Track listing
- A1 God Is a Real Estate Developer 3:11
- A2 On the Greener Side 2:53
- A3 Silent Ways 2:38
- A4 Sleep Keeps Me Awake 2:42
- A5 The Cement Lament 3:04
- B1 (Don't You Mess Around With) My Little Sister 2:39
- B2 Looks Like Mona Lisa 2:29
- B3 Too Little Too Late 2:13
- B4 Streetcorner Ambassador 3:25
- B5 Must Be Luff 3:38
- B6 Russian Roulette [hidden track]
- Total length: 28:52
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7 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
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Captain Swing [p] 33 rpm
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Captain Swing 33 rpm
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Captain Swing Bonus Tracks
9 Reviews
Shame no reviews I have read talk about the blues tracks on Captain Swing. There are a few with great guitar, especially on the very last track of side two 'Must Be Luff', and these blues tracks are among the best on the album, which does have swing and jazz tracks as well, some very good ones. I always enjoy standup bass on an album like this, which shows up sparingly but I notice it right away. A good album and I don't mind Michelle trying something new, with the swing, even a dixieland number, and she's good at it. The horns are nice and tight, also, the strong song writing compliments this new venture and the subject matter is not far off Michelle Shocked's usual, some great lyrics.
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I think Michelle takes a step back with this one. Following up with the enjoyable _Short, Sharp Shocked_ and album that really helped continue the momentum begon with the Campfire album, Shocked, for some reason known only to her, opts to add horns, and other orchestration to make a sort of swing type album. Sometimes it works, sometimes it really doesn't, and sometimes, as in the case of the totally out of place "Looks Like Mona Lisa" is just leaves you scratching your head. "(Don't You Mess Around With) My Little Sister" is a real good time, and "Streetcorner Ambassador" is lyically smart if a bit too busy, but things like "The Cement Lament" and especially "Must Be Luff" are just too campy for their own good. This one is for fans of the artist only.
Published
This album sounds good, and her voice is particularly technically impressive when you compare it with The Texas Campfire Tales recording, and My Little Sister is a highly enjoyable rockout - but actually, the combination of the artist's quirky persona and the production's polish is not an especially satisfying one (at least, not for me); her Walkman-recorded debut was more purely engaging because of its slipperiness and strangeness and occasional (endearing) awkwardness, whereas this too often gets slick to the point of borderline-anonymity, even with the lively arrangements on offer; the songs (for the most part) slide by happily and pleasantly, but they don't quite GRAB me like I want them to...track 9 has some terrific bass-vibes-trumpet jazz action going on, and the instrumentation elsewhere is skilful and reasonably creative - but it's just not quite enough to make me want to keep this or hear it again.
Published
This is my mom's record. I wanted to hear what kind of music this is. In my opinion this album is a swing/alternative kind of stuff and I must say that it doesn't work for me. This album is pretty OK as a backround music if you're playing video game, but thats it. "On the Greener Side" is maybe the best, but it isn't good either. Pretty boring album, but if you love modern swing music you might like this. Others, don't bother with this disc.
Published
I never bothered listening to this album because I hated the cover art so much.
Published
If I saw Michelle Shocked and her studio band doing these tunes in a local bar, I’d be highly impressed. From top to bottom, every band member knows exactly what s/he should be doing and executes. The bottom end is held together as if in a vice and the soloists all enter and exit seamlessly. Nothing in the songwriting ever goes beyond a standard blues feel, but at least these guys give the tunes some life. The propulsive rock of “(Don’t You Mess Around With) My Little Sister” and the jazzy, vibes-filled feel of “Streetcorner Ambassador,” an ode to the homeless, are highlights as well.
Most of Shocked’s appeal is in her lyrics, though. No matter the subject she’s got an interesting take on it. From spirituality in “God Is A Real Estate Developer” to the insomnia in “Sleep Keeps Me Awake,” Shocked is sharp and witty throughout. I wish I could say these lyrics and performances were enough to elevate these unimaginative songs. I can’t. Nothing’s annoying, though, as this is a very listenable disc. I usually grant solid, uninspired efforts three lunchboxes, but there’s sufficient lack of magic here that I have to knock it down a half lunchbox.
DMP Keepers: ”(Don’t You Mess Around With) My Little Sister,” “Streetcorner Ambassador”
Most of Shocked’s appeal is in her lyrics, though. No matter the subject she’s got an interesting take on it. From spirituality in “God Is A Real Estate Developer” to the insomnia in “Sleep Keeps Me Awake,” Shocked is sharp and witty throughout. I wish I could say these lyrics and performances were enough to elevate these unimaginative songs. I can’t. Nothing’s annoying, though, as this is a very listenable disc. I usually grant solid, uninspired efforts three lunchboxes, but there’s sufficient lack of magic here that I have to knock it down a half lunchbox.
DMP Keepers: ”(Don’t You Mess Around With) My Little Sister,” “Streetcorner Ambassador”
Published
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As music lovers, we all have certain styles or similarities that mark our musical tastes. This was illustrated for me recently when my friend Steve made me a mixed CD that was heavy on multi-part harmony, something I’m not sure Steve even realized when he was selecting favorites to include, but which makes sense as Steve himself is a bass in a local a cappella group called BlueLine. My wife, although she jokes that the only musical instrument she can play is the radio, tends to favor songs that feature a solo piano and even fell for my poor keyboard skills when we were courting. I personally love music with horns, possibly a result of my high school band days when I played both the baritone and trombone. While I like plenty of songs without a brass section, that sound will likely make me pay closer attention to it.
Not every song on Michelle Shocked’s _Captain Swing_ has horns, but those that do are my favorite moments on this album and also responsible for making this my favorite Shocked album, although I also quite like _Short Sharp Shocked_ and _Arkansas Traveler_. The inclusion of a brass section also underscores how much of a metamorphoses Shocked went through on her first three albums, from the recorded-on-a-Walkman (and basically released without her permission) _The Texas Campfire Tapes_ to this multitrack, multi-instrument album. That first album, where one can even sometimes hear crickets in the background, was just Shocked’s voice and her guitar, recorded live during the Kerrville Folk Festival. Her second album didn’t add much in the way of instruments, but _Short Sharp Shocked_ was made in a studio with multiple takes that smoothed out imperfections while maintaining her intimate style. For _Captain Swing_, the pendulum had swung all the way over into lush production although not so much that it overshadows Shocked’s clever songwriting, but does transform her at least somewhat from the doyenne of the piney woods past the "skateboarding punk rocker" into a folky k.d. lang-inspired torch singer.
The theme is swing and Shocked is catholic in how she applies it to her songs. She transforms her earlier composition, "(Don’t You Mess With) My Little Sister," into a hard-rocking set piece of Bakersfield that wouldn’t be out of place on a Dwight Yoakam album. "It Must Be Luff" comes straight out of a dance hall of Basin Street, New Orleans with its combination of tuba bass rythym, slightly out-of-tune jangly piano, and slide-and-muted trombone. Shocked anticipated the big band revival with "God is a Real Estate Developer," "Too Little Too Late" and "Sleep Keeps Me Awake," while "On the Greener Side" and "Silent Ways" highlight the fast and slow moods of Texas swing. The cool later jazz stylings that combined Glenn Miller with Duke Ellington can be found in "The Cement Lament," with some of the best clarinets you’ll ever hear in a rock song; "Streetcorner Ambassador" even makes a play for a modified Miles Davis BeBop groove with its muted trumpet solo and cool jazz rhythm. Even "Looks Like Mona Lisa," where the horns are replaced by a plaintive string part, has at its core a swing bass rhythm part.
The subject of the songs match her earlier albums, though: concerns about the homeless and the inner city, memories of growing up in small towns, and satirical takes on life. But more than anything, these songs have a sense of fun to them that was sometimes missing in those first two albums. They are fast and bouncy and funny at times, sometimes so much that you miss the serious message of some of the lyrics. Shocked duplicated some of this chemistry in her next album, _Arkansas Traveller_, although the musical theme there was less interesting to me as it was based on bluegrass instead of swing.
Not every song on Michelle Shocked’s _Captain Swing_ has horns, but those that do are my favorite moments on this album and also responsible for making this my favorite Shocked album, although I also quite like _Short Sharp Shocked_ and _Arkansas Traveler_. The inclusion of a brass section also underscores how much of a metamorphoses Shocked went through on her first three albums, from the recorded-on-a-Walkman (and basically released without her permission) _The Texas Campfire Tapes_ to this multitrack, multi-instrument album. That first album, where one can even sometimes hear crickets in the background, was just Shocked’s voice and her guitar, recorded live during the Kerrville Folk Festival. Her second album didn’t add much in the way of instruments, but _Short Sharp Shocked_ was made in a studio with multiple takes that smoothed out imperfections while maintaining her intimate style. For _Captain Swing_, the pendulum had swung all the way over into lush production although not so much that it overshadows Shocked’s clever songwriting, but does transform her at least somewhat from the doyenne of the piney woods past the "skateboarding punk rocker" into a folky k.d. lang-inspired torch singer.
The theme is swing and Shocked is catholic in how she applies it to her songs. She transforms her earlier composition, "(Don’t You Mess With) My Little Sister," into a hard-rocking set piece of Bakersfield that wouldn’t be out of place on a Dwight Yoakam album. "It Must Be Luff" comes straight out of a dance hall of Basin Street, New Orleans with its combination of tuba bass rythym, slightly out-of-tune jangly piano, and slide-and-muted trombone. Shocked anticipated the big band revival with "God is a Real Estate Developer," "Too Little Too Late" and "Sleep Keeps Me Awake," while "On the Greener Side" and "Silent Ways" highlight the fast and slow moods of Texas swing. The cool later jazz stylings that combined Glenn Miller with Duke Ellington can be found in "The Cement Lament," with some of the best clarinets you’ll ever hear in a rock song; "Streetcorner Ambassador" even makes a play for a modified Miles Davis BeBop groove with its muted trumpet solo and cool jazz rhythm. Even "Looks Like Mona Lisa," where the horns are replaced by a plaintive string part, has at its core a swing bass rhythm part.
The subject of the songs match her earlier albums, though: concerns about the homeless and the inner city, memories of growing up in small towns, and satirical takes on life. But more than anything, these songs have a sense of fun to them that was sometimes missing in those first two albums. They are fast and bouncy and funny at times, sometimes so much that you miss the serious message of some of the lyrics. Shocked duplicated some of this chemistry in her next album, _Arkansas Traveller_, although the musical theme there was less interesting to me as it was based on bluegrass instead of swing.
Published
More fine heartfelt songs from Ms. Shocked. She doesn't really seem capable of making a record without at least one song that knocks me for a loop and stays with me for days afterward. "Silent Ways" is that tune from Captain Swing, and an all-time favorite of mine. Pure natural genius.
Published
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