Cheery Red Records (label)
20 October 2014 (released)
07 October 2014
Since their moment at the start of the 1990s, Inspiral Carpets have reformed once or twice - but this is their first new album since 1994. However the band have not been collecting dust over the last few years, releasing the odd single to coincide with Record Store Day - such as the Paul Weller-sounding You're So Good For Me, which is featured here. So too is the single from earlier this year, the excellent Spitfire.
Still dominated by the organ sound that typified their earlier material, the Inspiral Carpets, are still in love with a raw edgy pop-rock produced by British bands in the late sixties. This is best exemplified on A to Z of My Heart, which also has a feel of the B52s. Calling Out To You and Changes could be straight from that Madchester scene of 1991, and you're not quite sure if that's a good or a bad thing.
Like Arctic Monkeys last year, the band have also been inspired by the legendary punk poet John Cooper Clarke, who features on the psychedelic Let You Down. The band says there is a definite feel of their old material - but hope there is also a feel of looking forward. While there are lashings of the former - the latter is harder to find. But with 1990s' nostalgia at its peak right now - that might not be a bad thing. The band are back with live dates to promote the album too - across the UK in December.
