Tim Hughes is taken back to the 90s by a new package of goodies for Inspiral Carpets fans

  • Inspiral Carpets
  • Life
  • Mute

You can’t beat a bit of nostalgia – and few bands shout ‘1990’ like Inspiral Carpets.

Emerging from the same Madchester scene that produced the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and The Charlatans, their heady blend of garage rock, psychedelia and that 60s-style Farfisa organ marked them out as ‘baggy’ pioneers. Their seminal album Life came like a breath of fresh air at the end of a decade mired in miserable indie-rock and synthetic Stock, Aitken and Waterman production-line pop. Featuring the talents of Abingdon lad Tom Hingley, it stands the test of time, still representing what frontman Clint Boon described as “working class Oldham meets timeless garage pop”.

Fans will seize on this re-issued extended edition of the 1990 album, while those too young to have danced around to it in Paisley shirts and flares at the time, should be required to listen to it as a document of an era when pop became cool.

Featuring the epic This is How it Feels and the uplifting She Comes in the Fall, it carries the listener along on a wave of tie-dye optimism.

This reissue comes as a package with a host of must-haves which alone warrant a purchase: their first EPs Planecrash and Trainsurfing, and 1988’s John Peel Sessions. And, as a clincher, there’s a second disc featuring a DVD video of a hometown gig at Manchester GMEX – available for the first time. For baggy-rockers of all ages, this is a must.