Personnel: David Gedge (vocals, guitar); Amelia (vocals); Peter Solowka (guitar); Shaun Charman (drums, snare drum, background vocals); Simon Smith (drums).
Audio Mixer: The Wedding Present.
Recording information: 1987-1988.
Photographer: Andrew Catlin.
Although the Wedding Present would go on to make more nuanced and refined albums later in its career, this 1987 debut full-length captures the band at its sweetly rambunctious best. Mixing a thunderous tidal wave of fuzzed-out guitars with classic pop melodies played at a furious clip, GEORGE BEST is the sound of a precocious bunch of young hipsters trying to recreate Phil Spector's Wall of Sound with a limited musical arsenal--consisting of drums, bass, and guitars--and very little cash. Frontman David Gedge, who also writes the songs and plays guitar, sings about a variety of topics (most commonly love and its pitfalls) in what is one of the most unique and distinct voices in rock & roll: part aching wail, part brilliant lilt--a description not inappropriate to the Wedos themselves. Tracks like "Shatner," "All This And More," and "Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft" are gleefully rough around the edges, but posses an urgency and romanticism that is impossible to resist. While the band would refine and perfect the sound found here (most notably on the Steve Albini produced SEAMONSTER), GEORGE BEST remains a quintessential document of a truly brilliant band.
Professional Reviews
Melody Maker (10/25/97, p.54) - "...the sound of a young band struggling to find their feet, to find the right words, to get the noise right. Maybe that's why it sounded so fresh, so bullshit free and life-affirming in 1987 and...sounds so poignant and startlingly innocent now."
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