GOMEZ have come to define the curse of the Mercury Music Prize winners. 1998's Bring It On, the sound of the American Deep South reactivated in deepest Southport, was the complete debut.
The vintage American vinyl of Curtis Mayfield, Dr John and Tom Waits fed their meandering blues, stoned psychedelia and retro funk, all given a lo-fi modern tweak in the manner of fellow arch archivist Beck.
Who could resist Whippin' Piccadilly (here revived in a Turbo remix), Bring It On, 78 Stone Wobble and Get Myself Arrested, the one that hankered after being detained in a BMW?
They were 22, they already looked like perennial anorak students and their magpie instincts were set in stone.
Three vocalists in one band mean an ever-shifting focus - although as a rule of thumb, the more prominent the gravel crunch of Ben Ottewell the better - and subsequent albums have revealed a multi-skilled facility for rock, delta blues, electronica, soul and funk, but flair and wit soon gave way to stolid proficiency.
Gomez have been good, never bad, but only exceptional at the very start.
- Win the CD/DVD
The Press has five copies each of the CD and DVD versions of Gomez's Five Men In A Hut to be won, courtesy of Hut/Virgin.
See page 30 of today's The Press for details.
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