Hit Parade 2

AMG Review of Hit Parade 2

Alex Ogg
All Music Guide

The Wedding Present's second batch of 1992 singles, beginning with "Flying Saucer" and ending on the seasonal tirade "No Christmas." Once again, it's the B-sides that are the most fun. David Bowie's "Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family" may well have been chosen because a band bearing a similar name stalked Leeds in the early '80s, when the city was Goth central. Gedge was also a huge fan of Gerry Anderson, the '60s/'70s puppeteer and animator -- hence the inclusion of "U.F.O." Bow Wow Wow are given overdue kudos via a cover of "Go Wild in the Country," and there's a gutsy attempt at "Theme From Shaft" (long before it became a fashionable nostalgia record). As this collection vividly proves, Gedge and the Wedding Present did a lot to brighten an otherwise moribund early-'90s alternative/indie rock scene.