Rocks In The Attic #75: Gomez - ‘Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline’ (2000)

This album is number 2.5 for Gomez - a collection of b-sides and outtakes released between their second and third albums. I must have liked both of their first two albums enough to buy this, but I don’t think I listened to it more than once or twice.

I’ve never really understood outtakes albums - well I understand them - but I think in most cases you need to be a total and complete fan of the band to truly appreciate them. This is very true of this album - it’s all recordings made in and around the sessions and tours of the first two albums, but where a studio album is pored over and analysed, this sounds as cobbled together as you would expect.

Also, the vinyl format of this album isn’t assisted by the fact that they’ve crammed 49 minutes on one disc. Normally that would be okay, but given that the first two albums are double-LPs, this just doesn’t have the depth and clarity to stand up to those records.

This was the last Gomez record I bought - but if I saw any of their other ones on vinyl, I wouldn’t hesitate.

Hit: 78 Stone Shuffle

Hidden Gem: Bring Your Lovin’ Back Here

Rocks In The Attic #6: Gomez - ‘Bring It On’ (1998)

We used to do a cover of Whippin’ Picadilly in a band I played in back in 1999 and 2000. It was a pretty bad cover as I think we only half-learnt it, and I remember it used to really hurt my fretting hand because of the constant barre chords used throughout the song.

I’d definitely heard of Gomez by this time because I remember the hype surrounding them when they won The Mercury Music Prize for this album, but I hadn’t bought anything by them. I seem to remember that, buoyed on by our lead singer, I went out and bought this album on vinyl.

Not long after, I saw Gomez play at the first Glastonbury I went to, back in 1999. They played on the Second Stage, just as the sun was setting and it was a real festival moment. I stuck with them enough to buy their second studio album, Liquid Skin (1999), and their third release, a collection of outtakes and b-sides called Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline (2000), but by this time I had lost interest.

Hit: Whippin’ Picadilly

Hidden Gem: Tijuana Lady