November 12th sees Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine’s classic debut 101 Damnations re released on Big Cat. Originally released in 1989 the album became an immediate classic in bedsits and university dorms across the UK. The acerbic wit and observations on the everyday life of a Britain riddled with corrupt landlords , shoot-outs in Tulse Hill and Peckham, just the idea of dropping a bomb that would end all our miserable lives saw singer Jim Bob and guitarist Fruit Bat elevate from the back rooms of dingy pubs to headlining all the major halls in the land from Brixton Academy to Glasgow Barrowlands throughout the early nineties .
This edition has all the original tracks, including the hits “Sherriff Fatman ” and “Rubbish” in the original artwork , and the addition of 4 bonus tracks originally included in the promo 12″ ” Handbuilt for Perverts”, of which their version of The Pet Shop Boys “Rent” ranks among their most popular songs .
In a career that spanned 10 years, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine’s achievements included a Number One album and many hit singles whose lyrics have dealt with such unlikely pop themes as child abuse and AIDS. Their ferociously entertaining live shows have earned them the most dedicated fan followings in the wonderful world of alternative pop.
It’s some achievement by any standards. Perhaps it’s even more impressive when you consider that this is a band that started almost by accident.
Carter began in 1988, when the much acclaimed if commercially unsuccessful jangle pop band Jamie Wednesday disintegrated. The bands song-writing team, singer/guitarist Jimbob and guitarist Fruitbat found themselves with a charity show at the London Astoria to play and no one left to play with. So they recorded some backing tapes, played the show as a duo, and realised that this arrangement worked rather well.
Jimbob and Fruitbat decided that their new act should be one hell of a lot noisier and more confrontational than Jamie Wednesday had been, and a new name was needed to go with the new attitude. They chose Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine because….well, let’s just say that Fruitbat (real surname Carter) was leading an exciting and energetic social life at the time.
Their debut statement of intent “A Sheltered Life” appeared on the Big Cat label late in 1988. It was a delirious punk-pop single listing all the wild and dangerous things Jimbob had never done, and left the distinct impression that he was planning to remedy those omissions sooner rather than later.
However 1989’s “Sheriff Fatman” revealed the duo’s vision fully formed for the first time. It had rattling punk guitars over feverish dance beats, and a pointed, punning lyric skewering a notorious slum landlord. When the first Carter album “101 Damnations”, appeared the following year, it was obvious to all just how much pent up anger was hidden behind these two charming men’s amiable exteriors.
The album painted a picture of a Britain and a world anaesthetised and brutalised; a world where the streets teemed with the addled, the amoral and the addicted. The record was unremittingly bleak and pessimistic, yet somehow it was immensely entertaining. The venom was made palatable by pitch black humor, with one recurring motif being sharp twists on other people’s hit songs (e.g.”Twenty-Four Minutes From Tulse Hill”). The music was exhilarating, ingeniously employing samplers and drum machines to add breakneck momentum to the duo’s punked-out guitar attack.
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine play two shows at Manchester Academy on November 18th and London’s Brixton Academy on November 19th under the banner Norf & Sarf, with plans for a full scale UK tour next year .
101 Damnations track listing
1.The Road To Domestos 2. Everytime A Churchbell Rings 3. Twenty Four Minutes From Tulse Hill 4.An All American National Sport 5. Sheriff Fatman 6. The Taking Of Peckham 123 7.Crimestoppers A’ Go Go Good 8. Grief Charlie Brown 9. Midnight On The Murder Mile 10. A Perfect Day To Drop The Bomb 11.G.I. Blues 12. RSPCE 13. Twintub With Guitar 14. Rubbish 15. Rent 16. Alternative Alf Garnett
Cat Number ABB101CDX �
Bar code 666017242026
www.carterusm.com
