Ian Robert Gomm (born 28 March 1947 in Chiswick, West London) is a British singer-songwriter, who was the rhythm guitarist for Brinsley Schwarz from 1970 to 1974. He was named “Best Rhythm Guitarist” by NME in 1971.
Gomm had started in around 1962/1963 in Unit 4, formed by Ian Gomm on rhythm and lead guitar, vocals, Martin Davis on bass and Simon Behar on drums, who were all pupils at Ealing County School for Boys. Soon after forming, Frank Kennington, who was older than the others, joined as lead vocalist and they became Unit 4. Mick Liber, who had previously played with Frankie Reid & The Casuals and Clay Alison and the Searchers, joined Unit 4 around July 1964 but the new line-up was short-lived. Around October 1964, Kennington left and moved to Sydney, Australia, and Unit 4 broke up.
Gomm built a recording studio in Wales in 1974, where he worked with musicians such as the Stranglers and Alexis Korner. Gomm’s first solo album, Summer Holiday, came out in 1978. The album was re-titled and re-sequenced (with two extra tracks) as Gomm with the Wind. A song from the album, “Hold On”, reached #18 in the United States and #44 in Canada in 1979. He re-released his best known song for Brinsley Schwarz, “Hooked on Love”, with “Chicken Run” as the B-side on Stiff in 1979.
One of that slew of fabulous albums cut by former members of Brinsley Schwarz at the end of the 1970s, Gomm With the Wind finds our hero stepping firmly in the footsteps left by bandmate Nick Lowe, but doing so with such deft aplomb that one really did wonder precisely who was leading whom. Any one of half a dozen tracks here would have dignified either of Lowe’s own albums-so-far, with the pure pop “Hooked on Love” and “Airplane,” in particular, aiming straight at the jugular of the Jesus of Cool.
Only two songs did not slip from the prolific Gomm pen, a cover of the Beatles’ “You Can’t Do That,” and an absolutely brilliant reinvention of Chuck Berry’s “Come On,” slowed down to half its usual pace and delivered more as a lament than the exhortation it once was. Elsewhere, from the reggae-tinged “Sad Affair” to the pure pop “Hooked on Love”; from the wistful (and distinctly Paul Simon-ish) “Another Year,” to the big ballad “Hold On”; from start to finish, Gomm With the Wind might have had a ghastly pun for a title, but it turned out spotless, all the same.
Tracklist
1. “Hold On” (Ian Gomm) – 2:57
2. “Hooked on Love” (Ian Gomm) – 2:08
3. “Sad Affair” (Ian Gomm) – 2:46
4. “Black and White” (Ian Gomm) – 1:49
5. “Come On” (Chuck Berry, Ian Gomm) – 2:47
6. “Airplane” (Ian Gomm) – 2:09
7. “Twenty Four Hour Service” (Ian Gomm) – 2:55
8. “That’s the Way I Rock ‘n’ Roll” (Ian Gomm) – 2:42
9. “Dirty Lies” (Ian Gomm) – 3:13
10. “You Can’t Do That” (John Lennon / Paul McCartney) – 2:57
11. “Chicken Run” (Ian Gomm) – 2:14
12. “Another Year” (Ian Gomm) – 2:21
Companies, etc.
Licensed From – Albion Records Ltd.
Licensed To – Stiff Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Stiff Records
Copyright (c) – CBS Inc.
Manufactured By – Epic Records
Manufactured By – CBS Inc.
Mastered At – Sterling Sound
Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Santa Maria
Credits
Bass – Herbie Flowers
Drums – Barry De Souza
Engineer – Alan Winstanley
Guitar, Vocals – Ian Gomm
Keyboards – Chris Parren
Producer – Martin Rushent
Written-By – Ian Gomm
Notes
Release Date: 1979
Genre: Pop
Length: 30:47
Label – Stiff Records
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