The album sound consisted in an alternative dance and grebo heavy on puns and sampling, largely similar to their debut album 101 Damnations, but showed a growing sophistication that fleshed out both sound and lyrics, in terms of musical and lyrics, the set made references creep in from the Clash and David Bowie to traditional football chants and as well as "the still cheap-and-cheery sound of the band's keyboards, drum machines and more."
Amogst the remarkable tracks "Billy's Smart Circus" was flawless in its soaring anthemic power, the opening instrumental "Surfin' USM" opened with a sampled monologue of Chris Barrie in character as Rimmer in Red Dwarf Series 3 episode "Bodyswap" talking about getting fat with age–described by Raggett as "a great snippet about what growing old really means". It then gives way to a crowd chanting "You Fat Bastard", which Bob said was taken from a gig at the University of Kent. The track was an instrumental indie dance track with chainsaw guitars and a David Bowie sample. "My Second to Last Will and Testament" showed Bob "settling affairs all around, down to organ donation, melding genres, the song sees a similar aesthetic to the opener, although with "snarling punk vocals from Jim Bob juxtaposing with some lovely harmonising from Fruitbat.
"My Second To Last Will And Testament", Billy's Smart Circus, Sealed With A Glasgow Kiss….. each and every one of them a punch to the gut and performed with the same sort of ferocious zeal as a turbo charged juggernaut gatecrashing a warehouse rave, gleefully scattering its occupants in all directions. Carter were also occasionally referred to as "the punk Pet Shop Boys", and it is not difficult to see how. More than a fair few of their numbers could easily pass for the work of Tennant/Lowe in the way they share the same sequenced throb and also the synth bass and soaring keyboards – before the vocals and guitars came in. Indeed, they probably recognised this conscious comparison for the record Les / Fruitbat did happily admit to this a few times in interviews as well, when they covered PSB's 1987 hit Rent as a b-side for earlier single Rubbish – which was one of their masterstrokes and still a huge live favourite.
30 Something contained another such PSB moment the magnificent "Anytime Anyplace Anywhere". For its portentously foreboding synth intro alone! This is – and always will be – perhaps my all time favourite Carter single ever, because when they first aired it live it already had that air of magnificence about it – it sounded immense. And here in the context of its parent album it fits like a glove – perfectly. After building to its earth shattering climax before detonating in a big fuck-off bomb, it’s followed by an even more spectacular showstopper of a tune. "A Prince In A Pauper’s Grave" started deceptively quiet and solemn, with funnily enough, another lyric about drinking….this time Johnny was the eponymous anti hero protagonist who is trying to drown his sorrows….but it soon makes its intentions clear as it breaks into another surging synthesised refrain – and it’s hard not to feel the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end at the sheer dramatic vastness of the music here, "Shoppers Paradise" deftly avoids the temptation to throw in five kitchen sinks rescued from random squats in Brixton or Shoreditch, and instead is a jolly canter (with festive sounding bells) which again called to mind the obvious PSB influences : because here they had effectively done their own sardonic take on Tennant and Lowe’s already sarcastic socio-political dig Shopping, and offered a far more twisted and cynical worldview into the bargain…. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the big shop is open, it’s a wonderful world’. A nice welcome treatise on rampant consumerism and exploitation with which to end side one then.
The lyrical mood got darker with the glam punk stomp of "Bloodsport For All" – a single which was banned by the lightweights at Radio One because of the Gulf War that was occurring at the time – offering a bleak insight into the torturous disciplinarianism of life in the armed forces. A sort of 'never mind the barracks, here’s to the worst time of your life'. Seldom has a song with such a grim subject matter been so infectious – and as if to ram this particular irony home, the duo career into a refrain of a Gary Glitter song at the song’s fade. Who says that Carter do not have a wry sense of (sadistic) black humour?. "Sealed With A Glasgow Kiss", by comparison, literally pulled the doormat from under your feet and drives the 4×4 over you. Graphically violent and unrelenting in its tale of domestic abuse
"Falling On A Bruise" was exactly the sort of song you would seek unconditional solace in when your world is about to come crashing down around you and you feel as if everything you have strived and worked for means absolutely diddly squat and finally "The Final Comedown". a battle scarred, punch drunk, deflated and bereft of all hope….. it’s the sort of thing a beaten wrestler or gladiator would probably attempt to muster up the dying embers of strength to try and enunciate before he collapses in a bloody crumpled heap on the floor. And, sung wearily to the solitary backing of a lone piano and suitably sympathetic strings, it’s a beautifully tender but remorseless way to close the album on such a downer.
The album was considered a brilliant bold record that nailed down their instinctive feel for pop with a hookline and a point of view. Also they were very favourable towards the band's lyrics, saying "Carter's bluff, seedy ebullience is a welcome antidote to the rather fey self-regard that's dominated indie pop over the last decade, from the Jesus and Mary Chain to the current blissed-out hedonism of Happy Mondays.
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