Well, I gotta say it. I’m impressed. Having immediately marked themselves out as something potentially very special with their earlier gear such as "78 Stone Wobble" and most of "Bring It On" back in the prehistoric days of (God!) 1998, GOMEZ have since blotted their copybook with your correspondent by releasing the indulgent "Liquid Skin" at the tail end of 1999. Since that time I’ve tended to let the Southport (via Ilkley Moor and N’Awlins) quintet drift off the personal radar.
Recent LP taster single "Shot Shot" certainly helped redress the balance and for the most part "In Our Gun" itself is a hearty three-course meal of humble pie for yours truly and proves conclusively that GOMEZ have staying power to spare.
Simply put, most of "In Our Gun" is magnificent, and for once actually justifies the hyperbole about a democratic five-way process, as song writing and team excellence are the keys here, regardless of the cross-pollination of styles, with "In Our Gun" producing the emotional goods as well as purely dazzling with its’ familiar thieving magpie genre hijacking.
"In Our Gun" kick off with the familiar "Shot Shot", but it’s scuzzy, powerhouse rumble is neither particularly representative of the wares on display or even one of the true highlights, though it’s certainly no slouch. Indeed, track 2, "Rex Kramer" is the first of the collar grabbers. Drifting in on what sounds akin to the late trumpeter DON CHERRY caught in a wind tunnel, it unravels into a cool rhythmic feast, all low-riding basslines, gumbo slide guitar and one of Ben Ottewell’s three best lead vocals here.
"Even Song" is the second of these and it’s a five minute crash course in taking GOMEZ to your heart. All the mellowed-out GOMEZ ingredients are in place, but there’s a tangible urgency to the groove and Ottewell’s reluctant to let go of the "sun’s not going down…it’s not going down!" kiss off until the very end. Spectacular. Oh, and of course he does it again with "1000 Times", surprisingly tender and confessional and vaguely reminiscent of RADIOHEAD’s "No Surprises" with its’ picked acoustics and teardrop vibes.
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Mind you, GOMEZ have hardly fallen by the wayside in the sonic innovation stakes either. Overall, "In Our Gun" is as breathtaking as parts of BECK’s landmark "Odelay" in its’ aspirations and tracks like "Army Dub" (rippling Eastern European pianos, speaker-bending bass frequencies, hyper dance rhythms), "In Our Gun" itself (epic, chromatic scale songwriting, nimble-fingered acoustic basslines and "High Chaparral" harmonica) and the aforementioned "Rex Kramer" are among the beast things they’ve achieved to date.
Not that there are intrinsic changes in the loved-up GOMEZ head camp. "Detroit Swing 66"s harmonised electro shuffle pretty much sets out their stall as ever with the immortal couplet: "Some water, some whiskey, some cigarettes or dope/ I think I’m coming round, could you help me up to cope?" earmarking it as their very own "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer."
There are still a few inconsequential moments. The apparently cautionary "Ruff Stuff" and runty "Ping One Down" are throwaways and the smell of hippie chic ‘n’ incense coming off "Ballad Of Nice And Easy" is a little strong for these nostrils, though I’d imagine it’s potentially a killer live.
But these are trifles, and shouldn’t be allowed to obscure the fact that GOMEZ are setting out on their fifth year as recording artistes clutching what is surely their finest album with "In Our Gun". In fact, creative ripostes to Doubting Thomases with sneery, suspicious minds rarely register in such a resounding fashion. Mea Culpa.
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