Customer Reviews

Who Goes There

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I'm somewhere in between the fans who love seeing Ian break away from the Gomez sound, and those who are disappointed that it doesn't sound more like Gomez. I get that Ian is Ian and Gomez is Gomez. But one of the things I love about Ian's songs with Gomez is his desire to experiment and push the music beyond guitars and drums. There's always something else going on in the background, like a musical orgy of pots and pans and clapping hands. There's something else. For me, that's what this album is missing. It's an amazingly introspective album with songs that really come from Ian's heart, about his life on the road, his beautiful wife, his baby boy, his friends and lovers and band mates. But it's missing that "something else." The songs are good. I'm still enjoying this album 50 listens into it. I love the tell-all "When We Were Cool." My son and I enjoy singing the all-too-short but strikingly powerful "Batteries." "Enzymes" is the best track on the album with its myriad changes and amazing ending. I'm proud of Ian. And he should be proud, too. This album is good. I hope it's a precursor of more things to come from one of the most creative artists on the music scene today. Now, I hope he's got this out of his system for a bit and can go back to experimenting with Gomez. You promised me you were going to keep it real, Ian. I'm going to hold you to that.

Let me preface my comments by saying I really like Ian Ball. I think he is the clincher in Gomez. Ben and Tom are awesome but Ian always seemed to me to be the groups epicenter of hipness. Without Ian in the band, I think Gomez may have gravitated to adult contempo by now. That said, this album shows why these guys are perfect for each other and have made Gomez one of the most unique sounding bands ever. They work so well together and most importantly keep each other in check. Ian's solo effort starts strong, with Failure in particular being a stand out but as the album wares on so do the songs. If you are a die hard Gomez fan you will find something in this album else wise it is too inconsistent of an effort to fully get behind. Sorry Ian

Being a huge fan of Gomez and their music both live and recorded, I was hopeful that this release would help to showcase Ian's talent. Not the case. This is a boring, lackluster album that is seemingly direction-less and comprised of songs that wouldn't be used for B-sides on a regular Gomez single. If you like slow songs that go nowhere with repetative lyrics, then this may be for you. If not, wait for the next Gomez CD.

Not dreadfully slow, but this is pretty mellow. The only upbeat / catchy tune is "Failure" which unforfunately just sounds like something World Party would have done 15 years ago.

This album is passable, certainly not a classic, and should probably be judged apart from Gomez, but thats as unlikely as reviewing a Keith Richards album without thinking about the Stones.

As for the reviewer two before me, he objected to the previous review because he didn't like the CD. Thats the great thing about amazon reviews, it reflects the small mindedness of most people. So what if he doesn't like it? Thats his opinion and his prerogative. Do you just want people like you to review albums? If everyone who wrote a review had exactly the same opinion as you did, surely the whole point of reading and writing reviews would be obsolete?