The Wedding Present Cup

      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 ...

     Group 6 Once Bitten Don't Touch That Dial Step Inside Love  Meet Cute White Riot Always The Quiet One Peek-a-boo Box Elder The Girl From the DDR Undercurrent Pinch, Twist, Pull, Release Ringway To Seatac Spangle We All Came From The Sea You Jane Birdsnest The Results 'Box Elder' became only the fourth cover to make it into the next stage, getting decent marks from the majority of voters. This included a maximum 12 from Mike, who confessed that he didn't even know it was a cover when he first heard it. Keg had 'nostalgic affection' for the track, although he couldn't find it a point and declared the Pavement original to be superior.  It was a familiar story with the remainder of the cover versions in this group, however, all of which found themselves towards the foot of the table. TWP's take on 'Undercurrent' , a 1963 track by Richie Allen & the Pacific Surfers which appeared on a 7" flexi-disc in 1993, left the panel unimpressed...

    Group 5 Unthinking What Have I Said Now? Corduroy Brassneck 50s Journey Into Space Granadaland So Long, Baby Getting Better  Fordland Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) Thanks High Love Machine Perfect Blue Catwoman The Results This group was very different to the last one. In Group 4 , several of the judges found themselves having to award points to songs they didn't very much care for; here, many ended up running out of points for tracks that they would have liked to reward more highly. As Bob, in his inimitable style, put it: 'Another tough round but for different reasons. Whilst the last round had us sifting through rivers of sh*t to find an elusive nugget, this one was chock full of belters.' For the fourth time in five rounds, there was a cover version languishing at the foot of the table with zero points. This time it was TWP's take on The Cure's 'High' , recorded for a 2008 VA compilation . Gricey had never heard it before, and found it 'quit...

   Group 4 Don't Dictate Little Silver Plot Twist Crushed All This And More Whodunnit Science Fiction Whole Wide World Ten Sleep I'm From Further North Than You This Boy Can Wait Kill Devil Hills Hot Pants Loveslave Click Click Blonde The Results Generally speaking, I think that the random number generator I used to create the groups did a pretty good job of spreading out 38 years' worth of material. However, the general consensus among the panel was that this was a relatively weak set of songs, with some of them struggling to distribute their lower scores in particular. Once again, cover versions did not fare well. Several judges expressed admiration for the original 'Whole Wide World' (by Wreckless Eric ), but the most positive comment on TWP's version was Harry's not unreasonable assertion that it was not as bad as the attempt by The Proclaimers . Gav F got quite animated on the issue: 'One of my favourite songs ever, butchered by one of my favourite...

   Group 3 I Found That Essence Rare Caroline No Once More Big Rat Swimming Pools, Movie Stars Go Wild in the Country Something And Nothing A  Million Miles (The Moment Before) Everything's Spoiled Again Mystery Date Octopussy Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Theme From Cheers) Boing! Kerplunk! You Can't Moan, Can You?  Blue Eyes The Results Beach Boys cover 'Caroline No' became the second song to achieve 'nul points'. Both Keg and Gav F characterised it as 'TWP-by-numbers' cover; others were more vehement. Ian, for example, commented that, 'the original is awful from an entirely over-rated album IMHO and this has not improved it.' Johnny was customarily concise: 'No, just that, No.' The 'Theme From Cheers' was regarded with a little more affection, a few of the panel having fond memories of seeing it live. Not fond enough to see it to double figures though. Again, I will give the final word to Johnny:  Maybe if you’re a sixth f...

   Group 2 Sports Car The Trouble with Men Holly Jolly Hollywood That Would Only Happen In A Movie Monochrome Nothing Comes Easy  Memento Mori Queen Anne Telemark Let's Make Some Plans 2, 3, Go Bad Thing It's A Gas Falling Don't Give Up Without A Fight Deer Caught in the Headlights The Results Overall, this was a far more divisive group than group 1 . Whereas 'My Favourite Dress' got a mark from everyone, all of the top six here got a zero from at least three of the panel. In group 1, only one non-qualifier got one of the panel's top two marks; here there were seven 10/12s among those who didn't make it through. One of those was Keg's ten for 'Holly Jolly Hollywood' . Although panned by the overwhelming majority (Steve M, for example, thought that 'the title and lyrics are excruciating'), Keg found a lot to love: 'Just a splendid slice of indie pop with a brilliantly catchy chorus. It's a track I always look forward to playing in ...

  Before we get started with the first group, a reminder that the panel (all members of the Something & Nothing forum ) are voting 'Eurovision style', i.e. 12 / 10 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1 marks. The top 8 go through to the next stage... Group 1 Montreal Nickels And Dimes Nobody's Twisting Your Arm  End Credits Bells White Christmas Bear We Should Be Together Signal At the Edge of the Sea My Favourite Dress No Twenty Jackies Boo Boo I Lost the Monkey Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?  The Results 'White Christmas' was universally panned: 'an excruciatingly bad cover of an excruciatingly bad song' (Steve M); '[Gedge] sounds like he just downed a bottle of Harvey’s Bristol Cream' (Ian); 'Why? There is no point in covering this' (John). Keg had a slightly more forgiving view, even if he didn't give it any points: Perfunctory cover. Doesn't really do much for me, although the surfy lead guitar is a nice touch. It's one ...