CAPTAIN SENSIBLE

THE TONY MANSFIELD PRODUCTIONS

17 June 1982 7"/12" Happy Talk

    Happy Talk 3.25 [Rogers & Hammerstein II]/
    It, I Can't Stand It (demo) 5.22 [Sensible] (A & M Records, CAP 1/CAPP 1)
Both tracks produced by Tony Mansfield.
  1. Happy Talk 3.25
  2. Wot 3.16
  3. Martha the Mouth 3.52 (CD-maxi 1992: PLACD 6) [this CD-Maxi unfortunately has distorted sound]
4 Aug 1982 7"/12" Wot
    Wot 3.16 [7" mix]/Strawberry Dross 7.16 (CAP 2)

    Wot 5.45 [extended]/Strawberry Dross 9.26 (CAPP 2)

Both tracks produced by Tony Mansfield. The extended version of WOT was included on the 2002 various artists double CD "Pop & Wave 2" (Sony Music 987884-2).

3 Sep 1982 LP (+ Japanese CD 2007) WOMEN AND CAPTAIN FIRST

  1. Wot 3.40 [Sensible]
  2. A Nice Cup of Tea 3.12 [Sensible]
  3. Brenda Part 1&2 7.27 [Sensible/Hitchcock]
  4. Yanks with Guns 4.30 [Sensible]
  5. Happy Talk 3.25 [Rogers & Hammerstein II] //
  6. Martha the Mouth 3.52 [Sensible]
  7. Nobody's Sweetheart 3.18 [Kahn/Erdman/Mayers/Schoebel]
  8. (What D'Ya Give) the Man Who's Gotten Everything 4.20 [Sensible/Rimbaud]
  9. Who Is Melody Lee, Sid? 1.53 [Sensible]
  10. Gimme a Uniform 3.50 [Sensible]
  11. Croydon 5.50 [Sensible/Hitchcock] (LP: AMLH 68548)

    CD bonus tracks:

  12. Wot (12" Mix) 5.45
  13. Strawberry Dross [duration?] (Japanese CD 27 June 2007: Universal UICY-93257)
Recorded at Old Barn Studios, Spring 1982. All tracks produced by Tony Mansfield. Captain Sensible: vocals and guitar. Tony Mansfield: synths and percussion. Dolly Mixture: vocals. Robyn Hitchcock: 12 string guitar on 'Brenda'.

12 Oct 1982 7"/12" Croydon

    Croydon 3.36/Jimi Hendrix's Strat 5.11 (CAP 3)

    Croydon/? (CAPX 3)

A-side produced by Tony Mansfield, B-side produced by Captain Sensible.

July 1983 7"/12" Stop the World

    Stop the World 4.30 [Sensible/Hitchcock/Mansfield]/
    Back to School? 7.53 [Sensible] (CAP 4)

    Stop the World 6.28/Back to School? 9.32 (12": CAPX 4; 12" pic disc: CAPP 4)

A-side produced and co-written by Tony Mansfield.

18 Nov 1983 LP (+ Japanese CD 2007) THE POWER OF LOVE

  1. I'm a Spider 4.11 [Sensible/Mansfield/Hitchcock]
  2. I Love Her 2.36 [P. Ryan/B. Ryan]
  3. Stop the World 4.33 [Sensible/Mansfield/Hitchcock]
  4. Sir Donald's Son 2.56 [Sensible]
  5. It's Hard To Believe I'm Not 3.08 [Sensible/Hitchcock]
  6. Thanks for the Night 4.07 [Sensible] //
  7. Glad It's All Over 4.06 [Sensible/Mansfield]
  8. Royal Rave up 5.06 [Sensible]
  9. Secrets 4.32 [Sensible/Hitchcock]
  10. It Would Be So Nice 3.39 [R. Wright]
  11. The Power of Love 3.54 [B. Jones]
  12. I Love You 2.31 [Sensible] (LP: AMLX 68561)

    CD bonus track:

  13. There Are More Snakes Than Ladders [duration?] (Japanese CD 27 June 2007: Universal UICY-93258)
All tracks prouced by Tony Mansfield. Tony Mansfield: Fairlight CMI, guitars, tin cans. Captain Sensible: vocals, assorted instruments.

4 Nov 1983 7"/12" I'm a Spider

    I'm a Spider 4.12/Woman Sago 3.52 (CAP 5)

    I'm a Spider/? (CAPX 5)

2 March 1984 7"/12" Glad It's All Over
    Glad It's All Over 4.06/Damned on 45 (7.20) (CAP 6)

    Glad It's All Over 4.06//
    Happy Talk 3.24/
    Damned on 45 (7.05) (12": CAPX 6; 12" pic disc: CAPP 6)

A-side produced by Tony Mansfield, 'Damned on 45' produced by Captain Sensible. Thanks to Tim and Steve Masson for producer's information.

8 July 1984 non-LP 7"/12" There Are More Snakes Than Ladders

    There Are More Snakes Than Ladders 3.42 [Sensible/Mansfield]/
    The 4 Marys Go Go Dance All Night at the Groovy Cellar [Sensible] (CAP 7)

    There Are More Snakes Than Ladders (Remix) 4.07/
    There Are More Snakes Than Ladders (Folk Version) 3.30//
    The 4 Marys Go Go Dance All Night at the Groovy Cellar (CAPX 7)

A-side produced and co-written by Tony Mansfield.

19 Nov 1984 non-LP 7"/12" EP One Christmas Catalogue

    One Christmas Catalogue 3.59/Relax 5.42 (CAP 8)

    One Christmas Catalogue/Relax 5.42//
    Pocketful of Dosh [produced by Captain Sensible]/Wendy! Where’s My Snaps? [produced by Captain Sensible] (CAPY 8)

'Relax' is a cover of the hit by Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Dec 1984 coll-LP SENSIBLE SINGLES

  1. Happy Talk 3.24
  2. Wot 3.40
  3. It Would Be So Nice 3.39
  4. Martha the Mouth 3.52
  5. Stop the World 4.33 [Sensible/Mansfield]
  6. Relax 5.42
  7. I Love Her 2.36
  1. Glad It's All Over 4.06 [Sensible/Mansfield]
  2. It's Hard To Believe I'm Not 3.08 [Sensible/Mansfield]
  3. There Are More Snakes Than Ladders 3.42 [Sensible/Mansfield]
  4. I'm a Spider 4.12 [Sensible/Mansfield]
  5. One Christmas Catalogue 3.59 [Sensible/Mansfield]
  6. I Love You 2.31 (AMA 5026)
After this, around late 1984/early 1985, Tony and Captain Sensible started work on a third album. According to some fans, songs that were recorded include "(Within the) Bouncing Ball", "Dreaming" and "English Garden". However, because of musical differences between Tony and Captain, the recordings were abandoned part way through and Captain went on to write entirely new songs for a new album with a different producer. So, the third LP with Tony and Captain remains entirely unreleased.

5 May 2003 UK coll-CD THE COLLECTION

  1. Happy Talk 3.25
  2. Croydon 4.48 [same as LP version but fades out one minute earlier]
  3. Nice Cup of Tea 3.12
  4. Brenda (parts 1 & 2) 7.27
  5. Yanks with Guns 4.29
  6. Martha the Mouth 3.49
  7. What D'ya Give the Man Who's Gotten Everything 4.20
  8. Wot 3.40 [LP version]
  9. Royal Rave Up 5.06
  10. It Would Be So Nice 3.38
  11. Power of Love 3.47
  12. I'm a Spider 4.12
  13. I Love Her 2.36
  14. Glad It's All Over 4.00
  15. Stop the World 4.33
  16. Sir Donald's Son 2.56
  17. It's Hard To Believe I'm Not 3.08
  18. Thanks for the Night 4.07
  19. There Are More Snakes Than Ladders 3.39 (Spectrum 063 193-2)

The following is a mini interview I performed with Captain Sensible himself via email 6 Aug 1998:

"'Women and Captain first' started as an unlikely partnership for a punk guitarist and a synthpop merchant but my bird [girlfriend] Cursty had been playing New Musik non-stop in the car and I found myself digging the production noises and atmospheres so we went along to one of their gigs and I asked him if he'd produce some tracks for me. Surprisingly he said yes and so with no budget available we started off in cheapo studios where I was forever badgering Tony to bung on his 'trademark' submarine noises and stuff and we all got on great. Then his dodgy manager found us a nice record deal with A+M so we ended up finishing the record in flashier studios. We had some hits from that album and recorded a second called 'The Power of Love' which was a little more experimental but still commercially sucsessful.

"It was a lot of fun being a 'pop star' for a couple of years but showbiz is a notoriously fickle business and after a couple of flops the label gave me the boot and I went back to doing noisier stuff with my own band (Punk Floyd) and the Damned.

"Tony's a great bloke - likes a beer, has a good sense of humour and is a genius of pop though he unfortunately went right off the 'p' word in a big way by the time our recording sessions were coming to an end. A GREAT shame... cos he was bloody good at it ! [the 'p' word (unmentionable to Tony around 1986) was POP]."

'Cursty' [Captain's ex-girlfriend] sent me this story 30 March 2002: "Did you know how the Captain met Tony, and why? I used to have a good friend called Charlie Harper, from the UK Subs. He gave me the New Musik LP "From A to B" and from then I was playing it everyday, at home, in the car, driving the Captain mad. In the end he began to like it and I was asking him to contact Tony to get him to produce him, because I thought, he is a great producer. I particularly liked the idea of using few and simple things to make a great and full sound. And when I´m determined to get something, I get it. So they got in touch and Tony started producing. I remember one time, I think it was the Old Barn Studios, I was playing tennis with Rob Fisher and Tony was doing "Happy talk" in the studios. I remember him using a Fairfield [Fairlight??] computer, then there were only 600 of them in the world, the first music computer. Captain was somewhere else and Tony asked him to come in and sing the track. Cap had no idea, that he had recorded it, and later on, at Top of the pops, he couldn´t even do the miming, coz he never learned the lyrics. His mouth was moving at the wrong times to the music. Very funny. Another time we where in Whales at Rockfield studios and it was 4 o´clock in the morning, when suddenly there were noises coming out of the monitors, even though no one was playing. Very spooky. Eventually they found out that it was coming from the reverb box, which was burried in the field somewhere, and "Bad Manners", who were also recording there, kept taking trips and were walking about in the fields. Yes, it was funny times with old bruiser Tony. (He hated to be called bruiser, they used to tell everyone who didn´t know him, that he was a very dangerous boxer, and bruiser was his nickname in the ring. Because he looked so harmless, which he really was, everyone was always confused and suspicious and gave him strange looks.)"

Copyright (c) 1996-11-09 Jonas Wårstad.

Last update 2008-01-01.

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