'A Sensible Christmas!'

Now if there is one bloke I would love to meet for a Christmas drink and a chat it is Captain Sensible! Our Ray is a real character and a pretty good lyricist when he puts his mind to it as well. The records he released with Producer, Tony Mansfield at the helm in the mid 80's are a delight and range from the sublimely ridiculous 'Wot!' to thoughtful songs like 'Yanks With Guns'.

Aside from singing ode's to his beloved home town of 'Croydon' and whisking his way to the number 1 spot with 'Happy Talk' from 'South Pacific' its a little known fact that the good Captain released a Christmas single called 'One Christmas Catalogue' in 1984.

The song didn't quite come over as Christmassy enough at the time I remember and failed to sell but listening to it nowadays I rather like it!
The video is really good as well incorporating elements of the classic 'A Christmas Carol' and 'The Witch, The Lion & the Wardrobe' stories.
To try and boost sales of the record the record company released a limited 12" version of the song which  came with a real foam beard on the cover and the Captain's lively version of F.G.T.H.'s 'Relax' on the b side as well as a couple of other non-lp tracks. None of it helped the record into the charts though

Frustratingly, during the recording of their third album of songs together, Tony and Ray had a disagreement over the musical direction of the songs recorded so far and so the album was scrapped and they parted company forever. Well, I for one would LOVE to get a copy of those unreleased songs for Christmas! Be they good or bad it would be great to hear them and find out what all the fuss was about.

Pop music today is SOOO lacking characters like Captain Sensible, Roy Wood and the late, great Alvin Stardust. Music seems to have gone the way of modern thinking these days and become dour, ultra serious and 'arty'.

Give me a blast of 'Wot!' any day!

God bless you Ray (& Tony) wherever you are...