Gel - ’Blue Lagoon [Coral Remix]’ (2000)

From the deepest recesses of the indie bargain bin, it’s late ’90s ’bubblethrash’ four piece, Gel. Marc Berry (guitar, vocals), Andrew Courtney (drums), Jon Courtney (vocals, guitar) and Alistair Gambles (bass) were a bit like Ash, if Ash were from Reading and had no top 40 hits. Their sound was all fizzy, teen punk-pop, fast and frothy, and they performed in cheap, shiny lamé shirts. ’Blue Lagoon’ was their fourth and final single release, after issuing a trio of spunky A-sides (’Rosie & Jim’, ’Catching Ants’, ’Sunshine’) for the Ché label between 1998-99. Ché, which was also home to lo-fi indie acts like Urusei Yatsura and Helen Love, had ran into financial difficulties by 2000, and as a result, Gel were forced to issue their debut album, ’Sparkly Things’ (also the title of one of their b-sides, which isn’t included), and this single themselves, via a last minute distribution deal with Cargo. This is the single remix, by producer and Sarm Studios mix engineer Tom Elmhirst (Seal, Kylie, Sugababes, Goldfrapp). Gel’s secret weapon was their fan-favourite frenzied take on Bangles’ ’Eternal Flame’, which was almost always their live set closer. A studio recording of it was issued as the 7“ vinyl-only b-side of ’Sunshine’, but alas it was never released on CD.