A SIDE PROJECT THAT WORKED

Lazy posting today. Here's a straight lift from wikipedia:-

Originally formed in 1998 while on a break from The Wedding Present, Cinerama started as a duo of Gedge and his then-girlfriend Sally Murrell.

The initial releases were a break from previous Gedge records as they featured soundtrack-like arrangements and string and woodwind accompaniment. Live performances included a lot of musicians to play these orchestral/pop songs.

Over the years though the sound changed back to more of a rock sound, especially once some of The Wedding Present songs were incorporated into the live set. Cinerama employed a shifting line-up of collaborators and full-blown members.

1998's Va Va Voom featured the help of The Church's Marty Wilson-Piper and Emma Pollock of The Delgados. Gedge rescued the rhythm section of the disbanded Goya Dress (Terry de Castro and Simon Pearson) in 1999, employing them as members, and former Wedding Present guitarist, Simon Cleave, was in the line-up since the group's first show.

Cinerama released a clutch of multi-format singles in support of their debut album, as well as a number of intervening releases prior to 2000's Steve Albini recorded, Disco Volante. Also notable was the band's inaugural release, on their own Scopitones record label on Valentine's Day 2000 (Manhattan), which featured a cover of The Smiths' song, London

This Is Cinerama was released just weeks after Disco Volante and they were a frequent guest on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 program.

In 2002, the dark, guitar-driven Torino was released and in the following spring the release of Cinerama Holiday collected the entirety of the group's fifth through eighth singles.

Around 2003 Murrell and Gedge split up and she then left the band. Eventually during the recording of what became Take Fountain, Gedge decided that the sound had changed so much that it would be better released under The Wedding Present name, and so Cinerama were finished although the same musicians carried on.

Cinerama were a class act. Some of the songs are amongst the best that David Gedge has written throughout his long career, and the short-lived adventure of Cinerama allowed all sorts of wonderful arrangements and instrumentalisation that would have been dismissed out of hand by hard-core fans of The Wedding Present.

And on the eve of TVV featuring the 38th and final part of the Morrissey singles series, it makes a bit of sense to bring you the single that featured a cover of song by The Smiths:-

mp3 : Cinerama - Manhattan
mp3 : Cinerama - London
mp3 : Cinerama - Film

Happy Listening.