The Wedding Present Cup: Stage 1, Group 10

        

Group 10

• You're Dead
• Don't Be So Hard
• The Queen of Outer Space
• Every Mother's Son
• Back For Good 
• Kansas
• Project Cenzo
• Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft
• Go, Man, Go
• Lovin' You 
• Le Bikini
• Big Boots
• Carolyn
• Swingers
• Strike!

The Results

This was one of those groups generally seen as a bit weak by the panel: there were a few instances where a track got a single point simply because 'there were five worse songs.'

In general, cover versions did not do well on my Suddenly It's Tuesday blog: they were heavily represented in the bottom end of the ranking and only two ('Let's Make Some Plans' and 'Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)') made it into the top 100. This is not to say that TWP are bad at covers; it simply reflects the fact that covers tend to be throwaway affairs for b-sides, VA compilations, etc. So it's no surprise that they have not fared well in this competition so far. And on this occasion, two of them joined the 'nul points' list...

Take That's 'Back For Good' is a classic pop song, and the idea of TWP covering it is an interesting one (Gav F remembers suggesting it on the Scopitones forum many years ago, hoping for 'a dark, noisy reinterpretation that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Seamonsters'). But it didn't work out well, with more than one judge describing it as 'awful,' although John thought it a 'pleasant cover.' Keg had particularly strong feelings: 'No, no, no! I loathed Take That... in a deeply visceral way. I still do. This is horrible. I'd give it a minus score if I could.'

Surprisingly, 'Lovin' You' wasn't derided to quite the same degree (although Gricey found it 'vomit inducing'). Harry described it as 'not a bad cover' and Joanna epressed admiration for 'the gravel-voiced Gedge... covering a song by a singer famed for her five-octave vocal range' - but it still ended up with zero.

'Swingers' is a distinctly atypical TWP song. Several of the judges were positive about Terry's vocal, but only a minority gave it any points, with Gav M being the only one to give more than two. Harry was pretty much a lone voice in praising 'Big Boots': 'It took me years to appreciate the beauty of this song, but now it's a firm favourite.' 

Surf-rock instrumental 'Le Bikini' did have its supporters. Gav F thought it 'belting'; Joanna, who had never heard it before, gave it an 8; Keg even awarded it his maximum score: 'I like surf music and I love this track. According to last.fm, this is my most played WP track ever... I bet lots of people give this a zero (apart from Bob). The fools.' The majority, however, were less impressed. Johnny felt it was 'bordering on the unremarkable' and Ian described it as 'schoolboy twelve-bar... I don’t see how it took four of them to write it.' (And Keg was wrong about Bob - he gave it a zero.)

There was one 24 Songs track in this round, and it attracted a handful of decent marks. 'Strike!' was another that Joanna was hearing for the first time, and she found it 'leaving songs I've been listening to for over 30 years in its wake.' Johnny liked its 'vigour' but considered it 'a bit formulaic.' Ian's comment was 'I know all the songs sound the same but DLG must have double figures of tunes that start and sound exactly like this.'

At the top of the table, it was no surprise to find 'Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft' and 'Carolyn' some distance ahead of the rest. 'Go, Man, Go' also performed strongly ('a brilliant swaggering swoon of sonics,' according to Johnny) as did 'Don't Be So Hard', even if Gav M dismissed as a 'an all the songs sound the same George Best era song.' 'The Queen of Outer Space' also qualified comfortably, although it's not one of my favourite Hit Parade singles and Gav F commented that it 'has always left me cold, just seems a mishmash of ideas that doesn’t slot together well.'

Although Kirk thought that it 'fizzes along nicely,' 'Kansas' probably benefitted from being in a less than strong group. Joanna certainly thought so ('always considered this one of the weaker ones on the album but sounding pretty storming amongst these duds'), as did Gav M ('It’s not that good, but it’s in a very weak group'). It still finished some distance ahead of 'Every Mother's Son'. Johnny might have enjoyed its 'youthful, vibrant clatter,' but Kirk dismissed it as an 'average b-side.' Keg wanted to point out its similarity to Syndicate of Sound's 1966 US hit 'Little Girl'.

It was a close-run thing for the final qualifying spot. Valentina's opener 'You're Dead' did attract some praise, especially for its dreamy coda, although several were not keen on the lyric in the chorus (Keg took particular issue with the use of the word 'shebang' - a view with which I sympathise). It was pipped to the post by 'Montreal' b-side 'Project Cenzo'. It was this round's most divisive track - only the second one to go through despite getting six zeros (the other was 'Thanks' in group 5). Gav F viewed it as 'a quirky forgotten treasure' and Harry thought it 'tremendous fun.' Several panellists likened it to The Fall, although I'm not sure I hear it myself.

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