Change Your Image
gunnersgf
Reviews
The Wedding Present: Something Left Behind (2018)
Musical and emotional masterpiece
Andrew Jezard must be thanked and congratulated for bringing this documentary into the lives of legions of Wedding Present fans, and hopefully many yet-to-be fans.
Production, sound and live footage are superb in what has clearly been a labour of love and devotion. However, this barely does credit to the skillful blending of archive footage of the mid-eighties, as The Wedding Present formed and evolved towards the creation of the legendary George Best album in 1987, with the current band line-up as they journey towards Leeds for the 30th anniversary final live rendition of the album in its entirety in December 2017.
The archive footage and glorious interviews evoke memories of younger, more innocent days, with the trauma of love, heartbreak, betrayal and loss and deliver time and again the personal stories behind the making of the album.
The influence of the late John Peel is unmistakable and, again, archive notes and footage add so much in the context of the band and their music in the second half of the 1980s.
Beyond the emotional rollercoaster of the sounds and footage there are insightful elements into the technical aspects of the album production and tensions between musicians and producer.
I've tried to be objective, as a self-confessed ardent fan, whether the documentary would appeal to (currently) non-Wedding Present fans. Personally I think it would, deserving of a far wider audience on, for example, a TV music channel.
Full marks for this wonderful documentary, because there's no reason not to.
Highly recommended.