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+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine
Think post 1985. Think Thatcher victorious. Think Ramsey McKinnock. Think defeat, dilapidation and despair. Mines mouldering, Tories triumphant, futures failed. Think trips into brain dead drug dazed escapism, the sheen of the ridiculous oversized clothes only matched by the minuteness of the dull philosophy. Think staring at your shoes, as if inspiration will crawl off the bottom of your trendy shitty soulless sole. Think a culture grown septic with its own inward-looking defeatism. Think.
So who resisted this cultural Chernobyl? Two names leap out at me from this mindless mirthless mire. One, Manic Street Preachers, using glamour, situationism, literature, Marxism, androgyny and the legacy of The Clash meshed with the overblown stadium stupidity of Guns and Roses and Public Enemy’s rebellious beats to supercharge their righteous South Walian anger. No wonder I fell for them.
And the other? The other were two blokes from the pub dressed in cycling gear and back to front haircuts leaping around the stages of the T shirt toting toilets of Britain to the sound of twin guitars, an arsenal of puns and a drum machine.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the big shop is open. I give you Carter USM.
There was no love lost between Carter and The Manics, maybe the latter were jealous that in 1991 it was actually Fruitbat and Jim Bob who seemed to be wooing the kids out of the Tory powered pit of despond. As a paid-up member of the ‘Manics are the only band that matters’ fan club, I know I probably never afforded the duo the respect they deserved. This reissue is a chance to put things right.
So, Thirty Something. What do we have? Three steps to
Heaven on the escalator:
Both of these supported by a creative, often unexpected and always appreciative mining of popular culture past and present. Catch Bowie, Bad Manners, Red Dwarf, The Clash and even Gary Glitter rehashed, reused, revived and resurrected, combined, intertwined and given new life, particularly on this record with its imaginative and irreverent respect for the past forging something relevant and powerful for the then future and for the now future. Now.
This reissue also features 2 extra CDs of B sides, session tracks and live shows, and there’s a DVD of 1991 The Brixton Academy gig, originally issued as a VHS ‘In Bed With Carter’ and not available since. Until now. For anyone wondering how two geezers and a drum machine could command a stage, drawing all eyes to the front, have a look at this.
If like me you were too busy falling for the Manics to appreciate this powerful, intelligent rebellious record the first time round, now might be a good time to put this right. If you were always a T shirt toting fan, there’s enough rarely heard material here (perhaps ironically, all beautifully presented in a clam shell case with obligatory glossy booklet etc) to keep you kicking against the pricks as you grow old disgracefully.
Shopper’s Paradise.
Rosey R*E*P*E*A*T ----- Released 10th March - more info and less alliteration here Order from Rough Trade here
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