Mike Davies Review

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CAPTAIN WILBERFORCE is the new identity for former Theory Of Everything man Simon Bristoll and Dreams of Educated Fleas will be their debut album on an as yet to be named label. Since his former band's album was one of the best releases of 2002, they've got a lot to live up to. They do it well.

Gone are the Zep and Queen references along with the sonic echoes of dEUS and the Pixies, but along with that dark guitar vibe and soaring vocals, many of the old influences are still there. Coldplay, Floyd, Nick Drake, The Beatles while opening track, Algebra, Take Me Dancing also tumbles in U2 and Brian Wilson with a twangy desert guitar. Photograph follows it up with another strong brooding number that filters in those Coldplay touches behind those noirish guitars and high pitched croons.

Making Apple Juice From Oranges has the folky hints and Syd Barrett, but marries them to a Flaming Lips revision of the Beatles legacy and a big Jeff Buckley vocal swoop while the gentler 60s skipping psychedelia of Dark Clouds somehow succeeds in splicing Lennon and young David Bowie to marvellous effect. It sounds like it could become one of their classics. Born Again Brand New Man is more of a swaggering melody with a whimsical use of Rocky Mountain Way effects. Try and imagine Squeeze if they were Todd Rundgren. Things You Threw Away is a spidery, neurotic Beatles number circa Sgt Pepper, as if McCartney had taken paranoia pills then rewritten She's Leaving Home. Which leaves Excuses, a waltzing acoustic fairground ride in a French boulevard that sounds as if it was written for a bittersweet 60s Anthony Newley and Rita Tushingham movie.

Incredibly confident and accomplished, alluring, evocative and hypnotic, it's a tantalising glimpse of what lies ahead. When I heard the last set of demos by Theory prior to their demise, I reckoned they stood a good chance of securing a 2003 album of the year. The prediction remains, only the name has changed.