[Originally written January 1988]

Since leaving the Damned in late ’84, Captain has been pretty quiet on the record and gig front, but hopefully this will change soon.
The Captain has only managed to release two singles in the last three years, but the two that were released were totally amazing!!
The first was “Come On Down” which was released in late ’85 and was a classic. A great catchy tune with some wonderful Cap guitaring. The 12” had three songs on the b-side, each being excellent… “Beggars Can Be Choosers”, “Like Margarine” and “The Ballad Of Shula And Mark”, which was Captain’s tribute to those old wankers The Archers. The song itself was “It’s Hard To Believe I’m Not” from his “Power Of Love” LP, with changed (and really funny) lyrics. The video to “Come On Down” was shown on one of those crappy Saturday morning kiddies programmes, but unfortunately this didn’t help the sales. For some strange reason though, the song was included on one of those terrible Hits compilation albums.
Captain, and his new band, going under the name of Captain Sensible’s Universe (“cos I wanted the biggest name I could think of”) went out on tour, but unfortunately most of the dates were cancelled due to Cap being ill.
In 1986 Cap did virtually nothing. A couple of one-off gigs in London, plus of course his return to the Damned for a few songs at the brilliant 10th Anniversary gig at Finsbury Park. This seems to be all he did, though a tour was planned at the end of the year, but yet again was cancelled… this time because the band decided to desert, leaving poor old Captain bandless!
1987 however, did see a bit more Sensible activity. He took part in the Red Wedge tour of England as well as putting in an appearance at various other Red Wedge events throughout the year.
He also made a few guest appearances on other people’s records. He played on one track on a Voice Of America 12”, and also somehow managed to appear on Ivor Biggun’s LP! For those of you who don’t know who Ivor Biggun is, he’s that complete arsehole off That’s Life!! God knows how Sensible got involved with him!
In the summer, the thing I’d been waiting on was finally released… Captain’s new single. On it were two songs : “Revolution Now!” and “The Coward Of Treason Cove”. The first time I heard the a-side I thought it was a bit dodgy, but several more plays confirmed that it was bloody brilliant! Great guitaring and vocals courtesy of ol’ Cappers. However on hearing the b-side, my mind was well and truly blown (which explains the rubbish I’ve been writing in this zine!)… the song was just fucking amazingly excellent. It starts off slowly, then speeds up for some ace Sensible guitaring, followed by a slow acoustic part with great vocals. This is followed by a keyboard section, and young Fred Sensible making his vocal debut! This just gives you time to catch your breath, then it’s into the totally cosmically awesome (!!) end part that will just fry your brain… brilliant vocals and some real “axe hero” guitaring and great fast beat to it. This song is SO brilliant that everybody should go out and buy a copy of the 12” (to get the full version) and groove on down to the amazing sounds.
Despite both the new songs being excellent, and lots of TV appearances (with interviews and videos being shown), and even being on one of those terrible “Pop Line” things you can phone up, the single got absolutely nowhere. I simply cannot understand how more people could buy the “In Dulce Decorum” single that featured two LP tracks, and hardly anyone buy what is undoubtedly the best single of last year… Captain Sensible. Is there no justice in this world?
Following the total flop of the single, it seems that the LP has been put back, and I’m not too sure if Cap is still on A&M records or not.
Towards the end of last year, Cap had a track on Marc Bolan tribute 12”. He did a cover of Bolan’s “Ride A White Swan” and needless to say it was excellent!
What the Captain’s plans for this year are not known yet. Hopefully though we’ll see a release of the LP, a big tour, and some well deserved success. As long as he does something I’ll be happy.

Credits: Cartoon concept by me, kindly drawn by the damned talented Luke Cauldwell. Captain photo by Shane Allen.