The Wedding Present share glorious cover of James Bond theme tune ‘You Only Live Twice’, ahead of the release of new Marc Riley Sessions album

On February 13, 2019

In News

On the 15^th February, Hatch Records are pleased to announce the release of the third instalment from The Wedding Presents’ popular Marc Riley Sessions series. A band with a history that’s inextricably intertwined with the BBC and in particular the late BBC DJ John Peel, an early champion of the band, the ‘Marc Riley Sessions’ series echoes the famous Peel/Selwood releases on the Strange Fruit label that included BBC sessions from the likes of New Order, Buzzcocks, The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen.

Ahead of the release, The Wedding Present are pleased to share a glorious cover version of the theme music from the fifth James Bond film, ‘You Only Live Twice’, taken from the sessions. “I’ve always been fond of recording cover versions and there a couple of great ones on this LP. In 2015 we had a go at John Barry and Leslie Bricusse’s ‘You Only Live Twice’ – and enjoyed it so much that I’m now planning a compilation of Bond covers to be released on my label, Scopitones”, says David.

Having received critical acclaim for releases 1 and 2, ‘Marc Riley Sessions Volume 3’, features 9 tracks recorded for the award-winning BBC Radio 6 Music show in 2015 and 2016. “The two sessions on this compilation feature many songs that appear on ‘Going, Going…’ the studio album that The Wedding Present released in 2016. ‘Going, Going…’ itself was an extensive audio-visual project recorded over the space of eighteen months in Provence, Liverpool and Seattle. By the time of the 2016 session, however, the album had been completed and had actually been released the previous week. Consequently, The Wedding Present were touring the UK (playing ‘Going, Going…’ in its entirety) and so, in-between our Cardiff and Gateshead concerts, we stopped off in Salford to record some tracks for Marc. As a result, you can hear the ‘live’ feel in these performances. This was a band that was literally on the road!”, says David.

In addition to the Bond track, the release also features another cover version – the off-kilter ‘Jumper Clown’, a Marc Riley composition and the second cover version on the release. “Marc’s band The Creepers released this song – which poked fun at his previous band’s singer [Mark E. Smith from The Fall] – in 1983 and The Wedding Present covered it eleven years later for the B-side of our ‘It’s A Gas’ single. We decided that an unannounced rendering for a live session while Marc himself was sat in the room watching would be a great surprise to spring on our DJ pal. We managed to keep the whole thing secret with the help of the show’s producer Michelle. This involved hastily rehearsing and sound-checking the song whenever we got the nod from the recording engineer that Marc was out of earshot!”, says David.

An avid Wedding Present fan himself, Riley, with his team of producers, has formed a close bond with The Wedding Present’s David Gedge and the band. “The release of the Wedding Present sessions done for our 6 Music programme over the years is something of an honour. In the great tradition of the Peel / Selwood releases on the Strange Fruit label, this record proves that, even without John, the BBC can still be a place where great bands can continue to grow and be creative… amongst friends.”

The Wedding Present will be performing a series of 30^th anniversary ‘Bizarro’ shows across the UK and Ireland in 2019.

The Wedding Present

‘Marc Riley Sessions Volume 3’

Album released 15^th February via Hatch Records

Pre-order link here

Spotify pre-save here

The critics on previous ‘Marc Riley Sessions’ releases:

‘Album of the Day’ BBC Radio 6 Music

“The Wedding Present are tailor-made for the no-thrills demands of the venerable radio session; the urgency of live performance brings out the best in their scratchy angst.” Uncut

“There’s some stonking songs on display.” Record Collector

“Great compilation of the radio sessions of Leeds’ finest.” Louder Than War

Forming in 1985, The Wedding Present are one of the UK’s most longstanding and much-loved indie bands with eighteen UK Top 40 hit singles to their name. Not bad for a band that has, from its inception, stubbornly refused to play the record industry’s game. From debut album ‘George Best’, “an unmitigated delight” [NME], the first full-length release on their own Reception Records onwards, the band has charted an appealing, if often eccentric, course of its very own and the band released their ninth studio album, ‘Going, Going…’, to critical acclaim in 2016.

In 2017, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of ‘George Best’, The Wedding Present released ‘George Best 30’. The album featured brand new versions of the original twelve songs recorded by Steve Albini and mixed by Andrew Scheps. 2017 also saw the publication [by Red Planet] of ‘Sometimes These Words Just Don’t Have To Be Said’ – a 450 page ‘fanthology’ of the band.

In 2018, KneejerkFilm released ‘Something Left Behind’ – a feature length documentary telling the story of the George Best album. The film, which featured interviews with all four original band members and was produced and directed by Andrew Jezard, appeared at several film festivals.

Alongside The Wedding Present and David’s “other” band, Cinerama, David runs his own record label, curates his own festival and publishes a biographical comic book series; ‘Tales from The Wedding Present’ – essentially his memoirs in graphic novel style.

Track listing

Tracks 1-4 – recorded 04/11/15