The Wedding Present Cup: Stage 1, Group 7

     

Group 7

• Gazebo
• Shatner
• Let Him Have It
• Fleshworld
• Lead
• 524 Fidelio
• The Loneliest Time Of The Year
• Don't Laugh 
• She's My Best Friend
• Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk
• What Did Your Last Servant Die Of?
• Unfaithful
• Broken Bow
• La La La
• Don't Talk, Just Kiss
• Sucker

The Results

This was one of those rounds where the panel found it challenging to identify songs that should get a zero. As Harry remarked, 'The hardest yet as I wanted to give points to everything... there isn't a real duffer among them.' The points were certainly distibuted more widely this time: previously, the top four have managed 100+ in nearly every group; here, only two tracks reached three figures.

Interestingly, five of the eight qualifiers were non-LP tracks. One of them, 'Don't Talk, Just Kiss', triumphed by an impressively wide margin. 'What Did Your Last Servant Die Of?' was a comfortable second - 'the kind of story telling that brings out the best of Gedge,' commented Johnny. Keg also praised the 'domestic vignette... one of the factors that made "George Best" so appealing,' although he also thought it 'let down by the unsophisticated drumming.' 

'Fleshworld' finished in third despite receiving four zeros. One of them came from Johnny, who found it a tad too raucous: 'It was about this time that I started to struggle a bit; it felt like Gedge was trying his best to make things were unlistenable.' However, he was outnumbered by fans of the songs such as James ('blimey, the bass on this one… and the drumming.. and the guitars... bloody brilliant'), Gav M ('really enjoyed hearing this again, yet another classic I’ve overlooked for years') and Keg ('one of my all-time favourite WP songs - as with "Sucker", I love it when Gedge brings out his inner Mark E Smith').

Another b-side, 'Don't Laugh', came fourth. Although Ian thought it 'the weakest of the GB- style offerings,' it stirred some enthusiastic nostalgia in Gav M, who recalled his 16 year old self getting drunk on whisky at a friend's house the day he bought the single. Johnny was also inspired to wax lyrical:

One of my perennial, eternal go-to Wedding Present songs, I love it, always have, always will. When b-sides could beat title tracks hands down - It’s Rita Tushingham and Albert Finney in a three minute slice of vigorous pop perfection. Dizzy, giddy and devastating in equal measure. Carol Reed would make a film if he weren’t dead. If I am ever machine gunned to death I want the bullets to ring out to the rhythm of the opening salvo of snare cracks. 

Predictably, several of the panel expressed regret that the 'electric' version of 'Gazebo' wasn't chosen for Watusi, but it still qualified with ease - as did 100mph George Best track 'Shatner', which has, according to Ian 'got all the elements that we need.' I wasn't sure that 'Unfaithful' would make it through, given that when I did the blog, a few people suggested that I'd placed it too high at 125. However, strong support from Ali and Joanna, plus some positive regard for the '1974 shirt' line helped it to succeed.

The final qualifier, 'Sucker' was a particularly divisive track. Johnny felt that he didn't need to slag it off, trusting that there would be 'plenty of negative comments from my esteemed brethren in this endeavour who will do so for me.' However, whilst Gav F did oblige ('a p*ss-poor and very cringeworthy imitation of The Fall'), there was actually plenty of enthusiasm for the song. 'It's never a bad thing to let your Fall influence seep in,' commented Kirk; Bob described it as 'punktastic!'

At the bottom of the table, 'La La La' was only rescued from the dreaded 'nul points' by a solitary mark from Gav F. 'La La Lazy' was Gricey's verdict. 'Lead' fared only a little better, with both Gav F and Keg dismissing it as 'filler.' 'She's My Best Friend' went the way of most of the covers so far. Despite a ten from Steve M and Johnny describing it as 'magnificent', the judges were largely unimpressed. 'The Loneliest Time Of The Year' was another that polarised the panel, with some finding it epic and moving but others considering a bit twee. Gav F was in the latter camp: 'sounds like a companion piece to East 17’s “Stay Another Day".'

'Broken Bow' did a little better than many of the Going Going songs that have appeared so far. Gricey rated it as 'one of the best' from that album, and it is one of Harry's 'favourite latter day Gedge tracks.' A few others noted that it works well live. Nonetheless, it finished some way short of qualification - as did '524 Fidelio', even though Gav M thought it 'a cute little song' and Keg praised its 'subtle charms.'

'Don't Take Me Home Until I'm Drunk' was yet another that notably divided opinion. Johnny approved ('It’s like Les Dennis doing Mavis if Mavis were from Manhattan') and Gav M was once again transported back to a time when he 'seemed to be living every word DLG was singing.' Keg, on the other hand, was not fond of the 'sickly' lyric, and Gav F was particularly disparaging: 'weak and vomit inducing.'

I had suspected that 'Let Him Have It' (which only made it to number 214 in my blog) would be in the bottom two or three, but although it was a long way off progressing to the next stage it did pick up some positive(ish) comments: 'Wafer-thin but I've always loved the feel of this one' (Gricey); 'I’d guess they wrote this in five minutes but it’s got a bit of a groove to it and there’s plenty worse on Watusi' (Kirk); 'Much like myself, the advancing years have been very kind to it' (Harry).

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