Listening to "Get Miles," the opener on Gomez's debut album, it's hard to reconcile the song's gravelly blues licks with the bespectacled, callow youths on the CD jacket. This English quintet excels in sonic mimicry, particularly where Yankee R&B and roots music are concerned. The album's first single, "78 Stone Wobble," could pass for a psychedelicized "Born on the Bayou," and "Free to Run" sounds like Eddie Vedder fronting a bluegrass band at a melancholy hootenanny. But Gomez haven't managed to create a musical identity of their own along the way. Whether or not lyrics such as "Tijuana lady/Let's take it slow/I know that I'm no head honcho/I'll keep you warm in my silky poncho" are meant to be taken seriously, they're not delivered with much sass or flair. As it is, they're like Ween without the laughs. (RS 795)

NEVA CHONIN