Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, June 1990
“They inhabit a grey world, seen in black and white and told colourfully.”
You’ve got to love a band who write song titles like The Only Living Boy in New Cross.
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine were also known as Carter USM because some people just don’t like the word “sex”. Or, as in this review, as Carter, because it makes for shorter headlines.
CARTER
LIVERPOOL POLYTECHNIC
Melody Maker, June 23 1990
THEY have a backdrop that says "Carter" and "Rubbish", and letters on a guitar that say "ecologically sound". They are serious, they are tongue-in-cheek, they are not, despite what they keep telling us, rubbish. They are not an Unstoppable Sex Machine, despite their subtitle. There are unstoppable machines on stage — tapes, drum machine, strobe — but not much sex.
Carter are two men with a lot of cheek and a social conscience and a preoccupation with housing. They inhabit a grey world, seen in black and white (there's not much moral ambiguity in "Sheriff Fatman") and told colourfully. Nobody else makes issues seem so flippant. You're in no doubt that they mean their messages, but that doesn't stop them enjoying the medium.
Silly, sad songs talk about "the patron saint of nothing" and "the great high-rise in the sky". Phrases like "infamous for 15 minutes" and "Prince Of Wales Award" and "valium" tumble out together in tuneful certainties.
You can do a lot with two men and a few machines. You can do inescapable beats and singalong guitars and dancealong bass and the sort of unstoppable energy when you mix men and machines with just the right amount of understanding. You can get near-thrash and Cockney rant and screams and almost-acapella urban folk ballad, and the sort of not caring how many people you entertain on the way.
Several times, it seems very late Seventies. You get tributes to Generation X, Buzzcocks, and The Pet Shop Boys, too. "Rent" is dedicated to Lambeth Housing Benefit ("Well, they pay my rent"). They introduce the new single happily: "This is 'Rubbish'." They introduce the B-side: "This is rubbish too." Endearing.
Back in the 21st century
I can’t find any evidence that Carter are currently making music together (as with most bands these days, there have been the usual reunions) but they do have a very active merch store.
Meanwhile, singer Jim Bob writes books under the name J. B. Morrison, and has two new albums coming out later this year. He also has a Substack worth reading.
Watch Carter
Here they are playing Rubbish, the single mentioned in the review.
I was at that gig. We had just signed to Rough Trade and so we had a chat beforehand. Was never that bothered by the records but they were great live.
Rubbish is a great song, such an avalanche of deft, witty, but also agonisingly painful lyrics. Lovely opening vocal sample and snippet of John Peel as well.
Sheriff Fatman is a song for the ages - Jim Bob and Jarvis Cocker are the true poets laureate of post-Thatcher Britain, in my opinion, the scrabble for humanity in a degraded, confused, desperate society.
My all-time favourite of theirs, though, is Lean On Me I Won't Fall Over.
The world - and pain - it describes is far removed from anything I've experienced, but it never fails to bring a tear to my eye, which is the essence of truly meaningful art, isn't it?