Suddenly It's Tuesday

  Well, I emerged from the opening selection  relatively unscathed. Although some took umbrage at 'Secretary' taking the bottom slot, and there were a couple of protests regarding 'Shivers' lowly status, there was a surprising amount of concurrence. Comments included 'I don’t mind Back for Good but otherwise yup that’s about right', 'a bit harsh when it comes to Let Him Have It and Big Rat, but little else to argue with' and even 'all correct and accurate'. I doubt that this will last, however. On with the next ten, then. Once again, the majority are covers... 210 Him Or Me (What's It Gonna Be?) (B-side of Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, 1994) A  1967 hit for Paul Revere & the Raiders (the video is worth watching for the outfits and the guitarist and bassist's dancing alone), the original was a sprightly slice of psychedelic pop. TWP take a steamroller to it, delivering an energetic if somewhat one-dimensional thrashy take on the song.  20

  Before I start on the list proper, there are a few things I want to emphasise. (I covered some of them in the introductory post , but they're worth reiterating, I think.) 'Ranking' any artist's work is a superficial and ultimately futile process, I'm well aware of that. However, it [a] provokes discussion [b] may help to promote said artist's work and [c] is a bit of fun that you can all interact with (no doubt by calling me a cloth-eared fool on occasion). I love The Wedding Present's body of work: it has given me as much pleasure as that of any other artist over the years. However, any band that has recorded over 200 songs is bound to have the occasional misstep. The TWP back catalogue, to be fair, is far more consistent than many artists of a similar longevity (and that definitely includes The Fall ). I have to do this 'bottom to top'; doing it the other way round would be rather anti-climactic. Consequently, the first couple of posts will inev

"I have to say that I think the boy Gedge has written some of the best love songs of the rock & roll era. Now you may dispute that, but I'm right and you're wrong."  John Peel, 2 September 1999 If you have come to this post having followed any of my writing about The Fall , you might suspect - not unreasonably - that I've just plumped for The Wedding Present to write about as a band with a similar demographic to that of Mark E Smith and co. It's certainly true that there's a healthy intersection between fans of the two, but I actually have a lengthy, personal connection with TWP. In fact, in the 30-odd years since I first heard both of them, my relationship with The Wedding Present has been more consistent than with The Fall. Although my Fall listening and writing has become a bit of an obsession over recent years, I have 'dipped in and out' of following them in the past. (I'm not alone in this: The Fall Online editor Conway Paton, for exa