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Rating: The best quality of the Gomez? I think they are unbeatable when it comes to giving, how should I put it, full sense to any sound fragment. Their music comes from many small shards organized like a very personal microcosm, united, coordinated, and made into an indispensable organ of those completed "ensembles" that turn out to be their works.
An exception that confirms the rule is this atypical collection dated the year 2000: in this case, the bare, shattered, and improvised fragment is deprived of its freedom to create an osmosis that, personally, I believe only great bands possess. It is not difficult to understand how a collection of B-sides, rarities, and remade covers is a tremendous double-edged sword as it presents us with a more genuine musical expression, devoid of the shine of major productions: so allow me to say that Gomez, in this more "Indie" guise, brilliantly pass the test of facing their music, with the bare skin (pardon the pun), but never trivial or somewhat repetitive.
Speaking of these fifteen "madnesses," I prefer to start with the covers, Flavors and Getting Better: unable to debate the beauty of the first, I'd like to emphasize how the second, with the Lennon-McCartney trademark, has been extrapolated, manipulated, and served back to us as a song by Gomez.
Then, simply because I can't help it (it's the sonic whirlwind that overwhelms the enthusiast), I must move on to the examination of excellent renditions: the famous 78 Stone Stubble becomes Shuffle, with an impeccable live execution for the BBC; turn up the volume to believe it, the effect is swing that turns over your local joint. The other, the famous and beautiful We Haven't Turned Around, returns raw and bare, missing its orchestral quality, but decidedly alive, pulsating, and heartfelt.
If the album ended here, I believe the most ardent fans would already be satisfied even if the section of excellent "sawn-off" pieces is still missing, those pearls that make you fall in love precisely because they are forgotten and discovered by chance. One above all? Buena Vista. Eight stunning minutes, half of which are instrumental in a sort of psychedelic revival recorded on a four-track in the box behind the house.
Great, but I wouldn't want to forget Wharf Me or Rosemary, so poignant as to be atypical in the production of Gomez, and now a doubt arises: what would be the true production of our heroes? Difficult answer... better to continue listening and discover other gems like the two Shitbag, tinged with Blues, Bring Your Lovin' Back Here or the sickly Hit On The Head, The Cowboy Song.
I'm sure of one thing: with a targeted production, it could have been passed off as the excellent predecessor to In Our Gun. Long live honesty then...
Tracklist and Lyrics
05 Flavors (03:12)
There was a red light coughin' up a room of blood
And there were forecast seven inches of snow
And there were two tunes playing in my head at once
Arguing guitar and drums
There was a lover standing by her bed
With a cigarette burning on her hand
And there were moonbeams playing on her porcelain flesh
A capi ero alousca
Company cars and shoes were never meant to play the blues
You were the only fool I ever wanted to make love to
Even within my youth I denied I wanted to
You were the only fool I ever wanted to make love to
There was a red Mayan parrot pulling chicken legs
And there were weak spots only she could detect
And as I rolled over to block the last ray of sun
In emergency all over the show
There was a blue light the other side of the globe
And there were four cats stretching out their claws
And there were two lovers separated by the telephone
Company cars and shoes were never meant to play the blues
You were the only fool I ever wanted to make love to
Even within my youth I denied I wanted to
'Cause you were the only fool I ever wanted to make love to
Your flavors are getting to me
Your flavors are getting to me
Your flavors are getting to me
Your flavors are getting to me
Your flavors
Your flavors
Your flavors
Your flavors
09 Shitbag (01:03)
Well, everybody's got their own destination
But, I don't have one at all
Well, everybody favours their particular situation
But, I don't favour much at all
So I'm rolling 'long with a fine-looking country girl
Boy, I tell you she's got it all
Don't come around here trying to sell me your messed-up bitchin'
I got my old beat-up ball
10 Steve McCroski (04:33)
Since I was a child I was chased like a demon out of town
Gonna see the child of a leg, leg, legless hound
And I am gonna follow you around
And I am gonna follow you around
Yeah, I..
I'm eagerly adopted by the darkest atmosphere
Playin' in the playground with all the, all the others, yeah
And I am gonna follow you around
And I am gonna follow you around
Yeah, I..
And I am gonna follow you around
And I am gonna follow you around
And I am gonna follow you around
And I am gonna follow you around
Yeah, I..
13 Rosemary (05:50)
Rosemary's the kind of girl
Don't need no reason
She's the kind that just won't settle
Down
Clothes are out of season
She'll be done for treason
She'll be hanging from a tree upside
Down
Fever
Fever
Where you trying to run?
Fever
Diva
Rosemary's not done
Well Rosemary's the kind of girl
Tired of her beauty
She has taken all her mirrors
Down
So you best believe her
The girl will give you fever
She's the kind to heat you up and cool you
Down
Fever
Fever
Where you trying to run?
Fever
Diva
Rosemary
She's not done
Not done
14 The Cowboy Song (01:16)
One of these days,
One of these fine old days
I'm gonna be through.
Keep on trucking now, smiling,
Waving your hand, goodbye
She's just fucking around now
Saying those things that she doesn't really need to say
She's got guns to her hip
He's a-cracking his whip
Yeah he's a cowboy.
When he sees her walk by
Got that look in her eye
She's so fine, she's so fine,
He's a cowboy
Yeah!
15 Getting Better (03:38)
It's getting better all the time
I used to get mad at my school
The teachers who taught me weren't cool
Holding me down
Turning me round
Filling me up with your rules.
I've got to admit it's getting better,
It's getting better all the time
I've got to admit it's getting better,
It's getting better since you've been mine.
Me used to be angry young man
Me hiding me head in the sand
You gave me the word
I finally heard
I'm doing the best that I can
I admit it's getting better,
It's getting better all the time
I've got to admit it's getting better,
It's getting better since you've been mine.
Getting so much better all the time
It' getting better all the time, Better Better, Better
It' getting better all the time, Better Better, Better
I used to be cruel to my woman I beat her and
kept her apart from the things that she loved
Man, i was mean, but I'm changing my scene and I'm doing the best that I can.
I admit it's getting better,
It's getting better all the time
I've got to admit it's getting better,
It's getting better since you've been mine.
Getting so much better all the time
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