The Power of Love

The Power of Love is the second solo album by The Damned guitarist Captain Sensible, released in November 1983 by A&M Records. The album didn't chart but the single "Glad It's All Over" reached number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. The album features contributions from producer Tony Mansfield, Robyn Hitchcock, Ruts drummer Dave Ruffy and the band Dolly Mixture, among others. The Power of Love was reissued on CD in 2009 by Cherry Red Records, including seven bonus tracks. For the reissue the track listing was re-sequenced, as Captain Sensible was never happy with the original running order. Background As on his first solo album, Women and Captains First, Sensible had enlisted ex-Soft Boy Robyn Hitchcock to help with the songwriting on The Power of Love. "He was writing some spectacular lyrics for my tunes", Sensible explained. According to Hitchcock, "[Sensible] had a lot of backing tracks and he just gave me some cassettes and then I went away and wrote some words." The anti-war song "Glad It's All Over" was Sensible's pointed comment on the Falklands war. He described the song as "a result of my highly tuned pop sensibilities and the aural sculpting genius of producer Tony Mansfield... who actually plays the drum parts live himself on (not sampled!) a Duckhams oil can (floor tom), a casserole dish lid (high hat) and a Rowntrees choc tin (snare drum). After a bit of 'tuning' with a panel hammer the kit sounded just right and we rolled the tape with the result transforming the song into something rather special."