On their debut album,
Bring It On, England's
Gomez introduce their original take on bluesy roots rock. Unlike
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, this isn't amphetamine-fueled freak-out music but similar at times to
Beck's acoustic-based work (
One Foot in the Grave), with more going on vocally. The band has a total of three strong vocalists, who can switch from pretty harmonies to gutsy blues outpourings in the blink of an eye. The band manages to cover a lot of ground convincingly on
Bring It On, which is unusual, since it commonly takes bands the course of a few releases to hone their sound. The three British singles released from the album are definite highlights -- "Get Myself Arrested," "Whippin' Piccadilly," and "78 Stone Wobble," the latter containing a beautifully haunting acoustic guitar riff similar to
Nirvana's unplugged version of
the Meat Puppets' "Plateau." All the praise that
Gomez's debut received is definitely not hype. The album is consistently great, as proven by such tracks as "Tijuana Lady," "Love Is Better Than a Warm Trombone," and "Get Myself Arrested." ~ Greg Prato