Inspiral Carpets - Life (1990)

"Butterfly" by Inspiral Carpets

When I said Noel Gallagher was a guitar tech, it was an obfuscating way of calling him a roadie for the Madchester (see Blur's Leisure) band Inspiral Carpets.  Of course when the band formed around school friends Stephen Holt (vocals), Graham Lambert (guitars), and recruit Craig Gill (drums), Madchester was yet to be a music scene.  It took a while for the rest of the Carpets to come into form but the recruitment of Dave Swift on bass and Clint Boon on keyboards driving the band's formative garage psychedlia helped them garner local popularity and indie label interest.

Playtime Records were the first to court Inspiral Carpets with a record deal.  Early singles and EPs caught regular radio play and the attention of music journals, zines, and disc jockey (and young band herald) John Peel.  Peel, as he was famous for doing, gave the young men a chance at greater exposure through his popular radio recording sessions.  A debut album was in the works, half written, when it was temporarily and unexpectedly derailed by the bust of Playtime's distributor Red Rhino Records and the departure of Holt and Swift from the band.  The Carpets took control of their own fate by setting up their own record label Cow Records to release the last two records with this early lineup:  the Trainsurfing EP and the demo cassette album Dung 4.  They would follow that up within the year with their 1990 debut album Life.

Here is the discography surrounding Inspiral Carpets's debut album:

Horse (1982 single by Doctor Filth)

Prayer (1984 single by Lavolta Lakota)

Nightmare (1984 compilation song by Lavolta Lakota)

Fixed Link (1986 single by Too Much Texas)
Waiting for Ours (1986 demo)
Songs of Shallow Intensity (1986 demo)
Garage Full of Flowers (1987 flexi single)
Cow (1987 cassette demo)

Hurry On Down (1988 EP by Too Much Texas)
Planecrash (1988 EP)
Keep the Circle Around (1988 single)
Butterfly (1988 single)
The John Peel Show 1988 (1988 Peel Session)
Trainsurfing (1989 EP)

Two Cows (1989 compilation song)
Dung 4 (1989 demo)
Joe (1989 EP)

Move (1989 single)

Smart (1989 EP by Too Much Texas)

John Peel Session (1989 Peel Session)

The Peel Sessions (1989 Peel Session EP)

Cool as Fuck (1990 EP)

Find Out Why (1990 EP)

Commercial Rain (1990 single)

She Comes in the Fall (1990 single)

Life

Juvenilia (2006 compilation album by Too Much Texas)

"Greek Wedding Song" by Inspiral Carpets


Inspiral Carpets on Granada Reports with Bob Greaves


Pass the Headphones!!