After forming in 2006, The Courteeners were lauded by Q Magazine as ‘one of the world’s biggest underground acts’. The band lived up to that title, as all of their six album reached the Top 10 of the UK Album Chart. Morrissey and Bono are among the artists who have expressed their appreciation of the band.

This success story started with the band’s 2008 debut album St. Jude, produced by Stephen Street (of The Smiths and Blur fame). In 2012, they dropped ‘The’ from their name, continuing as Courteeners. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of their debut, the band re-recorded the album and released that version as St. Jude Re:Wired. 13 January 2023 there’s another jubilee to be celebrated, and a 15^th Anniversary Edition of the album will come out. This expanded version will include the original album plus b-sides, non-album singles and demos.

One of these bonustracks is It’ll Take More Than A Weekend Away To Fix This Mess, an ‘unearted’ song from the original recording sessions. The reflective, laid-back tune sees front man Liam Fray croon over a largely acoustic guitar-led instrumental before keys, lovely trumpets and chanted backing vocals are introduced in the triumphant final part. The title may appear to be impossible to sing, but ends up having a hypnotising effect on the listener.

Courteeners’ It’ll Take More Than A Weekend Away To Fix This Mess is the new Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. That means it’ll feature prominently at the top of the blog for a whole week.

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In the Wildcards 2022 playlist you’ll find all of this year’s Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.

Werner Schlosser

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.