Wedding+present

The Wedding Present have been unanimously despised by the British music press following a brief honeymoon period in the mid-'80s. When they announced their desire to issue a single a month for a whole year, one particularly caustic Melody Maker journalist pointed out that she now had two low spots in her monthly cycle to endure. It must also be said that RCA were not too enamored of the projected release schedule when David Gedge first put his idea to them. For many, though – including discerning onlookers like long-standing friend and supporter John Peel – The Wedding Present's single-a-month blitz in 1992 was one of the highlights of that year. The band were at their peak: They'd just recorded their best record, Seamonsters, with Steve Albini, and they were beginning to stretch their sound beyond the coy romanticism of old. However, the real joy of the singles – good as they were – was Gedge's esoteric choices for B-sides, including the Go-Betweens' "Cattle and Cane," Altered Images' "Think That It Might" (Gedge was a huge fan of their overlooked Bite album), and the Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday." Diverting, original, and great fun.

George Best is the debut album by The Wedding Present. It was released in October 1987 by their own record company, Reception Records. In 2007, the band played a 20th anniversary tour of George Best, performing the album in its entirety. Following this, during the recording sessions for their 2008 album El Rey, the band made a live-in-the-studio recording of George Best with Steve Albini. The recording, mixed by Andrew Scheps, will be released in September 2017 as George Best 30. NME ranked it at number 489 in its 2014 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Curated by the same team behind last year's award-winning 5-CD box set Scared To Get Happy, this highly anticipated reissue will be housed in a 'clamshell'-style hinged box, with a chunky booklet including a 11,500-word sleeve-note by Neil Taylor and lots of pretty pictures. In the NME's own words…"The album, first released on a cassette with NME in 1986, went on to inspire a generation of indie bands and features music by Primal Scream, The Pastels, Shop Assistants and The Wedding Present among many others. Former NME writer Neil Taylor, who assisted in compiling the original 22 track album nearly 30 years ago, has written the liner notes for the reissue and helped with the curation of two bonus discs of material which will include songs exclusive to CD and some never released before including tracks by The Love Act, North of Cornwallis and Paul Groovy & The Pop Art Experience."

"(His) Symphony is a very likeable discovery. Both middle movements display a disarming melodic felicity and assurance, and admiring glances towards Dvorák, although Stanford (his teacher) was never happy with the finale. It was first played by RCM students in 1896 (including Holst and Vaughan Williams !). Although it went down well, it gathered dust for over a century. Bostock's alert and affectionate lead enjoy making it's acquaintance… crisp and clear sound for this world premiere recording. In every respect, a solid thumbs-up" [Gramophone]

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of C86, we’re now proud to announce a sequel, in the shape of C87! Imagine if the NME had reconvened a year on from their original compilation? Well, that’s the inspiration for another 70+ tracks, ranging from well-known Indie names to obscurities making their debut on CD.

Mojo magazine (October issue) presents "You've Got Everything Now!" - an indie rock blow-out starring The Sugarcubes, The Wedding Present, The Fall, The Pastels, The Three Johns, Red Guitars and more!