THE SUNDAY CORRESPONDENTS

Is That Malcolm Middleton's Wee Brother on The Left Hand Side Of This Picture?

When I took this gig on to be an occasional contributor, I did warn JC that there would be some things said that would be unpalatable to him and many of his readers. And so ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls I am proud to present you with a look at the early history of Wet Wet Wet.

This really is a classic tale of rags to riches. Four young very working class boys, all aged 16-18, from the town of Clydebank located on the western fringes of Glasgow, get together in the early 1980s and start making music.

Taking their name from a line in the song Gettin' Havin' & Holdin' by Scritti Politti (although it could just as easily have been after the standard 7-day weather forecast for their home town), they very quickly came to the attention of a would-be svengali and guiding force in the shape of Elliot Davis who in addition to becoming their manager also decided to launch a new record label called The Precious Organisation with the aim of succeeding where Postcard Records a few years earlier had come so close.

By 1985, there was real buzz about Wet Wet Wet in and around Glasgow with much of the talk being about the incredible vocal talent of a young man christened Mark McLoughlin but who now went by the name of Marti Pellow. Elliot Davis had also decided an indie-label wouldn't deliver what the group needed, and so a licensing and distribution deal was brokered with Mercury Records.

The band were given every opportunity to grow and develop with the record label prepared to wait for a return on their investment. A fifth member in the shape of experienced guitarist Graeme Duffin was added to the line-up, although being slightly older and less fresh-faced than the others, he was never to appear in any of the publicity or record sleeves.

In 1987, the debut LP was finally released. And almost 25 years on, and while it might be very unfashionable to say so, Popped In Souled Out remains one of the best LPs ever released by any Scottish act.

There were all sorts of influences to the fore, primarily the soul music that each of the boys so adored, but their ability to write catchy and infectious pop hooks made them the darlings of the kids who loved Smash Hits magazine and whose pocket monies propelled many a single into the charts. And once they were a success, then adults who weren't bothered about the latest trends or fashions and who couldn't give a toss about Morrissey or anyone else the NME was writing about fell for their charms in their droves.

The debut LP went to #1. It spawned four Top 20 hits over a 12 month period from March 1987. But then, irony of ironies, it was an association with the NME that propelled the band to their first ever #1 single in May 1988 thanks to their cover version of With A Little Help From My Friends (backed with Billy Bragg butchering She's Leaving Home). For anyone who doesn't know, both tracks came from an NME LP entitled Sgt Pepper Knew My Father, which was a re-recording of all the songs on The Beatles LP some 20 years on in aid of the Childline charity. I know JC has a copy of this album in his cupboard, so maybe he can feature the songs next time he flies off to somewhere exotic.......it's certainly the only LP in the world that has the singing talents of Marti Pellow and Mark E Smith....

Having got to #1, there was no stopping Wet Wet Wet, and over the next 4 years they dominated the UK charts, culminating with 15 weeks at the top with their cover of Love Is All Around which came from the soundtrack of the smash movie Four Weddings And A Funeral. The song is also one that R.E.M. have covered, so the trendies shouldn't go slinging brickbats at the Wets...

I said nothing could stop the band. Well, I was wrong. Marti's heroin addiction was something hushed-up for years as it clashed with the clean-cut image they cultivated, but when the stories did come out, it was like a breaching of the dam and before long the band broke up. Only to reform a few years later, like so many others seem to do....

But this is primarily a posting about Popped In Souled Out.

It is a truly outstanding record, and impossible to believe that most of its songs were written by four lads barely into their 20s. It was never popular with the critics who didn't like the fact the four white working-class boys could be so soulful, nor the fact that the pop element appealed so much to the teenyboppers and the sort of folk who maybe only buy two or three albums a year.

Don't be a snob. Listen without prejudice.

mp3 : Wet Wet Wet - Wishing I Was Lucky (12" version)
mp3 : Wet Wet Wet - The Moment You Left Me

And here's a bonus remix of their debut single:-

mp3 : Wet Wet Wet - Wishing I Was Lucky (Metal Mix)

I bet you didn't know that uber-tendy producer Stephen Hague was involved in that remix.....

The Ghost Of Troubled Joe, Sunday 6 June 2010