Customer Reviews

El Rey

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been a fan of TWP going all the way back to George Best. Seamonsters was a high point, so this one being recorded by Steve Albini perhaps gave me inflated hopes. But there is no new ground tread here, and little to inspire in the way the old ground is covered.

Gedge's lyrics used to be endearing, as he always seemed on the wrong end of a relationship gone bad and we could feel for him even in his bitterness. Then with Cinerama he became something of the happy womanizer and frankly hard to like (his two main themes seemed to be, "She cheated on me and it feels awful" and, "I cheated on her and it feels great," with no apparent sense of contradiction). Finally I thought perhaps he'd grown up when he gave us these lines in the lovely closer to Cinerama's last album: "I was jealous and mean, you were fragrant and flirty / It's strange just how innocent it all looks today / We tried to imagine being together at thirty / but that always seemed such a long way away." This sounded like an adult. But now he's regressed to, "And that's when I pretend that I don't have a girlfriend." Where are we now, high school? There are other embarrassing clunker lines like this, and I agree with the comment about, "No soup for you." Sheesh.

I still like them, and there are some good musical moments here, but it's very far from their best.

the other reviewers talk about the dry albini sound as if it's a loss??? this album rocks, and for me that dry detached and damped albini sound is what the wedding present have been about when they hit their mark. these songs are not just about attitude - that wonderful dischordant out-of-tune pop guitaring is back at last! thank you david for this killer album - a collection of classic tracks. buy this now. you will love it.

I have really liked the Wedding Present for about 15+ years now. Honestly, I haven't bought much of their recent stuff but wanted to check this out based on early buzz and Albini getting back into the picture. Its pretty decent for their "LA album". The themes of the songs get a little boring after awhile. Okay, I get it - Gedge is having women problems. My biggest problem is the song "Soup". I hate it. The "No Soup For You" chorus from Seinfeld totally trivializes the whole CD and starts making you analyze how bad some of the other song lyrics are. I guess in the UK the reference may go unnoticed but in the US it makes the song cheap and cartoonish. Enough with the negative, take out that song and this is totally a solid release and worth checking out. I mean, if you like The Wedding Present than you know what to expect.
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If you want to hear what reborn Wedding Present sounds like, get the excellent Take Fountain. If you want to hear what a post-Seamonsters Gedge/Albini collaboration sounds like, get Cinerama's outstanding finale, Torino. El Rey is Gedge's first stumble since starting Cinerama. Not terrible, it has it's moments (even bad Gedge writing is pretty good), but weak and unsatisfying. To echo another reviewer, "Soup" is unpalatable. Get out of LA, David.

I love the Wedding Present. But I sold this CD shortly after buying it and have no intention of repurchasing it in the future. It's OK for them to have a lull in their output, I just hope for better work on their next release.

Seamonsters this isn't. Gedge sounds a bit resolved, rough edges sanded, electric guitars like vestigial fins. On first listen, things even seem a bit phoned in. (However I could have said the same of Saturnalia, a record that eventually grew on me.) Steve Albini's engineering, the big selling point for the new Wedding Present record (due to his superb work on Seamonsters, a defining album for this band) was something that this almost maddeningly consistent band really needed to make it all worthwhile for longtime fans -- but it simply doesn't do anything for performances that aren't immediate, bracing, and a little pissed off, like the last time Gedge and Albini collaborated.

It's still a Wedding Present album, though not a particularly gripping one. I appreciated the customer review that observed that Gedge seems caught in a songwriting doldrum: either "have an affair with me, that guy you're dating is a chump" or "I can't believe you cheated on me and treated me like a chump." The man wants to have his cake an eat it too, and while the situations and emotions that arise from this lifestyle can result in some exciting music, on El Rey they just seem like a retread of some pretty worn tires. Sure, this is one of his lyrical tropes, but it was handled with so much more nuance and self-inspection on the metaphoric "Mini" EP. Coming from a younger Gedge, this Don Juan-esque romantic languishing seems like a normal struggle with freedom and fidelity that most young males experience. Coming from a Gedge inhabiting middle age, it's a little sad and creepy.

Try one of their "mid-period" albums like Saturnalia, Bizarro, Seamonsters, or one of the many great singles collections for a listening experience that sounds more alive and engaged.