The Wedding Present were the first indie band I truly fell in love with (in a platonic, macho kind of way of course). My older siblings had introduced me to the Cure and the Smiths, and much as I went on to adore those bands, I think they were a bit much for a 15 year old to take. But when I first head the Weddoes, it was love at first note.
I got introduced to them following a fairly random purchase of one of the early Indie top 20 albums, great albums which deserve a page of their own. But there, on side 4, sat 'Anyone Can make a mistake' and even though it was sharing space with Joy Division, Throwing Muses and My Bloody Valentine, it was the sheer power of that song which sang loudest to me.
The Wedding Present have of course gone through many incarnations since then, though one piece of glue has held them together, and that is lead singer/songwriter David Lewis Gedge. His work has matured since the twenty years their classic album George Best was released but still the same themes apply. Unrequited love, jealousy, infidelity, angst and the dark side of love rule in this world but in a harmonious way that makes it joyful and sad at the same time.
Their journey started with proper 4 lads and a guitar stuff, exemplified by 'You should always keep in touch with your friends' below...
Their sound changed after this, with 'angrier' guitars and solos, as seen with the classic 'Kennedy'fromthe album Bizzaro....
And of late, they have moved to a more sophisticated sound, as heard in 'I'm from further north than you' from the album Take Fountain
Albums to buy, in this order, are George Best, Seamonsters, Take Fountain and Bizzaro. Go out and Get Em boy!
