IT WOULD be fair to say David Gedge has been in denial for the best part of 20 years - more or less in fact since the release of The Wedding Present s seminal debut album George Best. The reason? Well, he has consistently denied in the subsequent years following its release that the album was worthy of any artistic merit.

Instead he preferred to push the long players, which succeeded it - Bizarro and Seamonsters - as more complete and rounded works of art.Gedge reformed The Wedding Present just over three years ago - after a sabbatical of six years, in which time he formed Cinerama - and released Take Fountain in early 2005, the band's first studio album in nine years.The Weddoes are currently celebrating the 20th anniversary of George Best's release by embarking on the original tour dates they promoted the album with back in 1987.The whole album is being played in its entirety, as well as a several other Wedding Present and Cinerama favourites, which fill the hour-and-a-half set slot. It's a curious decision to take considering he's never been entirely happy with the album, and where he has always been reluctant to play any of its tracks while on tour in the past.

When asked whether there would be any of George Best on the play list prior to a Wedding Present gig at Northumbria University in 1992, Gedge playfully declared there wouldn't be because "it's rubbish".

And likewise he later squirmed in embarrassment when it was put it to him - before a Cinerama gig at the Garage in London nearly four years ago - that the album was a classic and worthy of iconic status alongside the likes of OK Computer (Radiohead) and The Queen is Dead (The Smiths). Ironically enough, The Smiths' lead singer Morrissey and the band's guitarist Johnny Marr both believe their last studio album, Strangeways Here We Come, released in the same year as George Best, was their best work, contrary to critics and fans who mainly favour the former.

And even now, the Weddoes' frontman feels embarrassed when it is put to him that George Best is worthy enough to sit on the shoulders of giants."I still feel it is really dated now and I don't think it hasn't stood the test of time," said Gedge after an emotional show at Queen Margaret Union, in Glasgow. "And obviously I've moved on a lot since then as a musician and songwriter."Admittedly the production could have been a bit more polished on the album, but it was 1987 after all and technology has come on quite a lot since then. The 47-year-old singer-songwriter may have gone on to craft more sophisticated works of art as a musician and matured as a lyricist - and in Cinerama's 2003-release Torino this is certainly the case. But nothing has equalled the naivety, desperation and pathos evoked in his inept, angst ridden and, more often than not, cuckolded anti-hero on George Best.Furthermore, the arrangement of the music is a lot better than he gives it credit for. The blistering blend of angry guitars, which is dominant on the album, has come to characterise the early inimitable sound of the Weddoes we all know and love. Yet they were always capable of changing the mood and extracting every drop of emotion from the listener when the tempo is dropped in tracks such as A Million Miles and, especially in the band's Pièce de résistance, My Favourite Dress. My Favourite Dress is a song right up there with This Charming Man, Paranoid Android and Love Will Tear Us Apart as one of the greatest singles of all time.But enough of the prosecution, has the defence finally rested and accepted the charge?The decision to tour would seem there has been a change in the defendant's plea. But no, Gedge still refuses to accept the album's worth after all of this time.The reason for the tour, said Gedge, was because: "Friends, family, girlfriends and ex-girlfriends have all been saying it would have been a good idea for years. I've always been reluctant, as I said earlier, but I thought why not in the end?The defendant's plea is weak, however, and did not stand up to this jury after witnessing the scenes at a packed Queen Margaret Union, where, by the way, this writer observed scenes bordering on homoerotic celebration from a predominantly heterosexual male audience not seen since the Smiths were performing live two decades ago. Nevertheless, after hearing those memorable tunes played once more, one would have to disagree with Gedge's assessment that the songs haven't stood the test of time'.The songs are arguably more relevant today than they were 20 years ago. Relationships seem to have become more paranoid and destructive since that eponymous release and what better way to help dysfunctional couples make sense of their relationships than with Gedge's soothing words of comfort?Gedge, unwittingly, became a marriage/relationship guidance councillor for a vinyl generation of fans and George Best provided his patients with a panacea for their relationship ills and perfect cathartic therapy.What is more if Gedge did not feel George Best was an exceptional piece of work, why did the precious songwriter name his debut album after one of the greatest footballers that had ever graced the game?"Well, I was a cocky sod in those days and I was a Manchester United fan," was Gedge's unconvincing reply.But maybe it is better to leave the last word to the late great inspirational John Peel, arguably the most influential man in British music over the last 40 years. "The boy Gedge has written some of the best love songs of the rock and roll era," said Peel. "You may dispute this, but I'm right and you're wrong."

Who are we to argue?