The Wedding Present - George Best 30 (2017)

It was early 2008, The Wedding Present had recently finished a twentieth anniversary tour for George Best and, having played the entire album dozens of times, it was fresh under their fingers. So after they had wrapped up recording the 'El Rey' album, David suggested they record a 'live' version of it in the same studio. Steve Albini, who they were recording with, wasn't too keen on the idea, but David assured him it would be quick and easy, so he reluctantly caved. David was right; it was quick, done live, more like a Beatles recording than a drawn out modern one with lots of overdubs and multi-track layering. I imagine this version of George Best is what David would have liked to record in 1987. It is just so well recorded, which you'd expect from Steve Albini. You can feel David's 20 years older self guiding the new recording in the same direction, but with more experience and warmth. Everything is bigger... the drums on the original recording were played live, but on a Simmons electronic drum kit. The combination of Albini's recording and the ultra-talented Graeme Ramsay on drums brings the songs to life. However, the real difference comes out in the recording of those ever fast, ever jangly guitars... they're warmer, bigger and more modern, more... Albini! Just to round everything off with a contemporary twist, award-winning mixer/producer Andrew Scheps happily agreed to mix these recordings, having heard the original for the first time in his living room in Los Angeles in 2012, when he was mixing The Wedding Present's eighth studio album, Valentina.