Customer Reviews

How We Operate

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The world is divided into those who were on the Gomez train ride since the early 90s and those who hopped on sometime after the new millenium and decided to buy into the misleading sarcasm of "influential pop critics". Blame the British media for being anti-Americanism during the blossoming years of ultra-Anglophilism - the years when anything that didn't sound even remotely British or Britpop-like were deemed rubbish.

Gomez started being experimental and that in itself was a mistake. People laughed when they talked about the varsity union in Whippin' Picadilly. Critics hurled when they heard the David Blaine influenced tunes from Machismo. Nothing Ian Ball & Co. ever did since the beginning of their careers have gone right.

But let's just say that 8 or 9 years on, Gomez is more refreshing and interesting that anything Liam Gallagher can vomit out of his acoustic soul. Britpop is dead, everything that you ever knew about Britpop has been taken underground by Teenage Fanclub. Gomez are still here though, and that in itself speaks volumes.

Perhaps the only mistake Gomez have ever done is to released records at times when different musical mainstreams are taking place. Perhaps they should have released 'How We Operate' back in the guitar heydays of jangly pop. Perhaps Liquid Skin would see better times if they released it now in this electronica frontier. Poor Gomez. Getting their musical timeline all wrong. Let's line them up and have a media cult gathering bonfire Shot Shot.

'How We Operate' is solid, the music is interesting, the singing beats the hell out of Brandon Flowers, the lyrics are fun and keeps you coming back everytime. There's a good balance of loud and quiet, a fusion of charming bits and that's all you really need in an album, right?

There are one or two rubbish tracks (Cry On Demand, haha!) but which album released since 1979 doesn't have a couple of those?

Listen to 'How We Operate' without comparison to any of the band's previous efforts. Don't let critics tell you why you shouldn't like Gomez. Take it for what it is - a genuine guitar-laden pop/rock album with no frills. You'll come to a realization that it's a whole lot better than some of the ambient-laden monochromatic new age junk out there.

I didn't think much of this album the first time I heard it. I thought it was "okay." But, having dusted it off and listened again...what was I thinking when I first heard this? This is really an excellent album, easy to listen to all the way through. Again and again. Love, love, love at second sight!

I've loved Gomez from their first album, but thought they kinda lost their way a little in between, at least for my taste. But this album is by far their best yet, catchy melodies, great lyrics, tight arrangements, and the alternating lead singers keep you guessing. What a great album! I ordered it based on a couple of tracks I heard and loved, now I love the whole album. If you're a Gomez fan, this is the one to have -- if you're new to their music, you will buy everything they've recorded after listening to this one. Good going, guys of Gomez, it's amazing!

If it were only Ben singing, probably would have gotten 5 stars.

I love half this disc; the other half is mediocre. The half I love are all the songs sung by Ben Ottewal. (There is one song that he doesn't lead on that I like fairly well called Charley Patton Songs.)
Ben Ottewal has a deep, gravelly voice similar to David Gray or Tom Waits. His sound lends a more edgy feel to the tunes he sings, such as Chasing Ghosts with Alcohol, See The World, All too Much, How we Operate, and Tear your Love Apart. These all stand up to repeated listening.

However, numbers such as Girlshaped LoveDrug sound like the Beatles but less inventive and annoying. Reminds me of Robbie Williams, even though I can tolerate some Robbie Williams. Ben Ottewal's voice, on the other hand, is singular and shines. Ben's voice suits the music well; that's my opinion.

Gomez has a compelling sound when Ben Ottewal is singing. Try them out for a listen!

Gomez has long been one of my favorite bands around since their stellar debut "Bring It On". They've been very solid since then.

This CD is a little bit softer than previous ones. It's not as rough and bluesy. It has a more polished feel to it. Nonetheless, it still has a bunch of good songs on it.

Gomez has always been good at writing good melodies. "How We Operate" is good, just maybe not as good as their previous stuff. Still you could do a lot worse than buying the new Gomez album. Pick them all up!

I don't know that much about Gomez other than this album. To me, it sounds like there are two different lead singers. One of them has a clear, standard Brit-pop type voice that works well on the poppier songs (girlshapedlovedrug, Notice). The other guy has a more weathered, distinctively cool sounding voice (How We Operate, See the World). But, honestly, it could be one person or three singers, or who knows? I couldn't tell who was singing by the liner notes or their web page or their myspace page even who were the main singers/songwriters. This is truly A BAND with an utter lack of ego, pretension and 'frontman' star quality B.S.

My personal opinion is that if they singled out the guy with the sexy voice and pushed him forward a bit more they would be rockstars by now. And that my friends, is what is wrong with the musical world. This band to me is exactly what rock and roll should be about. Every song sounds like a new experiment in sounds and like it was a joy to create among a group of friends who aren't that concerned with rock stardom. This allows to personalities to shine through in their playing without the 'look at me' syndrome that affects many bands that aren't this cohesive sounding.

Keep going Gomez! You guys are a true inspiration and a great rock 'n' roll band!

It seems that Gomez are trying to make themselves more accessible. Big mistake. In ditching their initial quirky, mixed-nuts approach to compiling albums, they are becoming incredibly bland. 'How We Operate' is a scrapbook of inoffensive and completely forgettable doodles, bearing precious little resemblance to any of the collectible nick-nacks on 'Bring It On' and 'Liquid Skin'.

The rot set in on 'In Your Gun', though even then there was evidence of life in the tracks 'Bang Bang' and 'Rex Kramer'. Unfortunately it's been a downward slide since then. I listened to 'How We Operate' three times and haven't played it again; probably never will. It'll join Turin Brakes, the last two Cranberries albums and the other unplayed wonders on the bottom row of the CD tower.

Never really heard of Gomez before I went on a business trip to Detroit.Heard the title song, and had to have it. I'm 53 years old, who says we don't listen to the good stuff?

Like several reviewers, someone put me on to "Bring it on" back around 1999 and I still think that's a superb album. I got as far as "Liquid skin" which I enjoyed a little less, but then lost track of the band. When I found out they had a gig in town, I rushed to catch up with their latest and bought this and "In our gun" (which I won't review here, but like much less).

I was so disappointed on first listen - it seemed smooth and bland, lacking all that gravelly quirkiness I enjoyed on BIO - but I gave it some time, and after about 3 times through I suddenly found myself getting hooked, first by one track then another, and now I'm thoroughly addicted. The songs turn out to be sufficiently well-crafted to stand up to many more listens. Yes, they are accessible, sing-along stuff, but there's some depth to most of the arrangements too.

I agree with most of Peter Shermeta's analysis, although I'm surprised he's so down on "Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol" which I like just fine.

Gomez has something for everybody on this one. Great lyrics, great music, great arranging--- hard not to like. It rocks, it's whimsical, it's emotive, it's got a beat. Really hard to classify. Track 7, Tear Our Love Apart, is my 8 year old son's favorite song. I've bought 3 more to send to friends.