The Wedding Present Cup: Stage 1, Group 11

February 28, 2024

Group 11

Wales
Waiting On The Guns
Don't Cry No Tears
Mercury
Bewitched
Two Bridges
You're Just A Habit That I Am Trying To Break
Gone
Hula Doll
Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family
Bubbles
Shivers
Each Time You Open Your Eyes
Spider-Man on Hollywood
A Song From Under The Floorboards

The Results

As was the case with the last group, many of the panel considered this to be a relatively weak set of songs and found themselves having to award points to tracks that might have got a zero from them otherwise. Gav M was particularly vehement on this point:

Everything scoring below a 5 would have got big zeros from me had they featured in previous groups. I’m too annoyed with this group to write any other commentary.

'Hula Doll' certainly benefitted from this situation, becoming the first song to go through despite receiving seven zeros. A few found it musically acceptable, but weren't keen on lyrics such as, 'I just kissed her... I couldn’t resist her.' 'Quite a nice melody,' commented Gricey, 'but still a bit cringey.' 'Shivers' is another that some might be surprised to see qualify (Bob, for example, whose comment was, 'It gives me them.') Some remembered it fondly as a piece of intro/outro music at gigs, but its success was mainly due to maximum scores from Ali and Keg. The latter explained his enthusiasm:

Like "Larry's", this is another song where art imitates life and reminds me of my own personal experiences.... namely my dalliance with "the bridesmaid" which kept people on the forum entertained back in 2006 and for several years afterwards. Lyrically it's very insightful. It's not just another throwaway love song. Terry's backing vocals are quite lovely.

Another b-side, 'Bubbles', did not fare so well. Harry recognised that it would 'divide the room and probably irritate the majority,' but professed 'a certain amount of affection for it.' Ian quite enjoyed its 'quirkiness.' Johnny was not so keen: 'Harmless fun, until the chorus kicks in. It’s like some s**t skit by Russ Abbott on 1970s Saturday evening telly. Get out of my ears.'

Four of the five at the bottom were covers. TWP's version 'Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family' (a track from my favourite Bowie album) was, according to John, a 'brave' choice. Ian thought it 'not a bad effort'; Kirk and Gricey actually preferred it to the orginal (the heathens!) None of which prevented it from languishing at the foot of the table.

Coincidentally, 'Don't Cry No Tears' is from my favourite Neil Young album. Kirk considered TWP's version to be the best he's heard, and Mike thought it 'one of the better covers on Hit Parade. I find myself agreeing with Johnny: 'A thoroughly respectable rattle through that doesn’t come close to bettering the original. I like the gutsy rattle of the guitars but with the Neil Young version the sweet vocals provide a thrilling juxtaposition that the Gedge growl can never complete with.'

In contrast, although it will be seen as heresy by some (especially Ian), I've never really 'got' Magazine, and TWP's reading of 'A Song from Under the Floorboards' gets a shrug of the shoulders from me, as it did from most of the judges. Ian thought that 'even Moz’s limp version is better than this.' To my mind, 'Waiting On The Guns' (originally recorded by Butterglory) is both a better song and a better cover. Mike was particularly enthusiastic, calling it 'beautiful' and giving it 12 points; Kirk also described it as a 'great cover.' Despite this praise, it fell nine points short of going through.

'Spider-Man on Hollywood' pipped 'You're Just a Habit That I Am Trying to Break' to ninth place by virtue of having slightly superior head-to-head scores. Most of the criticism of the former focused on the lyric, specifically 'so funny... honey' and, as Johnny put it, 'that "hair" line.' Gav F gave 'Habit' his third highest mark, but the overall attitude towards the song was perhaps best captured by James: 'not terrible.'

At the top end of the table, 'Bewitched' gained the highest total so far (four more than 'Dalliance') attracting top marks from 12/17 judges. 'Gone', with what Bob described as its 'marvellously bonkers ending', also performed strongly. The same was true of 'Mercury', which attracted much praise for its changes in tempo.

There was a considerable gap between the top three and the remaining qualifiers, each of which proved fairly devisive. Many enjoyed the post-rock second half of 'Wales', although opinion was divided on Andrew Teilo's spoken intro. Views on 'Each Time You Open Your Eyes' ranged from 'The classic TWP quiet-loud-quiet-loud formula used to excellent effect' (Kirk) to 'uninspiring and obvious' (Keg). 'Two Bridges' was given a six or better by ten of the panel, with Ian describing it as 'one of the few Going Going tunes that breaks the mould and can stand on its own.'