When it comes to break-up albums, Va Va Voom, the debut record by Cinerama, which came out in 1998, is up there with the best of them.
Inspired by the ’60s movie soundtracks of John Barry and Ennio Morricone, as well as Burt Bacharach, Serge Gainsbourg and ABBA, it’s full of bittersweet indie-pop songs – a filmic, tragicomic masterpiece, with droll lyrics, lush strings, theatrical piano, organ, ’70s wah-wah guitar, and even a harpsichord.
Cinerama were originally a duo consisting of David Gedge, frontman with The Wedding Present, and Sally Murrell, his then partner.
The group, which was Gedge’s first musical project outside of The Wedding Present, who, at that time in their career, had released five albums of indie-rock, went on to make two more long-players: Disco Volante and Torino.
Now, more than 25 years after Va Va Voom’s release, Gedge has decided to re-record the album with a full band and a string quartet – the new version is called Va Va Voom 25 – and it’s out this month.
The deluxe edition consists of two coloured vinyl LPs and two CDs containing both a full studio re-recording of the original album, together with a live recording of the album from August 2023, which can also be viewed on an accompanying DVD.
A Double CD and DVD set contains both these recordings, along with the aforementioned DVD, while a picture disc includes the studio re-recording – all the versions feature new artwork.
In an exclusive interview, Gedge, who lives in Brighton, tells Say It With Garage Flowers why he’s revisited Va Va Voom, shares his love of Bond film soundtracks, and reflects on a busy 2024.
Q&A
Let’s talk about the new, re-recorded version of Cinerama’s Va Va Voom – the original album came out more than 25 years ago…
David Gedge: Weirdly, it feels like my new band (laughs), and the fact that it’s been 25 years has suddenly crept up on me … I’ve got no sense of time for it…
Cinerama is a weird thing, because I did it as my main band from 1997 to 2005, I think it was… and since then I’ve sporadically gone back to it – we re-recorded another album a few years ago, and now we’ve done this one… We only play if people specifically invite us, but we always play at my festival in Brighton… It’s nice in a way – I go back to it every now and again… It’s a different thing to do.
So, you played the album live, with a band, at your festival, At The Edge Of The Sea, in Brighton, last year, and you were struck by how more dynamic it sounded with a full group playing it, so that’s what led you to rerecord it…
DG: Exactly – I started working on the [original] idea in 1997. It was at that time when computers were getting a bit cheaper and more sophisticated, and there were samplers…
In The Wedding Present, I think we’d started using samplers two or three years before, but they only allowed a few seconds of memory because it was so expensive… I got myself an 8-track recorder, a mixing desk, a sampler and some sequencing software for my computer, so straightaway everything became very accessible, and I was doing stuff at home that I couldn’t imagine I could do before, like drum loops and writing string parts.
I’m not a keyboard player, but I could slowly write parts, drop them in and change them on the computer. I did demos at home and then I went in the studio and used sessions musicians – it wasn’t a band, it was me going in with some ideas, and it was very much a studio album.
‘Last year was the 25th anniversary of Va Va Voom – we played it live and I was just struck by how different it sounded played by a band’
I worked with a producer at the time, and he said: ‘I know a drummer or a bass player who could do that…’ It was meticulous. None of the songs were ever played by a band in a room – it was kind of piecemeal. I formed a band after that.
So, last year was the 25th anniversary of Va Va Voom – we played it live and I was just struck by how different it sounded played by a band. I guess that’s obvious, really – you’ve got people working off each other, and it’s more energetic because you’re not in the controlled environment of the studio – you’re playing on stage and it’s more exuberant and exciting…
As we’d been rehearsing it, I felt that we should go and record it quickly, so when we finished the festival, I booked a studio in Brighton and recorded it with the band. I kind of left it at that for a while, but then I went back later and organised a string quartet, a keyboard player, and a flute player… There were some overdubs, but, at the end of the day, it was a band playing together, which was a big difference.
I think the re-recorded version is more dramatic and has a fuller sound… It’s twangier too…
DG: It’s definitely more guitary – I replaced some of the parts that were originally on keyboards with guitar, and the fuller sound might be because of the strings…
When I did the original Va Va Voom, I didn’t know anything about strings – I was just playing them on the keyboard. I had ‘low’ strings and ‘high’ strings – I didn’t know anything about orchestration, but, over the years, I’ve taught myself how to do it a bit more.
I still don’t know much about music theory, but at least I know about a quartet. So, on the new version I rearranged those parts for cello, viola and two violins. It makes the strings a bit bigger… On the original, we used some samples of string players, but on the new record it’s just the band plus the string quartet.
‘I love John Barry and I’ve always loved Bond films, although they are a bit dated now. The music is so amazing’
Cinerama saw you embracing the music of film soundtrack composers like John Barry and Ennio Morricone. Have you always been into that kind of stuff?
DG: Absolutely – I love John Barry and I’ve always loved Bond films, although they are a bit dated now. The music is so amazing – I’ve got the soundtrack LPs. I was playing You Only Live Twice the other day – the whole album is amazing, with strings, brass and twangy guitar.
You put together an album of Bond song cover versions a few years ago – it was called Not From Where I’m Standing and featured current and former members of Cinerama and The Wedding Present. Have you got a favourite Bond song?
DG: No – there are so many of them… On that record, The Wedding Present did You Only Live Twice, which I’ve always liked, Cinerama did Diamonds Are Forever, and I did We Have All The Time In The World from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. John Barry had such a way with melody – haunting, romantic strings, punchy brass, guitar… It’s fantastic.
I’ve got a lot of Ennio Morricone stuff on my iTunes or whatever and when it comes on, you just think: ‘Oh, wow – what’s this?’ There are twangy guitars but also choirs and Mariachi brass sounds… I loved all that as a kid – I always had it at the back of my mind – but, obviously, The Wedding Present was nothing like that – it was indie-guitar rock along the lines of The Velvet Underground or whatever…
Cinerama was born when we had some time off from The Wedding Present, and I thought, ‘Ahh, I should do this…’ We were in a rehearsal room in Yorkshire, and the owner took me into the studio there and showed me Cakewalk, which was sequencing software, and it changed my life.
In 15 minutes, he showed me how you could play a piano sound, copy and paste it, and change the tempo…I was like, ‘Wow – this is amazing,’ and that launched me into thinking, ‘I could do that….’
It wasn’t just John Barry and Ennio Morricone… there were other influences, like ‘60s pop and ABBA even.
I think Va Va Voom is one of the greatest break-up albums ever, and I love the droll lyrics… It’s a tragicomic record… Can you remember writing the songs and when you went back to play them live and rerecord them, did any memories come back to haunt you?
DG: Yeah – all the time. That happens with The Wedding Present as well – my songs are very personal – but it depends on the songs… Sometimes, they’re totally autobiographical and sometimes they’re a little bit autobiographical, but I’ve made it into a story, or I imagine myself in a situation and what I would do in it. It’s like reading a little diary…
The songs Comedienne reminds me of The Cure’s In-between Days, and You Turn Me On has a jangly New Order feel…
DG: Yeah – a couple of the more guitary ones are like indie-pop, but Hard, Fast and Beautiful is meant to sound like a film soundtrack.
It has very theatrical piano on it…
DG: Yes.
The arrangement on Dance, Girl, Dance, is very ABBAesque…
DG: I always thought that was a bit of an ABBA tribute in a way. Weirdly, when were we doing the original Va Va Voom , the bass player, Anthony Coote, who the producer suggested, was actually in Bjorn Again!
So, I said to him, ‘Could you do a bassline that’s like ABBA, and he said, ‘Give me the bass!’ Apparently that double octave funky disco sound is hard to play – I’ve had bass players since who’ve said: ‘Oh, my God – I’m getting cramp!’
‘My songs are very personal – it’s like reading a little diary’
Dance, Girl, Dance also features the phrase ‘freshly shaven legs’, which is great to hear in a pop song…
DG: I don’t like to hide behind metaphors that much – I like to make it more relatable…
Ears is like a dark version of Serge Gainsbourg’s Je t’aime… moi non plus ….
DG: Yeah – he was a big influence on Cinerama…
Hate is a song directed at someone you wish you’d never met, but musically it’s sweet, poppy and melodic. I like the juxtaposition – it’s a sugar-coated, poison pill…
DG: Yes – it’s a bit extreme that one, isn’t it? A dark lyric, but quite poppy… I remember when I was putting the songs together for the first version of the album, the first producer I was going to work with focused on that song. He said it was a brilliant song and that he’d like to do this with it, etc, etc… I didn’t use him in the end… It’s quite different for me and it’s quite an odd song…
Barefoot In The Park is named after the 1967 romcom starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda – the film features in the lyric too. I like the funky wah-wah guitar and lush strings on that track…
DG: That’s two of my loves – ‘60s or ‘70s cinematography and wah-wah…. I wouldn’t like to force the rest of The Wedding Present down that road, so with Cinerama, I was like a kid in a sweetshop – ‘Oh, let’s do a bit of wah-wah guitar – I love that sound! [He does an impression of a wah-wah guitar.] So, you’ve got that on one track, but on another track there’s a harpsichord (laughs).
‘Two of my loves are ‘60s or ‘70s cinematography and wah-wah…. I wouldn’t like to force the rest of The Wedding Present down that road…’
Would you like to re-record any other Cinerama songs or records?
DG: No – not really, because two of the other albums and the singles and sessions were all done by a band. It would be interesting to redo them, but I don’t think I’d really add anything, whereas I felt like this one was worth doing. It’s quite a big commitment to re-record an album – it’s time, money and organisation… I don’t think I’d do it for another album, but who knows? Never say never..
Never say never again…
DG: (Laughs).
How’s 2024 been for you?
DG: It’s been very busy – we did some concerts for the 30th anniversary of Watusi [Wedding Present album]…
And it was the 35th anniversary of your album Bizarro too…
DG: Yeah – we did some shows for that in October. I didn’t really plan it – we did a European tour and the promoter asked if we fancied doing Bizarro. So, I said, ‘Why not?’ and I really enjoyed it, so we did some British concerts as well.
You’re celebrating a lot of anniversaries, which is apt for a band called The Wedding Present…
DG: Yeah (laughs) – we’ve had two this year…
You’re playing some shows in North America next year too…
DG: Yeah – the North American agent said, ‘We want Bizarro as well…’, so we’re doing it there in May and June. I said it’s been a busy year, but I’m always busy… I’m my own worst enemy in a way because I’ve got two bands and a festival, and my ongoing autobiography that I’m doing – it’s called Tales From The Wedding Present and it’s in comic book form. I’ve done two volumes of it, but the person who draws it has just retired and he keeps saying, ‘Send me more stories…’ but I have to tell him I’m busy… I’ve had Va Va Voom to re-record, and I had to tour Bizarro... It’s about finding the time, really… We’ve also been writing new songs – we’ve got six of them now…
‘I’m always busy… I’m my own worst enemy, because I’ve got two bands and a festival, and my ongoing autobiography’
As we’ve been talking about Cinemara and film soundtracks, who would you like to play you in The Wedding Present biopic?
DG: (Laughs) Er, I used to say Colin Firth – a lot of people used to say I looked like him, but I guess he’s a bit old now… I don’t know – I’m not really up on young, dashing actors…
Cinerama’s Va Va Voom 25 is released on December 13 and is available in three formats:
- Double Vinyl LP + Double CD + DVD
- Double CD + DVD
- 12” Picture Disc
Say It With Garage Flowers 