'Bring It On' by Gomez

In 1998, the era of Britpop was coming to a close. Bands that had achieved the most success in the couple of years previously were either evolving into new directions or stagnating into a long slow death. Gomez, who released 'Bring It On' during this year, were something different.

That's not to say they were something new. On the whole, 'Bring It On' felt (and still feels) like a relic from another age when blues was still a genre of music that people cared about. Gomez looked like the bunch of scruffy students that they were, but their vocalist Ben Ottewell sounded like he'd spent decades gargling gravel in the deep south. Actually, Gomez were never quite that simple, as their lead vocals were split three ways - Ottewell's voice was wheeled out like a secret weapon for some tracks, and some parts of tracks. Sadly, though this made Gomez seem exciting at the time of their debut, the novelty wore off after a couple of albums, though the band are still plugging away to people who still care. There are still some out there.

'Bring It On' still sounds pretty good. 'Get Miles' is a bold opener, building slowly but steadily over its five minute duration. It's good, but there's better stuff to come. 'Whippin' Piccadilly', 'Get Myself Arrested' and '78 Stone Shuffle' are all great singles, but they're easily matched by 'Here Comes The Breeze' and 'Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone' which both sit squarely in the middle of the album. It does tail off a bit at the end - 'Bubble Gum Years' is pretty forgettable, and 'Rie's Wagon' could have been comfortably edited down from its nine minutes to about three without losing anything important. Still, these are forgiveable indulgences on a debut which were dealt with, to a large degree, on album number two. Eventually, I'll reach the letter L...