George Best is the debut album by
The Wedding Present. It was released in October 1987 by their own
record company, Reception Records.
After self-releasing five singles on Reception Records
label, the band turned to recording their first album, continuing their collaboration with producer Chris Allison, who had produced their previous single, "My Favourite Dress". The album's somewhat tinny sound reflects the low recording budget.
David Gedge's songwriting chronicles relationships breaking up or never taking off. A digression is CD bonus track "All About Eve", which is about
apartheid, a subject Gedge came into contact with during his
childhood in
South Africa. Disagreement on production values with Allison led to the album being remixed by the band and engineer, Steve Lyon. The larger part of these conflicts seemed to lie with the personal and musical incompatibility of Allison and drummer Charman.
The band sought and received permission to name the album after
Northern Irish football legend
George Best. Best agreed to appear on promotional shots with the band.
The original Reception Records
compact disc release added two bonus tracks from the B-side of single "Anyone Can Make a Mistake". All later CD re-releases of
George Best, starting with the 1997 re-release by
Canadian reissue label
Pearls from the Past, added all tracks of 1988
singles "Nobody's Twisting Your Arm" and "Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?", including a...
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