it does about the Weddoes moving with the times. There is a glut of disposable indie bands up and down the country doing much the same sort of thing, and I guess if you are going to buy it, then you should at least buy it from the originators like Gedge, not the pale imitators.

Not that my opinion will matter to the fans, or indeed certain parts indie press who have predictably treated this like the second coming and who you suspect would give five star reviews to an album of Gedge farting. Truth be told though, this is merely a reflection of past glories. Efficient, but uninspired.

DAVID FLINT

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