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| Track list: 1. Get Miles 2. Whippin' Piccadilly 3. Make No Sound 4. 78 Stone Wobble 5. Tijuana Lady 6. Here Comes The Breeze 7. Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone 8. Get Myself Arrested 9. Free To Run 10. Bubble Gum Years 11. Rie's Wagon 12. The Comeback Running time: 54 minutes Released: 1998 |
I fell in love with Gomez's bluesy lo-fi sound when I saw them on Later... with Jools Holland around the time this record was released. They have done a lot since - I have a fair bit of it - but I don't know if they ever managed to re-bottle the lightning that made this a special album, despite some very good songs. A decade ago I would have probably called this a favourite, but I don't really listen to Gomez much these days, having found their later stuff disappointing. Going back should be interesting - I can still hear all of these tunes from the names.
It's Easter Monday; last of a four day weekend. It's mostly been quiet for me; catching up on my Game of Thrones discs and... well, a little family time yesterday. I'm scuppered for cleaning by my vacuum cleaner cutting out just now so I'm fitting in this listen instead. The fuzzy sound of Get Miles is probably a love or loathe thing. Like a constant buzzing, it's there throughout the track. It would get overbearing if it wasn't for a voice that sounds much older and more worn than the person bearing it could have been at the point the record was made. I love those rough edges though, it gives it a warmth and a humanity, a point of connection. Perhaps the song is a bit too long, but otherwise it's a lovely introduction.
Whippin' Piccadilly was a single I think? Drunken days out - apparently good song material; who knew? The tune itself doesn't wake up. I thought it had a bit more life to it than this - a kind of sturdy, constant roll. It's alright, but its pretty static. There are effects added over the top which do vary the sound a little but none of the depth in the tune that I would have attributed from memory alone. The composition is stripped right back for Make No Sound, a sparse acoustic melody backing a vocal which has a sense of time and volume. I really like the singing here; it's not the world's best voice, but there is an emotion there and a gravelly, growling, tinge to it that tick my boxes. I like characterful voices; how else to explain Tom Waits' appeal. The next track is 78 Stone Wobble and there is, again, a fuzz on this recording that really works for the verse. The choruses are clearer. The shuffling of vocal duties creates a nice little effect, too - the timbre of the song changing with the different voices, in different registers and different strengths. I think this was the first song I heard from Gomez, and I liked it right away. Now... I hear a decent tune, but little more than that; too repetitive, relying too heavily on a simple riff that gets old too fast for that trick to work. I like the verbal ping-pong more, but the song is also over-reliant on the chorus - lyrically deficient for its length, so some of the lustre is lost, even there.
I am not surprised that I am taking to this less than I used to - time has moved on, though it is hard to think that it is 18 years old now. This project is making me feel the passing years when I get to things like this that I bought around the time of release and then register just how much time has passed since. Babies born the day this released will be adults in a couple of weeks (original release 13 April, according to Wikipedia). Tastes change, too. I suspect I didn't like Tijuana Lady much back then - its slower pace not offering as much interest as the faster tunes. Now, though... I think it's the best thus far. There's a clearer melody in places, and the stately pace leaves room for us to appreciate the echo-chamber of other sounds. Still - it is the moment when the fuzz cleans up and the chorus melody picks up that makes the song. Just a lovely little transition. The last minute and a half probably could have been dropped though. Gomez have always been prone to long tracks though, often making them their best - centrepieces in truth, if not in design.
I love the hook on Here Comes the Breeze. Breezy is right - and the clarity of the sound is a wonderful contrast to everything that has come before. Nice clean melody. Sliding sounds behind it creating an emotional road for the main themes. These first few bars really made me smile - I wasn't expecting that. The tune is exactly what I remembered, but better in actuality. The repetition of music through the verses is a little dull - this feels like very structured songwriting, which loses it a little of the magic. However it changes up around the 3 minute mark and we get a different structure instead. I'd have liked the change about 30-60 seconds earlier, but I am pleased it happened. It's a shame that the full track doesn't live up to that first 20 seconds though... that was top class. The lead out is nice again though - top and tails; bread better than filling. Other crappy metaphor here.
Back to a lo-fi sound now, and a lovely bluesy guitar. It took a little while to kick in, but when it does it has a snap to it, a flatness that really works. Again we have different voices - and the booming, graveled one is again the pick of them. It's hit me that I am only half way through. The last few listens have been around the 40 minute mark that I prefer. This, up at 55, feels longer already and that extra time is a strangle little yoke. Ah, this definitely was a single. The opening of Get Myself Arrested is unmistakable, a downbeat shuffle and a cacophonous chorus follow. The tune has a life to it, which it seems to gain by sucking life out of the band - there is an onerous feeling about the main vocal, a tiredness about the harmony on the chorus, which isn't fully synced up. I like that though - rough edges again.
Free to Run I think I may have conflated with Here Comes the Breeze in my memory as it doesn't open how I thought it would. I re-calibrate, and I think it was the chorus not the verse that I always latched onto here, and as that starts my shift is vindicated. This feels lighter, higher pitch and less busy work in the layered guitar parts. It serves as a nice antidote to the grubbier, fuzzier tracks - like its confused counterpart before it. Ah, yes - lead out; nice little melody at a decent clip. Starts guitar and drums, gets a little more depth as it builds. Vocal repetition layered on top. Despite basically looping for 90 seconds it doesn't get old and wraps the song up nicely. All those nice clear sounds are ditched again, as we plunge through gears (down, not up) to a sparse and grubby little number. The Bubblegum Years are better after the first chorus, apparently, as this is where the arrangement picks up. I am not fond of the central conceit around the verse - a very low fidelity vocal, and a rather dull little hook, but the extra depth around the choruses is a noticeable improvement. It's not a great song though - weakest on the album I think.
We have 2 tracks left, and Rie's Wagon is 90% of the running time remaining. Really strong growl on the guitars here give it a grungy sound. I rather like that. Not sure why this particular combination of guitar and voice works where it didn't on the previous track, but both the style of that guitar and the voice are different so hey... different effect. Here it is the chorus that is weaker - not as stark a contrast though. Blue, lonely, lost. There's a hurt in those guitar strings, or more accurately the effects applied to them. It gives the track heart, even as it is too long and too sparse on much else, that ache and bluesy sound built up by introduction of a harmonica (or similar effect), and a subtle change of pace and emphasis here and there keep it evolving and enjoyable. Elements slide in and out around the central themes... not all of them good, the worst before it drops anything more than the central guitar to go back to the chorus being a rattling sound that just lasted too long. After that chorus we're stripped back for a phase before that big old howl comes back. We're dropped into a new verse some 4 minutes or so after the last one. I shouldn't like this track, but I do. There's much about it to admire even as it commits some pretty big sins.
It's Easter Monday; last of a four day weekend. It's mostly been quiet for me; catching up on my Game of Thrones discs and... well, a little family time yesterday. I'm scuppered for cleaning by my vacuum cleaner cutting out just now so I'm fitting in this listen instead. The fuzzy sound of Get Miles is probably a love or loathe thing. Like a constant buzzing, it's there throughout the track. It would get overbearing if it wasn't for a voice that sounds much older and more worn than the person bearing it could have been at the point the record was made. I love those rough edges though, it gives it a warmth and a humanity, a point of connection. Perhaps the song is a bit too long, but otherwise it's a lovely introduction.
Whippin' Piccadilly was a single I think? Drunken days out - apparently good song material; who knew? The tune itself doesn't wake up. I thought it had a bit more life to it than this - a kind of sturdy, constant roll. It's alright, but its pretty static. There are effects added over the top which do vary the sound a little but none of the depth in the tune that I would have attributed from memory alone. The composition is stripped right back for Make No Sound, a sparse acoustic melody backing a vocal which has a sense of time and volume. I really like the singing here; it's not the world's best voice, but there is an emotion there and a gravelly, growling, tinge to it that tick my boxes. I like characterful voices; how else to explain Tom Waits' appeal. The next track is 78 Stone Wobble and there is, again, a fuzz on this recording that really works for the verse. The choruses are clearer. The shuffling of vocal duties creates a nice little effect, too - the timbre of the song changing with the different voices, in different registers and different strengths. I think this was the first song I heard from Gomez, and I liked it right away. Now... I hear a decent tune, but little more than that; too repetitive, relying too heavily on a simple riff that gets old too fast for that trick to work. I like the verbal ping-pong more, but the song is also over-reliant on the chorus - lyrically deficient for its length, so some of the lustre is lost, even there.
I am not surprised that I am taking to this less than I used to - time has moved on, though it is hard to think that it is 18 years old now. This project is making me feel the passing years when I get to things like this that I bought around the time of release and then register just how much time has passed since. Babies born the day this released will be adults in a couple of weeks (original release 13 April, according to Wikipedia). Tastes change, too. I suspect I didn't like Tijuana Lady much back then - its slower pace not offering as much interest as the faster tunes. Now, though... I think it's the best thus far. There's a clearer melody in places, and the stately pace leaves room for us to appreciate the echo-chamber of other sounds. Still - it is the moment when the fuzz cleans up and the chorus melody picks up that makes the song. Just a lovely little transition. The last minute and a half probably could have been dropped though. Gomez have always been prone to long tracks though, often making them their best - centrepieces in truth, if not in design.
I love the hook on Here Comes the Breeze. Breezy is right - and the clarity of the sound is a wonderful contrast to everything that has come before. Nice clean melody. Sliding sounds behind it creating an emotional road for the main themes. These first few bars really made me smile - I wasn't expecting that. The tune is exactly what I remembered, but better in actuality. The repetition of music through the verses is a little dull - this feels like very structured songwriting, which loses it a little of the magic. However it changes up around the 3 minute mark and we get a different structure instead. I'd have liked the change about 30-60 seconds earlier, but I am pleased it happened. It's a shame that the full track doesn't live up to that first 20 seconds though... that was top class. The lead out is nice again though - top and tails; bread better than filling. Other crappy metaphor here.
Back to a lo-fi sound now, and a lovely bluesy guitar. It took a little while to kick in, but when it does it has a snap to it, a flatness that really works. Again we have different voices - and the booming, graveled one is again the pick of them. It's hit me that I am only half way through. The last few listens have been around the 40 minute mark that I prefer. This, up at 55, feels longer already and that extra time is a strangle little yoke. Ah, this definitely was a single. The opening of Get Myself Arrested is unmistakable, a downbeat shuffle and a cacophonous chorus follow. The tune has a life to it, which it seems to gain by sucking life out of the band - there is an onerous feeling about the main vocal, a tiredness about the harmony on the chorus, which isn't fully synced up. I like that though - rough edges again.
Free to Run I think I may have conflated with Here Comes the Breeze in my memory as it doesn't open how I thought it would. I re-calibrate, and I think it was the chorus not the verse that I always latched onto here, and as that starts my shift is vindicated. This feels lighter, higher pitch and less busy work in the layered guitar parts. It serves as a nice antidote to the grubbier, fuzzier tracks - like its confused counterpart before it. Ah, yes - lead out; nice little melody at a decent clip. Starts guitar and drums, gets a little more depth as it builds. Vocal repetition layered on top. Despite basically looping for 90 seconds it doesn't get old and wraps the song up nicely. All those nice clear sounds are ditched again, as we plunge through gears (down, not up) to a sparse and grubby little number. The Bubblegum Years are better after the first chorus, apparently, as this is where the arrangement picks up. I am not fond of the central conceit around the verse - a very low fidelity vocal, and a rather dull little hook, but the extra depth around the choruses is a noticeable improvement. It's not a great song though - weakest on the album I think.
We have 2 tracks left, and Rie's Wagon is 90% of the running time remaining. Really strong growl on the guitars here give it a grungy sound. I rather like that. Not sure why this particular combination of guitar and voice works where it didn't on the previous track, but both the style of that guitar and the voice are different so hey... different effect. Here it is the chorus that is weaker - not as stark a contrast though. Blue, lonely, lost. There's a hurt in those guitar strings, or more accurately the effects applied to them. It gives the track heart, even as it is too long and too sparse on much else, that ache and bluesy sound built up by introduction of a harmonica (or similar effect), and a subtle change of pace and emphasis here and there keep it evolving and enjoyable. Elements slide in and out around the central themes... not all of them good, the worst before it drops anything more than the central guitar to go back to the chorus being a rattling sound that just lasted too long. After that chorus we're stripped back for a phase before that big old howl comes back. We're dropped into a new verse some 4 minutes or so after the last one. I shouldn't like this track, but I do. There's much about it to admire even as it commits some pretty big sins.
The last track is a simple little lead out, and then we're done. The second half of the album actually flew past pretty quick. Overall... it's still an enjoyable listen. The high points are different these days but most of it holds up to an extent. I could never lose myself in love for many of the songs now, but they hold enough interest to revisit occasionally, and a few moments of wonder scattered through them mean that is likely to remain the case. The opening of Here Comes the Breeze was my zenith this time through - though it is not the strongest song overall. There is plenty more Gomez to come in due course, but I am done for now. Back to vacuuming for me!
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