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Ian Gomm - Gomm with the Wind

Ian Gomm
I have no idea why I remembered Ian Gomm. The title to the album Gomm with the Wind always stuck with me, and I knew there was a song I knew, but couldn't remember. It was "Hold On" and while it wasn't a big hit, it did get some radio play and Ian was very much part of that early bunch of power pop acts who were crossing the pond. It's a fun song, and Herbie Flowers bass is a sonic punch to the gut.

The album contained a dozen pop nuggets with only one song going over three minutes and at that was by seven seconds. There were a couple of covers, one by Chuck Berry, "Come On" that was really cool, and the Lennon-McCartney "You Can't Do That." It was get in, get out. Keep it tight. None of the songs felt incomplete they were just right.

stiff records

The album was released on Stiff /Epic and label-mates included Nick Lowe, who's "Cruel to be Kind" had been co-written by Ian Gomm, along with Ian Dury and the Blockheads and the legendary Pointed Sticks. While Ian did score a minor hit with "Hold On" he just didn't seem to catch his big break. 

Having just said that, it should be noted that Gomm with the Wind was only on Stuff / Epic in North America, and that the album had been released a year earlier as Summer Holiday with a different track order and a couple new tracks. Regardless, this was the release I knew and is the release I have.

Timing is everything, and who knows what it was - the songs here are catchy and as good as anything that was coming out by his contemporaries. Maybe that was the problem, his contemporaries - there were a lot of acts trying to compete in the same space. There was a sameness to a lot of the acts, and while the songs were catchy it was frankly just more of the same.

This isn't to say this is an album to be so easily dismissed. It's worth the time. This is really good stuff. Ian is a really solid guitar player, and knows how to anchor the songs. Speaking on anchoring, I mentioned at the start Herbie Flowers' bass playing. The man is a force of nature here, and he's holding it all together. The band was rounded out by Barry deSouza on drums and Chris Perrin on keys.

back cover
One of the big surprises was a great working of The Beatles "You Can't Do That" into a wicked new wave masterpiece. Truly, if you're going to cover a band, let alone The Beatles - you better have something in mind to make it your own.

The fact that this was really good didn't matter, there were other good acts out there and true to the title the album would be Gomm with the Wind. To quote Margaret Mitchell from Gone with the Wind  “Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect. We take what we get and are thankful it's no worse than it is.”


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