
INSPIRAL CARPETS
The Complete Singles (Mute/BMG)
Formed in the early 1980s and heavily influenced by the 1960s garage rock feted in the legendary Nuggets compilation, Oldham’s Inspiral Carpets went through umpteen bass players before riding the Madchester juggernaut, although their mad cow logo surely helped them on their way. Their first biggie was the Seeds-meets-C88 of Keep The Circle Around, where guitars swirl around the Farfisa organ signature sound; the band’s hooks were a regular presence in the Top 40 for a decent stretch, until a more widescreen sound served only to clog up the kitchen-sink lyrical preoccupations that aided their universality.
Before that, there was the ebullient Joe and the Buzzcocks-spirited Find Out Why. The anthemic This Is How It Feels found its way onto the football terraces and chimed with mums mired in domesticity. Britpop arrived, spearheaded by former Inspirals roadie Noel Gallagher, ushering in the classic Saturn 5 and the rowdy I Want You, where the inimitable drawl of Mark E Smith paired well with Stephen Holt’s vocal pipes. In their second stint, 2014’s Let You Down was graced by John Cooper Clarke.
This collection compiles a bounty of remixes which never attain the quality of an Oakenfold or Weatherall production, although The Go Team’s TIHIF is nifty and the Skripka mix of Uniform puts a classy tie on the original.
words CHRIS SEAL
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