Captain Pop “Shut Up and Sing†(Acoustic Engine, 2006)
Open your ears and listen
This record has the great trick of having an immediacy that fools you into thinking that you are watching the band perform live in your room, seeing knees twitch in time to the music and watch jewels of spittle be beautiful for a moment trapped in the spotlights. They have the righteous passion of the Redskins and a similar jones for pop music, not so dogmatic or polemical though and they have their softer moments like ‘I Can’t Stand to See You Suffer’ or the acoustic guitars that come out for ‘Runaway’. They are better when the tempo is up, a loose skiffle beat carries ‘Waiting for the Storm to Come’ and I’m reminded of Pete Wylie on ‘If You Go Away’ and if you want comparison with anyone in the intelligent pop world then the Mighty Wah is as good a place as any to start, this music is firmly in that tradition, committed, passionate, soulful and ambitious. ‘Falling ‘Apart’ is almost unbearably tender and yet the strongest song is ‘The Child in Your Eyes’ which bursts with a foot-stomping finger-snapping Northern Soul energy. Their love of melody and pop is carried in every line and infects the listener with a religious zeal to stand up and declare, my name’s David, and I’m a Captain Pop addict
www.captainpop.com
