101 Damnations (album)
101 Damnations | ||||
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Studio album by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine | ||||
Released | 15 January 1990 | |||
Recorded | 1989 | |||
Studio | Important Notice Studios, Mitcham | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 55:17 | |||
Label | Big Cat UK | |||
Producer | Carter USM and Simon Painter | |||
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine chronology | ||||
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Singles from 101 Damnations | ||||
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101 Damnations is the debut album by Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine.[2] Its title is a reference to 101 Dalmatians.
Music and lyrics
101 Damnations establishes the band's style, musically fusing drum machines, samples and "often blasting guitars" and lyrically displaying "empathy for the rejects, go-noshers and losers of the world" whilst "wedded to a fusion of endless cultural references" and puns.[1] Ned Raggett of Allmusic characterised the album's musical style as "brash, quick, punk/glam via rough early eighties technology pump-it-up pogoers" and described the heavy usage of puns as "Carter's calling card as much as anything" and noted that "buried underneath all the one-off lines like 'It was midnight on the murder mile/Wilson Pickett's finest hour' is a huge, beating heart."[1]
"Sheriff Fatman" was highlighted as displaying the album's characteristic sound; Raggett said "the song itself may be about a total rat-bastard of a slumlord, but the name of the game is energy and fun."[1] The band's "tender, soppy side" is revealed in "Good Grief Charlie Brown" which alludes to "the familial screw-ups", and "An All-American National Sport" which is about a "homeless person torched by two strangers."[1] "G. I. Blues" is an unsubtle, emotive anti-war song which closes the album "with a lighter-waving end-of-the-concert sweep."[1]
Release and reception
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
It was originally released in 1990, on Big Cat Records, then reissued on Chrysalis Records peaking at number twenty-nine on the UK Albums Chart.[4]
The album - apparently recorded on a shoestring budget - was widely praised at the time of its release in the music press ("Staggering.." concluded the Melody Maker review for example) as a refreshing antidote - and a kick up the backside - to the drug-infused 'baggy' scene that was prevailing at the beginning of the 1990s. Whilst most of the chart contemporaries were extolling the virtues of ecstasy and loved-up hedonism, Carter USM offered a brutally bleak - but no less sardonic and cutting - worldview of social injustice, moral decay and urban violence, bringing the whole post-baggy party crashing back down to earth. Their twin guitar offensive, played over banks of keyboards, programmed sequencers and a particularly prominent drum-machine, drew comparisons in some critics' eyes to a 'punk Pet Shop Boys'...something which even one of the band members, Les "Fruitbat" Carter, happily agreed was indeed accurate.
One single was released from the album, "Sheriff Fatman" - a barbed social commentary on the unscrupulous antics of private landlords - which became a major indie hit before being reissued again a couple of years later and finally peaking at number 23 in the UK singles charts. A 2011 reissue featured five bonus tracks including the single which followed the release of the album, "Rubbish", plus their infamous cover version [and live favourite] of Pet Shop Boys' "Rent".
Legacy
In a retrospective review, Ned Raggett of Allmusic gave the album four and a half stars out of five, saying "in the duo's own unusual way, Carter were something of a unique and thrilling prospect at its best, which the highlights of Damnations show."[1] Trouser Press called it a "fully realised debut" and "mind-blowing in the most stimulating sense."[5]
At the end of 1990, NME ranked it at number 29 in their list of the top 50 "Albums of the Year",[6] whilst Sounds included it number 36 in their own list of the year's top 50 best albums.[7] In 1992, NME ranked the album at number 19 in their list of the top 20 "Near-As-Dam-It Perfect Initial Efforts!"[8]
Track listing
All tracks written and composed by Morrison and Carter; except where indicated.
LP and Cassette
Side one | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
1. | "The Road to Domestos" | 0:46 |
2. | "Everytime a Churchbell Rings" | 4:13 |
3. | "Twenty-Four Minutes from Tulse Hill" | 3:26 |
4. | "An All American National Sport" | 3:55 |
5. | "Sheriff Fatman" | 4:43 |
6. | "The Taking of Peckham 123" | 4:22 |
Side Two | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
7. | "Crimestoppers A' Go Go" | 2:48 |
8. | "Good Grief Charlie Brown" | 3:39 |
9. | "Midnight on the Murder Mile" | 3:30 |
10. | "A Perfect Day to Drop the Bomb" | 5:42 |
11. | "G.I. Blues" | 3:57 |
CD
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "The Road to Domestos" / "Everytime a Churchbell Rings" | 5:00 |
2. | "Twenty-Four Minutes from Tulse Hill" | 3:26 |
3. | "An All American National Sport" | 3:55 |
4. | "Sheriff Fatman" | 4:43 |
5. | "The Taking of Peckham 123" | 4:22 |
6. | "Crimestoppers A' Go Go" | 2:48 |
7. | "Good Grief Charlie Brown" | 3:39 |
8. | "Midnight on the Murder Mile" | 3:30 |
9. | "A Perfect Day to Drop the Bomb" | 5:42 |
10. | "G.I. Blues" | 3:57 |
2011 bonus tracks | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length |
11. | "RSPCE" (b-side of "Sheriff Fatman") | 3:05 |
12. | "Twintub with Guitar" (b-side of "Sheriff Fatman") | 3:01 |
13. | "Rubbish" (a-side) | 3:02 |
14. | "Rent" (Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe) (b-side of "Rubbish") | 4:37 |
15. | "Alternative Alf Garnett" (b-side of "Rubbish") | 2:53 |
Personnel
- Jim Bob - performer
- Fruit Bat - performer
- Sex Machine - producer
- Simon Painter - producer, engineer
- Rob Sheridan - piano solo ("G.I. Blues")
- Carter - sleeve design
- Dee Eff - sleeve design
Release details
Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
Canada | 1991 | Chrysalis Records | CD | VK 41881 |
United Kingdom | 1990 | Big Cat UK Records | Vinyl | ABB 101 |
1990 | Big Cat UK Records | Cassette | ABB 101 C | |
1990 | Big Cat UK Records | CD | ABBCD101 | |
1991 | Chrysalis Records | CD | 321874 2 | |
2004 | Big Cat | CD | ABB1009892 | |
2011 | Big Cat | CD (expanded) | ABB101CDX | |
United States | 1991 | Chrysalis Records | CD | F2 21881 |
Charts
Chart (1991) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums Chart[4] | 29 |
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 101 Damnations - Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic
- ↑ "Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine at official site". carterusm.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
- ↑ "101 Damnations Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
- 1 2 "CARTER - THE UNSTOPPABLE SEX MACHINE / Artist / Official Charts". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
- ↑ TrouserPress.com :: Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
- ↑ 1990 - NME
- ↑ rocklistmusic.co.uk/sounds.html
- ↑ rocklistmusic.co.uk/nme_d&d.html