The Wedding Present ‘24 Songs’: The Album – Full versions of all the tracks from 2022’s 7”-single-a-month series
27th February 2023Throughout 2022, The Wedding Present’s ‘24 Songs’ series saw the legendary indie band release two new tracks a month as double A sided 7”s, ultimately creating a much-sought-after box set. David Gedge has now re-curated full-length versions of all twenty-four tracks for a new compilation album that will also comprise five bonus recordings including one featuring The Wedding Present’s first guitarist, Peter Solowka.
‘24 Songs’ was a doff of the cap to The Wedding Present’s ‘Hit Parade’ project of 30 years previous. That series proved to be a real milestone for the band with them becoming only the second-ever artist to achieve twelve Official UK Top 40 hits in a calendar year – at the time something that only Elvis had achieved!
David Gedge says: “When it came to compiling the ‘24 Songs’ album, I decided not to sequence the tracks in chronological order. With six sides of vinyl, you have six ‘beginnings’ and six ‘ends’ to play with, and I felt that the opportunity to build some kind of a musical journey was too good to miss! Listening back to this collection, I have to say that I genuinely believe that, for this project, The Wedding Present have recorded some of the best tracks in our history. I loved releasing the singles, but it’s satisfying to have them all rounded up together.”
The ‘24 Songs’ album will be available in three formats:
Triple LP (on grey vinyl and limited-edition transparent mint green vinyl) – includes 2 CDs
Deluxe Double CD – includes lyrics and extensive sleeve notes by David Gedge
Standard Double CD
The first two formats also include a DVD featuring the band playing live during the ‘24 Songs Launch’ event at The Old Market, Hove, in January 2022, plus a fascinating fly-on-the-wall documentary filmed as the songs were being written, arranged and recorded.
All versions can be pre-ordered from www.24songs.scopitones.co.uk/.
“The idea of releasing another collection of twenty-four tracks did initially seem quite daunting,” admits David Gedge in the deluxe-CD sleeve notes but, with Jon Stewart (also of Sleeper) having joined the band at the end of 2019 and their subsequent writing partnership flourishing, he began to feel confident that they would be able to produce a year’s worth of music. And, with one of the UK’s most influential independent record labels by their side in Clue, a key partner to EMI North who will be distributing the record – there was no looking back.
To celebrate the release of the album, The Wedding Present will be hitting the road for a ‘24 Songs Tour’ that will see the band playing tracks from the series as well as other classics from their vast catalogue. Tickets are on sale now, from: www.scopitones.co.uk/news/forthcoming-concerts
24 Songs Tour
May 2023
Tuesday 16 – Edinburgh Liquid Room
Wednesday 17 – Hull Welly
Thursday 18 – Colchester Arts Centre
Friday 19 – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Saturday 20 – Manchester O2 Ritz
Sunday 21 – Birmingham O2 Institute
Saturday 27 – Norwich Arts Centre
Sunday 28 – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Tuesday 16 – Edinburgh Liquid Room
Wednesday 17 – Hull Welly
Thursday 18 – Colchester Arts Centre
Friday 19 – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Saturday 20 – Manchester O2 Ritz
Sunday 21 – Birmingham O2 Institute
Saturday 27 – Norwich Arts Centre
Sunday 28 – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
