The Captain’s Son | Busty Crustacean

Family Average: 4/7

Prepare to drop anchor folks. All nautical puns are now fair game! Why? You may ask. Well, because today the family has a review of the tootin rootin surf beach blanket band The Captain’s Son. Being a sea-faring family undoubtedly there was a deep spiritual connection. Not unlike the connection that cats seem to have with their reflections. Lets see how that impacts their reviews.

Look below and see what the family had to say.

Climb aboard my vessel! Grab hold of a bucket and start swabbing the deck. Not too fun huh? Yeah well not everything on a boat is a good time. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty, scrape a few barnacles, and feed a seagull. This album is fun though. It is all the cool parts about being on a boat. You know like standing up on the mast yelling about land, and sword fighting.

The Captain's son sprays you right in the face like the salty seal! I dig the clean kind of sound they have though. I can not tell you how many albums I hear in this vein that just bury their sound in reverb. Its cool, but it does get a little tiresome. Without loosing that classic high treble sound The captain’s Son is confident with their playing letting it ring out true to form. Ah, delicious. Simply delicious.

Stand out track has to be “Want You So Much More”. Holy cow is this song fun. How the heck could you put this song on and not bop your head? I get crazy sixties rock throwbacks. A sound that has seen a recent revival with acts like Wyatt Blair, and Nobunny. HOSTESS! THAT'S THE STUFF. 

4/7

Old time surf music, kind of spy movie vibe. Solid base. I wasn’t expecting the vocals to sound how they do once they began, so on the first song, I was not quite a fan. I felt like I got where they were going (because I’ve heard so many bands going in this direction) but they’re not quite there.  

However, once “The Work” started I changed my mind. Now the vocals are working for me. A more stripped down, simplistic, minimal style, the sound of this track, humble. That guitar, the simple rhythm and that lead dancing around it, leading to the solo.

This style kind of continued through until the end and I enjoyed the rest of the album.

4/7

“Busty Crustacean” by The Captain’s son was a fun, easy to listen to pop/rock collection with a definite surf vibe.  The first song struck me as a real surf tune with that unmistakable guitar playing. A good song, but very familiar sound so I was glad I kept listening because “The Work” showed that they are just more than a surf type jam band. The energy was great. I found them similar to maybe Weezer or even Cake, two bands I always enjoy listening too.

I can see myself putting this on a road trip or beach day playlist for sure. It is definitely an album I would listen to in the summer driving around with all the windows open. Although it had a fun, easy feeling to it you can tell a lot of work went into making it sound this way. Instrumentals and production are key in producing this type of album. I feel often that gets overlooked because everyone is having a good time! 

6/7

Okay kids turn up the reverb on that old Vox tube amp and get ready for some quality surf music, complete with riffs that would make Dick Dale hoot and Holler with Delight. This album is an overall good time party, The Captain’s Son have their own unique sound, but you can hear the bands who influenced their work. If you put “Paul Revere and Raiders” in a blender with “Sublime” and “Austin Powers” (Groovy Baby) you get close to their sound but not really. “Silver Glitter Streets” was a killer opening track, it could easily be the soundtrack to a spy movie of the 1960’s. A quality piece of music for sure. 

By far my favorite track was “Want you so much more” This track had it all, catchy hooks with harmonies reminiscent of the British invasion bands of the early 1960’s. But this track had a fresh updated version, sort of like the “Violent Femmes” with the ska energy of “No Doubt” . These guys are a beach party, you can just hear the loud hawaiian shirts, and taste the rum-punch drinks. Aye Aye Captain!!!    

6/7

The entire album with the exception of the vocals kind of sounds like its inside a cardboard box; it feels oddly muffled, the drums feel like they are being held back from their proper place in the mix and I found some tones occasionally clashing especially towards the end of Want You So much More. The emotions in the song however, provide a feel good nature that successfully transcended these issues. I couldn't really get behind much here besides the guitar in It’s so easy which were the most memorable part of this collection, but it seems like everyone's just having some fun.

3/7