- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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UncutMaybe it's not Albini's fault that El Rey lacks the melodic thrust of earlier projects, but this is wiry, unappealing fare. [July 2008, p.114]
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MojoNo "George Best," perhaps, but a rugged, well-meaning Paul Scholes of a record nonetheless. [July 2008, p.100]
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Q MagazineThough a certain battle weariness has set in, many songs lacking The Wedding Present's trademark guitar bluster of old, Gedge remains wry, dry and wholeheartedly likeable. [July 2008, p.111]
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His guitar hooks are reliable enough on El Rey, the seventh all-new studio Wedding Present album (compilations and live discs abound), and Steve Albini engineers them vividly enough, but it's the words that fail him.
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El is the kind of album you listen to once--and appreciate--but never really groove through with any regularity.
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One for the fans, but it would be churlish to deny that the Wedding Present still have plenty to offer.
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Much of this album is leaden and lumbering, with the vocals mixed low (thanks, Albini) and gummy bass tugging at curtains of distortion, but there are shining exceptions.