Happy 20th Anniversary, Bring It On (Gomez)

It feels like only yesterday that this album came out. But it wasn't! Let's wish a very happy 20th anniversary to Gomez's Bring It On, and revisit just what makes this such a special record.

I can still remember hearing Bring It On for the first time, still remember being struck with how different it was to anything else I was enamored with at the time. From the very beginning, with the opening strains of "Get Miles" and the sweaty sinews of all that canned heat and rasping vocals, I was aware that Gomez had made something very special indeed.

Listening to Bring It On, you can almost feel desert heat beaming down. There's almost something escapist in the album's songs, a determination to rebel against the gloom of modern city life and chase liberation. If coerced, I'd tell you that my favorite song on Bring It On was "Get Myself Arrested," the good time, ambling little vagabond of a song that really shows off the band's shared vocals so very well.

With the intricate patchwork of sounds, Gomez made it impossible to pigeonhole their music - and still does. It's remarkable to me how current this record still sounds. Unlike a good many of the band's contemporaries, Gomez made albums that are still relevant 20 years down the road (and that will probably continue to be so after another 20 years).  

[posted 4.22.18]