British rockers Gomez are bringing out their critically acclaimed debut album Bring It On in a whole new way for its 20th anniversary this year, with a multi-format reissue in May and a North American tour to follow.
While the group's debut album was a modest chart success, just missing the U.K. Top 10 albums chart and yielding only one Top 40 single, "Whippin' Piccadilly" - critics and fans alike made the LP a hearty slow-burner, eventually going platinum in its native England. The lo-fi affair - essentially a series of freewheeling demos given minimal embellishment by engineer Ken Nelson (who collaborated on the group's follow-up Liquid Skin and later co-produced Coldplay's first three albums) - was hailed for its simplicity, hailed as a "damn beautiful album" by Spin and deemed "an intriguing blend of swamp blues, bar-room rock and eerie power" by the British Phonographic Industry when they awarded the album the prestigious Mercury Music Prize.
Previously reissued for its 10th anniversary with a bonus disc of B-sides and BBC session tracks, the super deluxe Bring It On features all that material and more, including some two dozen demos and early recordings plus the group's set at the Glastonbury Music Festival in 1998. A 10,000-word essay by Paul Stokes draws from new interviews with the band and their associates.
The 4CD deluxe set, as well as single CD and 2LP remasters of the original album, are available April 20. Full specs and Amazon links are below.
Bring It On: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/UMC (U.K.), 2018)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Disc 1: 2018 remaster of original album (released as Hut Recordings/Virgin CDHUT49 (U.K.), 1998)
- Get Miles
- Whippin' Piccadilly
- Make No Sound
- 78 Stone Wobble
- Tijuana Lady
- Here Comes the Breeze
- Love is Better Than a Warm Trombone
- Get Myself Arrested
- Free to Run
- Bubble Gum Years
- Rie's Wagon
- The Comeback
Disc 2: Single B-sides and Outtakes
- Who's Gonna Go the Bar
- Steve McCroski
- Wham Bam
- Flavors
- Old School Shirt
- The Cowboy Song
- Pussyfootin'
- Pick Up the Pieces
- Whippin' Piccadilly (Turbo Version)
- Flats 1 & 2
- Collapse
- Hit on the Head
- Slot Machine
- Sweetest Song
- Buena Vista
- 78 Stone Wobble
- Sun Rim Dips
- Walking Wounded
- Bluest Heaven
- Getting Rained On
Disc 2, Tracks 1-3 from "78 Stone Wobble" 12" single - Hut Recordings/Virgin HUTT95 (U.K.), 1998
Disc 2, Tracks 4-6 from "Get Myself Arrested" single - Hut Recordings/Virgin HUTCD97 (U.K.), 1998
Disc 2, Tracks 7-9 from "Whippin' Piccadilly" single - Hut Recordings/Virgin HUTCD105 (U.K.), 1998
Disc 2, Track 12 from Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline - Hut Recordings/Virgin CDHUT64 (U.K.), 2000
All other tracks previously unreleased. Recorded on Fostex X-18, mixed to CDR in Southport. April-July 1996
Disc 3: Demos
- 78 Stone Wobble
- Whippin' Piccadilly
- Get Miles
- Tijuana Lady
- Rie's Wagon
- Here Comes the Breeze
- Steve McCroski
- Emma Freud
- Touchin' Up
- Bring It On
- Free to Run
- Unknown Legend
- Get Miles
- Mean Old World
Disc 3, Tracks 1-7 from record company demo tape (August 1996-August 1997). New transfers of the original 4-track cassette tapes; recorded on Fostex X-18 and mixed by Ian Ball, October 2017
Disc 3, Tracks 8-10 from other 4-track recordings, January-August 1997
Disc 3, Tracks 11-14 from Sheffield tapes, November 1996
Disc 4: BBC recordings
- Brother Lead (BBC Session - 4/6/1998)
- 78 Stone Shuffle (BBC Session - 4/6/1998)
- The Way You Do the Things You Do (BBC Session - 4/6/1998)
- Here Comes the Breeze (BBC Session - 4/6/1998)
- Stag O'Lee (BBC Session - 8/24/1998)
- Whippin' Piccadilly (BBC Session - 8/24/1998)
- Get Miles (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Get Myself Arrested (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Love is Better Than a Warm Trombone (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Rhythm & Blues Alibi (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Here Comes the Breeze (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Tijuana Lady (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Buena Vista (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Make No Sound (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- 78 Stone Wobble (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Soul Kitchen (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
- Whippin' Piccadilly (Live at Glastonbury - 6/27/1998)
Disc 4, Tracks 1-6 released on Bring It On: 10th Anniversary Edition (Hut Recordings/Virgin/EMI CDHUTR49 (U.K.), 2008. All other tracks previously unreleased
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