In Our Gun

Gomez

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 26, 2002)
• Original Release Date: March 26, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B00005V90R
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,750 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Since their Mercury Prize-winning 1998 debut, Bring It On, this self-produced five-piece have created their own rules. The third album proper from one of the most inventive British bands around, In Our Gun is brilliantly on target and off kilter. What's miraculous about their follow-up to Liquid Skin is that it manages to advance on the manic diversity of its predecessors. Gomez are a unique band--they have three distinctive vocalists in Ben Ottewell, Ian Ball, and Tom Gray, and an ever-fizzling chemistry where every member is made to count. The resulting emotional and musical palette is vast, encompassing epic grandeur and lucid intimacy, tenderness and anger. A quick check of their armory reveals Beefheart-ian blues, a beautifully cantankerous horn section, mariachi melodies, euphoric harmony vocals, blasting hip-hop beats, slide guitar that sounds like it's come up the Mersey via the Mississippi--and that's just for starters. --Gavin Martin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I know this may look like a bad review..., April 8, 2002

By	Owen Shiflett (LA, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I know this may look like a bad review, but it isn't. Everyone on Amazon just goes to their favorite albums and gives them five stars and ruins the whole system for objective shoppers.

Gomez is no doubt a great band, and they show it in several places on this very mature and experimental album. The lyrics have always been compelling and the melodies seem to mature with every release, but unfortunately these aspects get buried under a deluge of electronic beeps and whistles. The songs themselves could really shine in an acoustic setting, where the electronica elements might be abandoned (or at least toned down) in favor of their unique blues ballads. I like Gomez, and I am glad this CD has become part of their collection (and mine) because it shows their growth and maturity in the song-writing trade. As soon as they get into a studio and realize they don't need to mature anymore is when Gomez will start pumping out five star discs every go round. A good album by this band is better than the best album by most.

A great album, but not their best (which has yet to be released).

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Be in awe", April 28, 2002

By	P. Shamdasani (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Before Gomez came along in 1998, there were really only three types of Britpop music: 1) the Beatles "homage", used by bands like Oasis and Pulp, 2) the trippy space-rock, like Radiohead or the Verve, and 3) the overused techno method, that the Charlatans have recently implemented. But five guys from Liverpool changed all that, proving that you could be an indie rock band, and use styles like blues, soul and reggae in your music. Their third real album after the entertaining, but slightly flat B-sides collection Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline, In Our Gun sees Gomez using their three years off well, implementing numerous innovative tunes that will surely make countless bands jealous. Instead of putting out the first tunes that came to their fingers, like they did in the mediocre Liquid Skin, they've experimented with 30s-esque country, modern-day dub, 80s electronica and various other now-underused techniques. The album starts off well with "Shot Shot", a tune obviously aimed at fans of their previous releases, but with a superb jazz saxophone that somehow works well with the vocal stylings of Ben Ottewell Tom Gray and Ian Ball. It straight away changes direction in "Rex Kramer", a superb O Brother, Where Art Thou?-esque tune that surely, along with the aforementioned album, signals a comeback for bluegrass music. As the album goes on, noticeable influences turn up, with Beck and Pavement feeling prominent on "Even Song", "Ruff Stuff", "Drench" and titular track "In Our Gun", while both "Ping One Down" and "Army Dub" seem straight out of a Lee "Scratch" Perry record. Despite the fact that there is definitely a noticeable change in Gomez' latest tunes, die-hard fans will enjoy it if they're open-minded enough, while casual listeners will surely be in awe at what a modern day band can achieve.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gomez wanders off, April 2, 2002

By	Roger I. Camara Lemarroy "macacox" (monterrey, nuevo leon Mexico) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Do not be fooled. This cd stills contains music from the gomez you love and pay tribute to, the only set back is that its buried beneath electronic arrangements, aggressive bass lines and catchy beatbox loops.
This record drifts away from the past ones in the way the Beatles did, more than the way Radiohead did, even though the sound of the record is more electronic than acoustic.
If you listen closely, youll be able to hear that this record is actually a journey in an old hippie van which starts out as the three singers meet (after the first 3 songs) and then moves on to the trip, from the foggy corners of UK neo-electronic culture, through a dessert (full of mystique) and off into a warm island in the pacific (very enjoyable). Not that the music really has those kind of influence, but its more or less the route the mood sets.
A. If you are a Gomez fan you will not be dissapointed.
B. I you are a music fan, youll appreciate all the arrangements the samples, the production, the mix and the tunes.
C. if you like popmusic or nonexperimental music then youll find this album hard to understand.
If you are either A or B please listen to this cd 2 times in a row the first time you put it on and you will know what im talking about.
It takes a little time to understand what the album is about, but you will get it, after you stop juddging.
Trust me, Gomez will take you again on a wonderful journey, like on their previous albums, except this time, its a different route, none the less more interesting!