Launched at Shadowmania this year, 'The Cappuccino Kid' is the Vibratos' second album and features over 50 minutes of superb guitar music. There is original material from both Dick and Warren plus a healthy portion of TV and film themes. The whole album is a joy to hear, expertly played and well produced. As with the previous album I'd like to take each track individually. Additional information was sourced from the Vibratos' own website and Warren Bennett himself.

633 Squadron - Composed by Ron Goodwin and the theme for the WWII movie of the same name. Aircraft sound effects introduce the tune before Warren serves up the melody on his '65 Epiphone Casino guitar. Woz also played rhythm guitars, keyboards, drum and bass programming. with Mr. Bennett senior featured on military snares. It works surprisingly well as a guitar-led piece and is a good opener.

Echo Beach - Dick Plant's turn to shine on lead, rhythm, drum and bass programming as he tackles the Martha & The Muffins hit from 1980. Dick is something of a guitar collector (has over 30 different models) and on this recording chose his '58 Guild X175 for the intro riff and used his '61 Kay Jazz II for the main melody. I enjoyed Dave Bishop's superb sax playing on the first album and here he makes a welcome return with some crisp sax phrasing midway through the tune.

The Cappuccino Kid - A worthy title track and a Warren Bennett original. Quite a family affair this one with wife Jane in a cameo role as a waitress at the start and dad Brian with a dynamic drum solo halfway through. Once again Dave Bishop adds some tasteful sax on this pleasant little number. Warren revisited the guitar sound used on his excellent Ghost Of Old Compton Street track for this one by using his Squire Strat again.

For A Few Dollars More - Ennio Morricone's atmospheric film theme has enjoyed numerous guitar-led outings and this version is just as welcome. A timeless piece of music from a classic movie. For a different sound palette, Dick picked various instruments from his extensive guitar collection for this recording: a Hohner/Warmouth 6 string bass, Tokai Strat and Godin Acousticaster.
Warren also contributes a first-class performance on keyboards, brush and military snares.

Get Carter - Continuing his love affair with film titles, Warren borrowed Dick's '58 Guild X175 for this interpretation of Roy Budd's superb composition. A simple yet effective theme that has so much going on behind the actual lead lines. Nice sax from DB again and some cool Hammond organ from Alan Hawkshaw. Mean and moody.

Diamond Head Drive - A Dick Plant original written around the same time as his Cala Mondrago (track 5 on 'Ghost Of Old Compton Street'). The tune has a similar feel to ‘Mondrago' and like that track is played on a Fender Telecaster. Dick also supplies the rhythm guitars, bass & drum programming.

Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - According to the trivia on the Vibratos' own website, Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was the proposed title of the follow-up Bond film to 'Goldfinger'. John Barry scored the music and Leslie Bricusse penned the lyrics, and two versions were recorded; one sung by Shirley Bassey and the other recorded by Dionne Warwick
However, the follow-up movie was in fact 'Thunderball' and rather than waste such a good theme, Barry randomly injected the 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' music into Thunderball. It's a pretty melody and The Vibratos turn in a very creditable performance.

The Boxer - Dick's acoustic interpretation of this Paul Simon classic is kinda nice and certainly one of the highlights for me. A straightforward cover with Warren adding to the overall production with some lush strings.

Grieg's Piano Concerto In A Minor - It's time for some fun with this lively arrangement of one of Grieg's finest. Warren lifted the idea from an ELO album and it rocks.
It's a neat arrangement incorporating musical snippets of Sabre Dance, The Can Can and Hall Of The Mountain King etc, etc.
Tongue-in-cheek and highly entertaining.

Friday On My Mind - The Shads recorded a version of this Easybeats track back in '67 for their 'Jigsaw' album. Dick was unaware of this and produced his own version, using no less than six different guitars in the process
There is so much going on with guitars fading in and out of the mix, it's a joy to listen to.

Department S - Another telly theme from yesteryear that suits the guitar so well. For this recording Warren used his Rickenbacker John Lennon Signature guitar for the lead lines and is also featured on rhythm guitar, keyboards, drum & bass programming

The Peacemaker - was written by Dick Plant with Hank Marvin in mind and actually sent to him as a demo. A typical Shadowy melody and one that would have sat comfortably on either Hank's 'Into The Light' or 'Heartbeat' album. Dick favoured a Fender Stratocaster for this recording and reveals that the Colt 45 gun was known as 'The Peacemaker' in the Wild West. Another winner from Mr. P.

Jet - One of the better songs from Paul McCartney's Wings period gets a solid instrumental workout from the guys. That trusty '65 Epiphone Casino guitar takes the tune, while Dick and Dave Bishop add more guitars and sax respectively. Interesting.

Heartbreaker - The Deep resonant twang of a six-string bass beefs up this Bee Gees composition somewhat and offers an attractive alternative to the usual guitar sound associated with The Vibratos.

The 'Ghost Of Old Compton Street' album was always going to be difficult to live up to because of the sheer quality of the songs on it, but this is a fine album in its own right and comes highly recommended.

The Vibratos will be performing 'live' at the Pipeline Convention on Sunday 20^th April 2003 and hopefully we can expect another album later that year. They are also booked to appear at the French Shadows Meeting in 2003.

Pipeline 2003 should also see the launch of my long-awaited Shadsfax Beatles project 'With A Little Help From My Friends' which includes a unique Vibratos recording of She's A Woman.