GOMEZ

Gomez came out of England in the late 90s. They’re another one of those can’t - quite - pin -them -down bands. They’re a rock band, but are not opposed to throwing in whatever instruments or sounds that come to mind.

When I first heard their debut album, Bring It On, I thought it sounded a little bit like what Beck would sound like if he were a whole band. Nowadays, though, they have a more jam band feel.

Oh, and they won the Mercury Music Prize with their first album.

And Philips paid them a boat load to do a cover of The Beatles “Getting Better” for some commercials.

Through out their career, they have released many non-album songs. Many of them have been re-released on two rarities compilations. Many more, however, have not.

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Gomez - “Who’s Gonna Go To the Bar” From the “78 Stone Wobble” CD single.
Gomez - “Wham Bam” Released on the vinyl version of “78 Stone Wobble” single.
Gomez - “The Way You Do the Things You Do” (live Temptations cover)
Gomez - “Emergency Surgery” (original version) From the “We Haven’t Turned Around” CD single. An alternate version was later issued on Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline.
Gomez - “Stagger Lee” (radio session) This is a cover of a traditional blues song, most commonly associated with Mississippi John Hurt, but known to not have been written by him. The story of the real Stagger Lee is here.
Gomez - “Gomez In a Bucket (A Seaside Town Made of Ice Cream Slowly Melting)” Another b-side of “We Haven’t Turned Around”. In this case, a ten minute instrumental. The song is good, but the name’s better.
Gomez - “Brother Lead” (radio session) Date and location unknown.
Gomez - “Rosemary” (original version) From the “We Haven’t Turned Around” CD single. A re-recorded version was later issued on a compilation. From what I was told at the time, this b-side had nearly as much airplay as the a-side.
Gomez - “Soul Kitchen” (live) The bootleg I’m grabbing this off says it’s a radio session. Judging from the applause at the beginning, it’s either a really big studio, or a live recording played on a radio station.
Gomez - “Steve McCroski” (original version) Another one from the “78 Stone Wobble” CD single. A re-recorded version was released on Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline. I’m not a huge fan of the song, but this does give me opportunity to mention the name comes from a character in the classic movie Airplane!

Gomez discography:

Bring It On, 1998 (buy)
Liquid Skin, 1999 (buy)
Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline, 2000 (rarities compilation)
In Our Gun, 2002 (buy)
Split the Difference, 2004 (buy)
How We Operate, 2006 (buy)
Five Men In a Hut, 2006 (buy) (rarities compilation)

For anyone who’s interested, there’s 60+ live Gomez shows available for free over at the Internet Archive.