Wedding Present - Going, Going...

  by Dixie Ernill

published: 17 / 10 / 2016

Label: Scopitones
Format: CD Box

intro

Brilliant return-to-form on ninth album from enduring indie stalwarts, the Wedding Present

There are certain ingredients that make a good Wedding Present album and ‘Going, Going…’ certainly seems to tick the right boxes Firstly there’s David Gedge’s wonderful vignettes of life’s make ups and more importantly break ups. Second a soundscape of crunching guitars, fast melodies and hummable tunes and third a ready wit in both lyric and, in the case of 'Fordland', song title – surely cheeky nod to 'Granadaland' from ‘1989’s ‘Bizarro’ album. Not content, however, with collecting some fine songs together that fit the above blueprint, Gedge and his musical cohorts have also branched out into the cinematic instrumental arena with no fewer than five of these tracks (notably the opening four) included on the album. Whilst this is a departure and may test the patience of some fans, there are still another fifteen tracks that mean the listener gets real value for money. There is also a DVD of short films to accompany each track and thus make this album stand apart from previous ones, although in truth they don’t really bring a huge amount to the party, being somewhat uneventful in their content. In respect of the songs there’s a real mixed bag with the like of 'Two Bridges', 'Birdsnest' and 'Broken Bow' (including the album’s standout lyric – "The pain of failure is so much greater than the pleasure of success" – true words indeed Mr Gedge) being catchy Wedding Present standards, while 'Emporia' is a softer keyboard driven number and 'Bear' embraces a fine three way harmony. Elsewhere, 'Secretary' is reminiscent of the break-neck thrash of 'Felicity' from thirty years ago and 'Rachel' is a near perfect pop song about yet another girl that has entered Gedge’s world. It almost seems like he’s had more hook-ups than Charlie Sheen’s character in 'Two and a Half Men', but if it fuels songs this good who cares? At twenty tracks, ‘Going, Going…’ is probably slightly ambitious, but with a little editing it could be the Wedding Present’s best album since ‘George Best’ and certainly a step up from 2012’s 'Valentina'. The wedding season might be drawing to a close, but The Wedding Present are as vital as ever.

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