2006 was the year I met Ms Volume, and the soundtrack was a CD she convinced me I’d like. It was called ‘This is Hazelville’ by Captain, duly purchased on a lovely day out in York from Tracks Records (don’t go looking for it). She was right. It was big, clever, immaculately produced, shiny pop music – up there with The Blue Nile and Prefab Sprout but also with a grittier edge to it and louder guitars – and with the mighty Trevor Horn at the controls. All killer, no filler, sheer Pop perfection.
The album went Top 30, they had some minor hit singles and we saw a couple of superb gigs by them that felt very special. A second LP was recorded for EMI but after one promising single (Keep an Open Mind) EMI went through a ‘restructure’ shedding loads of artists in the process. The LP ‘Distraction’ remains unreleased..presumably in a vault somewhere.
Since then, I guess real life intervened – there have been births, and sadly the death of ace guitarist Mario Athanasiou. It’s in tribute to him that the band now have a new LP ready to release and you can pre-order now via Kickstarter – or just buy a Captain Tea Towel. All proceeds to Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital Cancer Centre.
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/captain-for-irini
I’ve a soft spot for Captain – the Trevor Horn connection made me check them out, I saw them in a small club in Cambridge, and I really enjoyed the album at the time, though in all honesty I hadn’t played it much until a few weeks ago (by coincidence) and it’s still a good listen. They deserved better…
That shelved “Distraction” album is out there as a promo – I have a 6-track sampler, but the whole album comes up occasionally on Ebay, too…
Thanks for the heads-up about the new album, duly ordered!
Oh, I love them. Very happy to see this post. Spot on with the Prefab/Blue Nile comparison. ‘Glorious (Town)’ has a very special place in my heart.
Will check out the new album- thanks for the heads-up.
At the height of my running obsession in summer 2006 or so, I had ‘Glorious’ on my iPod and would run around south London tunelessly singing ‘It’s a glo–O-o-orious town, it’s a glo–O-rious town’.
One of many great acts dropped after one album, through no fault of their own, by the shifting label landscape. I bet we could all name 10 more if we think about it.
Their hard work is now available in the 1p + P+P section.
New to me, I confess. Sounds a bit Alphaville, a plus in my book. Ordered.
Just playing it now. I’ve had it since release (it was a freebie). It’s good but the female voice makes me think of Deacon Blue.
Never knowingly heard of them. But anyone that sounds like The Blue NIle and Prefab Sprout sounds good to me. Due to the joy of Apple Music, I have downloaded and will give it a blast on my drive home tonight.
Off piste:
Was going to make a cheap gag along the lines of “what happened to Tennille?”, so I googled C&T to get the correct spelling on the lady’s name…
Discovered that “The Captain’s” real name is Daryl Dragon. And he changed that so he could wear a hat? (and to get Paul Nicholas to dance with him).
And C&T had their own Val Doonican style music show on U.S. tv
Here’s a (for the seventies) tasteful clip of The Captain sex pesting all three of Charlie’s Angels:
Daryl Dragon was a 70s keyboard player with the Beach Boys.
Yep. The DTTMOMTH worked with many of the greats…
Thanks Sewer that was an interesting retro TV treat. Reminiscent of zcrackerjack somehow.