Captain Soul - Beat Your Crazy Head

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

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The band’s name is taken from a track on The Byrds 1966 album ‘Fifth Dimension’. The title of this album is a line from The Lovin’ Spoonful’s best ever record, ‘Darling Be Home Soon’ released in 1967. It is pretty obvious then where the influences of this four-piece band fronted by The Times music journalist Adam Howorth lie then. Well, actually it’s not that straight forward. Although obviously inspired by some of the best bands of the sixties they don’t actually sound too much like the above mentioned bands. Maybe because of this their music has been likened to the sounds of The Zombies and The Hollies instead of the West Coast harmony drenched folk rock of The Byrds and The Spoonful. Again, slight comparisons could be made but if reference points have to be made it should be in the music of some of the lesser-known 60s groups like Tomorrow and The Alan Bown. But the real beauty in the songs here lies in the way that Howorth splices this sixties pop with that of more recent groups from the eighties (Hurrah and The Distractions come to mind) and from the nineties ( The Posies and Fountains Of Wayne). Kicking off the album with the first single, which is also the best track (today; tomorrow it will be different), ‘T-shirt 69’, it is the first of the nagging melodies written by Howorth which worm their way into your brain forever. Opening with the line “T-shirt 69 you know you really blew my mind this time, but that’s okay, she drinks lemonade”, it’s the type of song most of the bands on the Sarah label were trying to write but never quite managed. Maybe they should have hired the services of Joe Foster who produces brilliantly throughout this album making the songs really sparkle. The gorgeous melody of ‘T-Shirt 69’ is picked out by strings at the beginning of the last track on the album, ‘When The Orchestra Plays’, and confirms what great tunes Howorth writes. ‘Something To Believe In’, starting like a Phil Spector production, is another prime example of the classy sixties summer pop these guys have managed to update to sound fresh today. "We’re only happy when we’re dreaming", sings Howorth, to another of his great melodies which can’t fail to lift a bad mood. Music like this has the power to lift the spirits of even the most fed-up among us and that is not an exaggeration! ‘Coming Up For Air’, is probably going to be tomorrow’s favourite. Feedback, backwards guitars and those lush harmonies again although this time a little darker than the other tracks. Actually you can forget about that being tomorrow’s favourite, it now has to be the next track, ‘Your Time’ (which is also the next single). The lyrics evoking the 60s in lines such as "And all the children of the time, they wore flowers in their hair". Harmonies and loud guitars, heaven! All this and the delicate beauty of ‘Fragile As A Butterfly’ as well. Simply the best debut album released so far this year and one that will end up on many ‘Favourite Albums Of The Year’ lists. The sad thing is that if it carried the name of The Las and the songs were credited to Lee Mavers it would reach a much wider audience and be hailed as the classic it so obviously is. Unlike the rest of the groups on Poptones, Alan McGee has signed Captain Soul to a two-album deal rather than just a one-off. A smart move. Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys and Terry Melcher, producer of The Byrds, have even offered to produce tracks for their next album, another indication that this could be the start of something big. Time to give up the day job, Adam, you have just produced the soundtrack to the summer!

Track Listing:-

1 T Shirt 60
2 Coming Up For Air
3 Your Time
4 Headlights
5 What's It All About
6 Fragile As A Butterfly
7 There Goes My Life
8 Something To Believe In
9 Last Chance Saloon
10 When The Orchestra Plays

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