The Wedding Present ready Albini-recorded version of 'George Best' (stream "Shatner")

Back in 2007 and 2008, The Wedding Present celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut album, George Best, by playing it on tour. Having also made new album El Ray around the same time with Steve Albini, they talked the famed non-producer (who also recorded their classic 1991 album Seamonsters) into letting them bang out George Best with the current band, live in gun-and-run fashion.

That recording, which was mixed recently by Andrew Scheps (who worked on 2012’s Valentina), is finally being released as George Best 30, coming out September 22 via HHBTM Records / Scopitones. For those who love the album but don’t love the played-live-but-electronic drums the band were made to use on the original (it was the ’80s!), or for those who always wondered “what if George Best sounded more like Seamonsters,” this makes a nice companion piece to the classic original. We’ve got the premiere of “Shatner” and you can listen to that, and compare with the original version, below.

You can preorder George Best 30 in a few different editions, including a deluxe version that comes with version that comes on colored vinyl, a square LP artwork button, a screen-printed inner sleeve poster, and a screen-printed totebag.

Meanwhile, The Wedding Present are touring George Best for its 30th anniversary, with dates in the UK and Europe through the fall. The band will tour North America in the spring of 2018, details TBA. All announced dates are listed below.

The Wedding Present – 2017 Tour Dates (playing ‘George Best’)
Oct 14 Cadogan Hall London, United Kingdom
Oct 21 Nieuwe Nor Heerlen, Netherlands
Oct 22 Gleis 22 Münster, Germany
Oct 23 Kulturzentrum Lagerhaus Bremen, Germany
Oct 24 Hafenklang Hamburg, Germany
Oct 27 Scheune Dresden, Germany
Oct 28 Kantine am Berghain Berlin, Germany
Oct 29 Das Bett Frankfurt, Germany
Nov 07 LE VIP Montoir De Bretagne, France
Nov 08 Petit Bain Paris, France
Nov 11 THE HUB / DBS LIVE Plymouth, United Kingdom
Dec 07 John Peel Centre for Creative Arts Stowmarket, United Kingdom
Dec 08 The Roadmender Northampton, United Kingdom
Dec 09 O2 Academy Leeds Leeds, United Kingdom