Saturday 6 December 2014

The Genius of... David Gedge #5


#5: Wow

One of Cinerama's finest moments, and the loud guitars that once graced the Wedding Present's works make a welcome appearance. A tale of lies, deceit, cheating and a secret rendezvous; the boy Gedge is taken in by a temptress despite already having a girlfriend. But although he's prepared for a one-night-stand, he's not certain he wants to commit anything more to this siren.

  "I don't want to stay forever
  I don't want to leave my girlfriend
  But wow!
  This isn't happening the way I planned."


Structure-wise, Wow is very Wedding Present; verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, instrumental coda. Classic Gedge really. Only the twangy guitar and bongos in the opening verse and the keyboards in the chorus and coda hint at this being a Cinerama song. Us old-school fans could breathe a little more easily. But more than anything, it is a really good song, proving that Gedge could still pull it off with aplomb whatever name he was recording under.

Wow was released in 2000 as Cinerama's fifth single and appeared, in extended form, on their second album 'Disco Volante'. The single version was eventually compiled on 2002's 'Cinerama Holiday' compilation.




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