Saturnalia

AMG Review of Saturnalia

Alex Ogg
All Music Guide

By the advent of this, their second album for Cooking Vinyl, the Wedding Present's career was in terminal decline. Perhaps not artistically, but certainly commercially. Not that such things bothered Gedge, who gave the impression he was pleased to have been able to abuse RCA's (and then Island's) generosity for as long as he had. It would be nice to report that the group survived the move from a major-label berth intact, but this album was a dour affair, lacking the gusto of previous releases. In fact, by the late '90s, Gedge's work with girlfriend Sally Murrell in Cinerama seemed to be of far more interest to everyone concerned, not least Gedge himself.