Customer Reviews

Meathead

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The 2CD classic by Captain Sensible contains many diverse songs and styles of music. Keep in mind that Captain Sensible is a vehement vegetarian and animal rights advocate thereby the title of the CD is Meathead. Great songs with good vocals and stellar guitar are "Sally Blue Shoes", "Rough Justice", "Eric Clapton's Wallet", "Aliens Of The Lord", "Meathead" and "Plastic Arcade". There are many extended jams amid these CDS and Captain Sensible's guitar riffs are stunning. This is a very cosmic and psychedelic album that is experimental and brilliantly conceived and performed by the Captain and his musical cohorts.

'Meathead' is very much Captain Sensible at his massive, sprawling, self-indulgent peak; and it must be stated without fear or favour, that coming from a pathetic, totally ignored has-been, it is a quite marvellous music cd.

Make that a double cd, lasting the best part of a week: 132 songs each at an average of 9½ minutes ~ the 'compact' bit of 'disc' doesn't come in to it.
Very much a musical 'Dr Zhivago' in terms of its sheer weight and numbers, it seems an impossible - better make that improbable - feat that he's pulled off:
He's got the lot: prog-style instrumentals, hard hitting political tirades, acoustic ballads, reggae, poetry, metal, folk, jazz...

Considering it's intelligence, this is resolutely the most anti-intellectual music you can buy.
He rocks out - lets rip; his message isn't obscured by tease or abstraction, he doesn't bother with things like euphony and he doesn't register verbosity. If something's nasty in the world he says so.

Over the two spins of 'Meathead' it becomes obvious the Sensible anger and upset is being managed in such a way as to maximise every existing component deep within him.
Ie: He does the lot: sings, plays everything, produces, delivers the discs in his van... he's simply unstoppable!
At this very point of the review - about 50 minutes into side 1 - I'm hearing a loooong Tangerine Dream-like instrumental which has just segued into a extract from 'The 39 Steps' making me realise just how alike Hannay's angry request: "What are the 39 steps !?" is with Number 6's "Who's side are you on !?" in the title sequence of 'the Prisoner'.
It's a decent rock music that can do that.

His biggest, most deserving sharps are for our great leaders, and now the Soviet Union has opened up, he has a go at their's as well:

"To my friends in Eastern Europe,
with the markets you can flirt:
But if you must have Western values,
Don't start crying when it hurts..."

I strongly disagree but love it anyway.
I get the feeling he misses the good old Cold War - spies and all that. Not knowing if the world was gonna be there when you woke up in the morning, or if indeed you WERE gonna wake up..
Good healthy state-induced paranoia; keeps you on your toes.
Perhaps they'll invent a drug...

'Meathead' is great. It's the album you'd get if you dripped 'Tales From Topographic Oceans' some steroids, and fed it Todd Rundgren and the Stranglers for a week.
Yes. Right.

'He was everything to every man' (Yes? I'm smokin' this week..).