CARTER THE UNSTOPPABLE SEX MACHINE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: While not the band's final album, there's a solid argument to be made that 1995's Worry Bomb was Carter USM's last hurrah - a top-ten set that marked the beginning of the end for the distinctive South London duo. This expanded 30th anniversary edition pairs a remastered version of the original album -which boasts typically gritty, soaring and powerful classics such as 'Young Offenders Mum', the punky 'Airplane Food/Airplane Fast Food' medley, the riotous 'Me & Mr Jones' and the introspective 'My Defeatist Attitude' - with a disc of B-sides and rarities and, most excitingly, a previously unreleased live album of their performance at the 1994 Pheonix Festival. Throw in a DVD featuring videos, Top of the Pops appearances and freshly recorded interviews, and you have an essential item for Carter fans.

Review: South London duo Carter USM were formed in 1987 by Fruitbat and Jim Bob and soon revolutionised indie punk-rock pop with a unique blend of samples, drum machines and social commentary. Recorded in 1993 during a Uk tour to promote their fourth album Post Historic Monsters UK, Up Pompey! captures the band at their peak and is a potent 19-track live album that includes fiery renditions of (then) recent singles like 'Lenny and Terence' and 'Lean on Me I Won't Fall Over' alongside classics like 'The Only Living Boy in New Cross' and 'Bloodsport for All', enhanced here by guest guitar from EMF's James Atkin. Newly mixed by Les 'Fruitbat' Carter and Dave Draper, it's released on 140g black vinyl, so the pressing is every bit as loud and proud as the music it contains.

Review: Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, formed in 1987 by Fruitbat and Jim Bob, became icons of the punk-pop scene with their unique blend of samples, drum machines, and incisive social commentary. Following their number one success with 1992 The Love Album, they returned with Post Historic Monsters, an album showcasing new musical directions and more personal lyrics. Critically acclaimed, it reached number five on the UK album charts. The new edition of Post Historic Monsters features the remastered album, including singles 'Lean On Me I Won't Fall Over' and 'Lenny And Terrence.' CD 2 includes rarities and the single 'Glam Rock Cops,' while CD 3 offers the live album Up Pompey! - Live In Portsmouth, recorded in 1993. The accompanying DVD includes promo videos, Top Of The Pops appearances, and a recording from Brixton Academy, with exclusive commentary from Jim Bob and Fruitbat. Known for its lyrical wit and punk energy, it includes singles 'Anytime Anyplace Anywhere' and 'Bloodsport For All.' This deluxe edition features remastered audio, a live concert from Brixton in 1991, and new commentary, packaged in a clamshell box with a poster booklet.

Review: Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine consist of South London's Fruitbat (Leslie Carter, guitar) and Jim Bob (Morrison, vocals), a legendary duo in their heyday of the 90s and subsequently veterans of various other post-Carter bands. Their dynamic albums blend the driving beats and samples of industrial music, the verbosity of rap, the rebellious spirit of punk and a pop catchiness, adding lyrics with clever puns, political satire and relentless energy, creating a chaotic yet exhilarating listening experience. 1993's Post Historic Monsters was their third, and while not quite reaching the heights of their number one album from the tear before, The Love Album, is still a slice of the band on top form.

Review: For many to whom the inaugural question, "where were you in '92?", is posed, the answer will simply be: in Love. Or at least, captivated and entranced by the Love Album, the seminal third LP by alt-dance post-punk masters Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine. An authentically London band, the indie rockers / synth poppers came up in the miasmic heyday of charity gigs and demo tapes, and blew newfound fans away with their live ambition, which became known for their walls of white stage lights, which psychically implanted the suggestive seed: gyrate or else. This album is ludicrously varied, centring on the impassioned Dylan-esque vocals of Jim Bob fused together with huge synth bass arpeggiations, rhythm guitars courtesy of Fruit Bat and emotive lyrical interludes, centring on themes of knightlike chivalry, beautiful London souls, and dreams frittered away in the crowd of youth.

Review: Early 90s eccentrics Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine were a crucial force in establishing of a certain brand of chart-bound power pop informed by post-punk; fusing scratched-up, sample-heavy beat progressions with histrionic ballads dealing with every topic from queer identity to late Thatcher-era alienation. By then a Rough Trade fixture, 1992: The Love Album was then their grandest project to date, though this one saw them break from the Cartel to join the majors with Chrysalis. It's now re-issued as a four-side behemoth producing parodic London-centric highlights like 'The Only Living Boy In New Cross', substituting Simon & Garfunkel's American big smoke for historic, humble ole' Hatcham.