Carpettes

  • Carpettes
  • Cream of the Youth EP (UK Small Wonder) 1978 
  • Frustration Paradise (UK Beggars Banquet) 1979 
  • Fight Amongst Yourselves (UK Beggars Banquet) 1980 
  • Johnny Won't Hurt You EP (UK Beggars Banquet) 1980 

This trio may have personified modest, no-frills rock’n’roll, almost singlehandedly defining the area just above mediocrity. The competent Carpettes played with goodly speed and made occasional forays into reggae territory, but the closest musical analogue is probably early Kiss — with brighter tunes replacing the show-biz snarl, and without the dumb macho/sleazoid pose.

Following a ragged 7-inch EP, the Carpettes made two albums in the same style, despite very different producers — first Bob Sargeant (the Beat, early Fall, Haircut One Hundred) and then Colin Thurston (Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, Magazine). Frustration Paradise has the edge for containing more of those songs you’ll be surprised to find yourself remembering.

[Jim Green]