ALBUM REVIEW: Cinerama – Valentina

Scopitones

Released: 1.6.15

More information on the Scoptitones’ label website

David Gedge will always be associated with The Wedding Present, the band he started and has led ever since that has defined a certain strata of lovelorn, Velvet Underground-loving indie rock. But during the nineties he also led Cinerama, a band that instead dips into his love for sweeping strings and other pre-pop adornments. Now, Cinerama returns with a full re-recording of the most recent Wedding Present album, Valentina. This curious project highlights the consistency (mostly, in fairness, for the good) in Gedge’s songwriting, and the bolder re-recordings here – the Walker Brothers production of Meet Cute, the bossa nova of You’re Dead – stand up well. If ever there’s a definition of a ‘fans only’ recording though, well, this is it.