When Captain Sensible's first solo album, 1982's Women and Captains First, became a major hit after his synth pop cover of "Happy Talk" went to number one on the singles charts, it validated his very real talents as a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, while also suggesting that listeners were eager to accept that Sensible was more than just the cheerful loon from the Damned. This was both a good and a bad thing; Sensible certainly had the talent to do more than folks expected from him prior to Women and Captains First, but on his second solo effort, 1983's The Power of Love, the playful side that made many of his songs so appealing fell by the wayside, and instead the album was a straightforward and overly slick exercise in electro-processed pop that seems to be vying to play on the same level as the Human League or Duran Duran, with Tony Mansfield's production so slick and clean you could fry an egg on it. The supper-class twiticisms of "Royal Rave Up" are practically the only sign of the funny side of Captain Sensible, and while a few of the songs are quite good (especially three written in collaboration with Robyn Hitchcock), the most effective bit of whimsy comes from a cover of the Pink Floyd rarity "It Would Be So Nice." "Thanks for the Night" sounds like it was tailor-made for the Damned (it later popped up in their live repertoire), but the drum machine and bits of electronic detritus that dot the mix spoil what could have been a potent dose of rock & roll, and while dance beats dominate a number of these tracks, the cumulative effect falls somewhere between languid and simply lazy. Like his first solo set, The Power of Love made it clear Captain Sensible could do more than smash it up with the Damned, but it robs his music of much of its charm and personality along the way, doing no one involved any favors.
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