Inspiral Carpets: “Saturn 5” (Mute) / The Charlatans: “Can’t Get Out Of Bed” (Beggars Banquet)

In their own way both the Carpets and The Charlatans are fitting representatives of two disparate strands of British indie pop, a phenemenon which has to some extent lost its way. Caught between the devils of the Sixties and Seventies and the deep blue sea of the Nineties, the reluctance both bands have in discarding their pasts, taking the plunge and really ‘swimming’ out to dangerous musical waters is reflected in a kind of nostalgia which seems to very nearly drown these songs. Nicely lifting their ‘churchy’ keyboard riff from The Doors’ ‘Soul Kitchen’ and then jazzing it up a bit, England’s moptops of the late Eighties wistfully bemoan the passing of something from bygone days which they refer to as ‘Saturn 5’. The Charlatans, too, take a backward look at the landscape of the decaying Empire known as the UK though without the Inspirals’ fondness. Instead ‘Can’t Get Out Of Bed’ is a call to rescue your local streets before they really disappear altogether. As clever as their personification of the locality as a lost lover is, and as much as I sympathise with the sentiments of the title, musically The Charlatans could have done with a bit more of Inspiral Carpets’ energy.