single // Saturn 5
I absolutely loved 'Saturn 5' when it was released, and in true indie fashion I rushed out and bought the 7" in preference over the tape. The 7" came emblazoned with a sticker that stated 'Pay no more than 99p', but I somehow still managed to pay over the odds for it at my local record shop. This was the first Inspiral Carpets single from their last album proper of the 1990s, Devil Hopping.
What can you say about 'Saturn 5' that hasn't been written already? A gloriously upbeat organ-driven number, the fuzzy syncopated guitar and bass are pushed ever onward by some of the most well-produced rolling bass drum patterns. Lyrically, Tom trawls through a variety of retro concepts of the future, some real, some imaginary, drawing on Jackie Kennedy and the 1960s space race with ease. The regular CD, 12" and 7" all feature the fantastic, rip-roaring 'Going Down', perhaps the most frazzled, distorted - yet uplifting - track the boys produced up to this point. Such is the quality of their material around this time that 'Well Of Seven Heads' - on the regular CD and 12" - could actually have been included on Devil Hopping. The two minute 'Two Cows', also included on the CD and 12" only, is an early track from 1989, back when Ed Barton was still in the band as main vocalist and well before the likes of 'Move' and 'Joe'. This track is just crazy, featuring a spoken word text about enjoying the company of a cow. Nuff said.