The Wedding Present - Valentina

"Valentina" is the long awaited eighth album from British Indie rock band, The Wedding Present. Formed in 1985 they've been through various lineups with singer/guitarist being the only member to remain a constant part of the band. Their last album, "El rey" was released four years ago, so it's been quite a wait for their fans. Well after listening to the album quite a lot over the last few days I have to say it's been well worth the wait - this is another top notch album from the band, and really shows that the current crop of Indie bands still have plenty to learn from the masters.

One of my favourite tracks is "End Credits" - a very rocky song that really works well.

"Back a bit...stop" is another good track - for the first hlaf or two-thirds. Unfortunately I really don't like the way that the song stops at that point and is replaced by a very heavily distorted feeback sound for the last minute - frankly it sounds awful and has no connection to the main part of the song. I really can't see why they chose to include this last minute or so - its totally out of place and adds no value.

One minor criticism - the track listing on the back of the CD packaging is in a font so tiny that its barely readable for a lot of people. There's no justification for this sort of thing I'm afraid.

This is The Wedding Present at their best, showing the rest of the indie rock bands how the masters do it !


"Valentina" will be released on 19th March via the band's own label, Scopitones.


Track listing

1. You're dead
2. You Jane
3. Meet cute
4. Back a bit...stop
5. Stop thief
6. Girl from the DDR
7. Deer caught in the headlights
8. 524 Fidelio
9. End credits
10. Mystery date