Capital Letters ADD

Review

Album Review: Capital Letters - Wolverhampton

03/23/2015

Lovers of UK reggae, rejoice! The UK scene seems to be coming back for good now. Besides that young generation that leads it to new heights–The Skints and Hollie Cook, to mention only its most outstanding players–, some of the old legends are coming back together. After last year’s release of Black Roots’ brilliant Ghetto Feel, it is up to Capital Letters now to pick things up where they left them, and reach entirely new heights.

‏The group had originally been formed in 1972 in Wolverhampton in the British Midlands as the Alphabets, but soon changed its name to Capital Letters when its members had realized that they weren’t the only band going by that name. Greensleeves Records signed them in 1978 and released their hit single Smoking My Ganja (Alborosie sampled it in his No Cocaine on the 2009 album Escape From Babylon). Never matching the popularity of Aswad or Steel Pulse, Capital Letters nevertheless toured Europe extensively in the 1970s and 80s before they went somewhat forgotten and eventually dissolved. In 2014, Reggae Archive Records released Reality, a compilation that included previously unreleased material to much critical acclaim.

‏Thirty years after their last studio album, Capital Letters came back together for Wolverhampton, the album at stake here. They spent the summer of 2014 in the newly built studio of Noel Browne, who had just returned from Jamaica, where he had played keys for the Studio One Band, the Taxi Gang, and The Maytals. Browne had also enjoyed success as a producer for Luciano, Mickey Spice and others, and built Freddy McGregor’s Big Ship Studio in 1995. Sugar Shack Records’ own Dave “Oldwah” Sandford mixed Wolverhampton.

‏This massive 14-track effort revives the heydays of UK reggae with warm brass sections, steadily bubbling keyboards and organs, earthy, percussive bass lines, upbeat riddims, playful guitars, and both female and male backing vocals. It is the kind of album that draws you in once you lend it an ear, but won’t ever let you go again. If ever you suffered from the mildest form of reggaemylitis, you’ll need your doctor’s permission to check it out, for there won’t be a cure afterwards.

Jah Music paves the way with its repetitive, catchy lyrics: “Dem nuh want/dem nuh want we fi play Jah Jah music/everything we try to do/everything we try to say/everything we try to do/everything to say/they are trying to keep us down…” Wolf denounces the hypocrites that wear dreadlocks without adhering to Ras Tafari, as does False Natty towards the end of the album. The latter starts off with a synthesizer shower that warms you up as, say, like when after a long day spent snowshoeing in Vail you suddenly find yourself in front of a cozy fireplace with a steaming cup of tea.

Roots Music is a favorite with its 1980s synthesizers and massive brass section. “Come mek we rock dis-ya music/dis-ya reggae music/dis-ya roots rock music/simple reggae music/…/Although they try to underrate it/reggae has evolved…” Opportunity calls us to grasp every opportunity we get. Another favorite is the title track Wolverhampton, Capital Letters’ ode to their home city.

Dat Nah Stop quotes Aswad’s 3 Babylon musically and denounces the warfare and slaughtering that is going on in this world. “Generals ah drink fine wine/while people blood ah run like di river Nile…” Yeah. If only there weren’t so many working class people mistaking the interests of the bourgeoisie and their PR agents for their own… A mistake that never happens to those actually sipping the fine wine.

Thanks And Praise is a sufferer’s praise tune, reminding us that “life is not a soap opera”. There’s some general advice of how to live a righteous life in Try Try Try. Tell Me What’s Wrong asks the question every thinking human being carries around all his life, and it is yet another favorite. An entirely different chord strikes Movie Star, an uptempo, dreamy lovers rock track sung by co-vocalist Lukas that leaves you yearning for more.

Pumping can’t keep up with that quality, but I’d go too far if I’d call this festival hymn a mere filler. The somewhat kitschy Jamaica is a most wonderful ode to the little island in the sun, sung by someone who had to leave it as a child to move over to cold England. It is soaked with the longing of any migrant who has lost home. A Place On Earth closes this outstanding album, reminding us again that a most gifted keyboard player was its audio engineer.

Capital Letters are back, and Wolverhampton forces us to write their names in caps only from now on. In a year that is still young and yet so full of masterpiece album releases, this one is a hot contender for the Album of the Year 2015 category. Lovers of classical UK reggae are likely to shed tears of joy once they press play.

LISTEN TO THE FULL ALBUM HERE: