"We were just a group of mates who played music for fun," says a Gomez member in an interview, referring to the time when the group recorded Bring It On. The 1998 debut from the English outfit, which took home the Mercury Music Prize for that year (it beat out Massive Attack's Mezzanine and The Verve's Urban Hymns), celebrates its 20-year anniversary, and the music has aged extremely well. The blues mixes with folk, rock, and Britpop on this late-'90s gem, and the mid-tempo numbers, driven by Ben Ottewell's soulful growls and members' subtle harmonies, meld effortlessly with gently distorted guitar, mourning organ work, and a tight rhythmic backline—check out "Whippin' Piccadilly," "Tijuana Lady," "Get Miles," and "Get Myself Arrested." This is the remastered (at Abbey Road) 2x 180g vinyl reissue.

• 180g pressing
• gatefold sleeve
• part of Virgin's 40th Anniversary releases
• music label: Virgin 1998 / 2018

reviewed by rei kwondo 05/18