Pitchfork

Let's go back in time to those halcyon days of 1987, when the Reagan years were waning and Bon Jovi was reigning. Meanwhile, across the pond, the Wedding Present were giving the Smiths a run for their money both in wounded, throaty vocals and bizarre song titles (like "Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft" and "What Did Your Last Servant Die Of?"). Personally, I'll take the Present over the Smiths any day, and it's not just because of the Morrissey factor. I'm in it for the combination of thrusting, spiky guitars and diary rage.

This album is what you'd call old school, which is just some booty wack way of saying "reissue." The band's debut, George Best is here along with their first two singles. In a way, it sounds amazingly quaint; to think that there was a place in music for a broken heart that didn't eventually slump into either irony or apathy, and that it all happened at the same time Rick Astley came on the scene. Definitely a band more name checked than actually listened to, you'd do right by tipping the scales the other way.