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album // Revenge Of The Goldfish
Revenge Of The Goldfish, Inspiral
Carpets'
third album, was released on Mute Records in 1992.
After the almost quaint folk whimsy of The Beast Inside,
the Pascal Gabriel-produced Revenge Of The
Goldfish represented a transition to a more 'robust' psychedelic
garage sound for Tom Hingley (vocals), Clint
Boon (keyboards), Craig Gill (drums),
Graham Lambert (guitars) and Martyn Walsh
(bass).
The album was named after a photo collage by artist
Sandy Skoglund used as the sleeve image. In the picture hundreds
of plastic goldfish appear to descend upon a grey room where a small
boy is sat upright mournfully on his bed. Far from being the wacky
image its name suggests, that sleeve image has a strained, affecting
poignancy which is shared by tracks on the album such as 'Bitches
Brew' and 'Two Worlds Collide', both released as singles. The album
spawned two further singles in the form of 'Dragging Me Down' and
'Generations'.
Anyone looking for evidence of just how incorrect
it was to lump the Carpets in with the rest of the Madchester album
need listen no further. From the opening squeal of feedback and
urgent rush of 'Generations' to the tribal, almost electronic pulse
of the heavy dance-rock groove of 'Irresistible Force', Revenge
Of The Goldfish highlights the lyrical and musical complexity
that made this band stand apart from their peers and allowed them
to last longer than Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses. The only
time they get close to a 'baggy' sound is on 'Smoking Her Clothes',
wherein a funky, almost breakbeat drum pattern and trippy Farfisa
organ spiritually links them to the 'scene' they were supposedly
part of.
Revenge Of The Goldfish is a brief, abrupt
and punky album. Something like 'Fire' has a grinding sound and
intensity which sounds like it should have only ever been birthed
in someone's garage in the States during the Sixties; the bassline
on that track nags along like a maddening itch while Boon's keyboard
sounds like the Arthur Brown song of the same name only faster and
more in your face; meanwhile, Hingley's vocal taps into a primal,
spiritual euphoria, something like religious rapture. Elsewhere,
'Saviour' runs on the same amphetamine rush; brief, intrusive and
angry, the listener is left under no illusion that Hingley is definitely
not going to rescue your soul. 'A Little Disappeared' is unfeasibly
rapid-fire, riding on a clattering drum beat that many a hardcore
or junglist producer would have welcomed, while Hingley croons bitter
missives and a hollow, spacey synth dominates the middle eight.
It's not all putsch-like bruising sonic
battery; 'Here Comes The Flood' links back to the band's previous
two albums with a soulful, emotional refrain and a relaxed groove;
'Rain Song' has a fragile, mournful beauty, blending towering balladry
with wildly fuzzed-up guitar tension. When the chorus kicks in and
the pace quickens, there's something of the Axl Rose in Hingley's
delivery, but this is way more subtle than Rose's band was ever
capable of. These are dreamy interludes in an otherwise full-on
album of urgent missives.
It always strikes me that Inspiral Carpets were
never really given the credit they deserved. They left us with a
body of work of considerable maturity, sonic playful- and adventureness
and their lyrics were always far more intelligent and insightful
than any of their peers. Revenge Of The Goldfish is mere affirmation
of that.
Personal:
I bought this album on cassette from the long-defunct
Music Junction in Leamington Spa on a shopping trip with my friend
Rachael and her mum. I'd seen the video for 'Two Worlds Collide'
on ITV's The Chart Show, and was taken aback by the track;
completely blown away (hence why I included it in my Mute top ten
- click here to read that). I like to think that I would have had
the same reaction whether the band was on Mute or not. Up to that
point the music I listened to, on Mute or otherwise, was broadly
electronic. Rachael was into rock - Nirvana, Guns n' Roses, Faith
No More, Bon Jovi etc - all of which intimidated me no end.
I was going through a bit of a personal crisis in
1992 and struggling to find a place in the world; music was a route
to a unique identity of sorts. After breaking up with a giel that
I was desperately in love with, in the ensuing confusion I remember
steadfastly setting my mind on having my ear pierced, something
that was absolutely abhorrent to my father in particular. In defiance
I even bought an earring on the same trip to Leamington. It was
a tiny black and white 'ying and yang' circle, but after a discrete
word from my mum that my dad would probably sling me out of the
house, I never went through with the piercing. Buying Revenge
Of The Goldfish came with the same, almost nihilistic need,
in this case to listen to something completely out of character.
I played Revenge Of The Goldfish to Rachael
when we got home and as she left, she confided to my sister that
she didn't like the way my musical taste was changing, almost as
if it wasn't acceptable for me to branch out from electronica. Between
the earring and that comment, it made me realise that often those
around you are happiest when you stay within the 'box' you've been
put into, no matter what your personal aspirations or urges are.
It's something I've always tried to subtly, and in my own way, rally
against ever since, though I never did go through with that piercing.
lp/cd/c:
1. Generations
2. Saviour
3. Bitches Brew
4. Smoking Her Clothes
5. Fire
6. Here Comes The Flood
7. Dragging Me Down
8. A Little Disappeared
9. Two Worlds Collide
10. Mystery
11. Rain Song
12. Irresistible Force
single // Dragging Me Down
Review forthcoming.
7"/c:
A. Dragging Me Down
B. I Know I'm Losing You
12"/cd:
1. Dragging Me Down (Pascal Gabriel Extended Mix)
2. I Know I'm Losing You (Unedited Version)
3. Dragging Me Down (Jon DaSilva Remix)
4. Dragging Me Down
single // Two Worlds Collide
Review forthcoming.
7":
A. Two Worlds Collide
B. Boomerang
12"/cd:
1. Two Worlds Collide
2. Two Worlds Collide (12" Mix)
3. Boomerang
4. Two Worlds Collide (Dub Mix)
single // Generations
Review forthcoming.
12"/c:
A1. Generations
A2. Lost In Space Again
B. Generations (Denmark 2 Germany 0 Mix)
cd:
1. Generations
2. Joe (Live)
3. Commercial Rain (Live)
4. Butterfly (Live)
cdr:
1. Generations (Random Regeneration Mix)
2. She Comes In The Fall (Live)
3. Move (Live)
4. Directing Traffic (Live)
single // Bitches Brew
Review forthcoming.
12":
A1. Bitches Brew
A2. Tainted Love
B1. Irresistible Force (Frog)
B2. Bitches Brew (Horse)
cd:
1. Bitches Brew
2. Mermaid (Live)
3. Born Yesterday (Live)
4. Sleep Well Tonight (Live)
cdr:
1. Bitches Brew (Horse)
2. Dragging Me Down (Live)
3. Smoking Her Clothes (Live)
4. Fire (Live)
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