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Spin Magazine

HEAVY ROTATION WHAT'S BLASTING THOUGH THE SPIN OFFICES THIS MONTH

This Philly quartet grinds out retro rock with a propulsive, fuzzy jangle and plush harmonies. Standout track: "Everyone Is A Skunk," a wailing, bopping ode to egomania.

Pitchfork

The Capitol Years were once plural in name only. The group began as a one-man project, with Shai Halperin doing all the writing, playing, and singing. After one album, 2000's Meet Yr Acres, he kicked the jack-of-all-trades route to the curb, got himself a band, and made a quick metamorphosis into a brash rocker. The full-band edition of the Capitol Years put together a hugely entertaining live show and released the rollicking Jewelry Store EP in 2002. An archival release put the solo act to bed, and now they've dropped the first full-band Capitol Years LP, Let Them Drink.

The record doesn't want you to just kick back and listen, preferring to taunt you from your chair via head-nodding blues punch-ups and brawling rock'n'roll. In their new, rougher state, the Capitol Years play with a lot of brash bravado, but they're not beyond a good three-part harmony or a strange song structure that, for instance, kicks into sudden overdrive at the end of the chorus. It's not all rock either, with songs like the title track eschewing drums and relying instead on insistently strummed acoustic guitar for momentum. The song's vocal melody see-saws over a simple chord progression, backed by full, rich harmonies.

Of course, the songs on either side of it are amped-up strutters, with "Everyone Is a Skunk" flying through about four different sections that could each be the chorus and "Ramona" flirting with undulating "Suzie Q" guitar riffs before twisting into a pummeling raver. "Giant Drunks" plays the best blues card, with a crawling beat, thick bassline, and chunky guitar riffs in the verse and breathy harmonies on the refrain....The sleigh-bell rock of "Lucky" closes the LP and nicely redeems it, ending this entertaining, varied rock record on a high note.

Magnet Magazine

Although this Philadelphia band has been a quartet for the last couple of years, LET THEM DRINK is its first full-length as a group. Frontman Shai Halperin started it as a one-man operation, and as the ranks grew, so did the Capitol Years’ reputation for being an exciting, over-the-top live act. The foursome’s first full-length may have taken a while to make, but the group did satiate the public with the Jewelry Store EP in 2002. Jewelry Store succeeded for the most part, but it also felt like the Capitol Years were trying harder to capture their live energy than craft a solid recording. The potential hinted at on the EP is brought to fruition on LET THEM DRINK. Halperin still doesn’t stray far from the ‘60s psych/pop formula, but the songs are vibrant enough to convince you to forgive their derivative nature. Halperin is well aware he borrows from the canon when he sings “I’m lucky like a stolen riff.” The Capitol Years earned a lot of comparisons to the Strokes (hey, it was legal mandate a couple years ago), and Halperin’s delivery still resembles that of Julian Casablancas, especially on “Solid Gold” and “Ramona.” Mostly, however, the musical references are of a more established pedigree. The too-short “Going Down” recalls Big Star at its most wide-eyed and innocent. That evergreen adjective, Beatlesque, could also be trotted out and applied to the album as a whole, but perhaps that’s because the songs are all so damn catchy. LET THEM DRINK is so hooky that it would foil even the most hardened truant officer.

All Music Guide

The Capitol Years lo-fi, pop underground nuggets have been lauded by home recording aficionados and critics alike, resulting in a string of hastily assembled releases that—while undeniably delicious—have never really worked as a whole. From the very beginning, Let Them Drink lays to waste that notion, relying on a cohesive blend of intelligent sixties rock and power pop that sounds like an extension of Electric Pornographer A.C. Newman's Slow Wonder as played by Cheap Trick. The band is tight—they did open for the re-untied Pixies—and the songs are just ramshackle enough to demand the extra attention that they need to sink in. "Juicers," with it's infectious and pulsating chorus is the perfect opener; it's catchy enough to get its barbs in and opaque enough to keep the listener looking around the corner for the next hook. "Solid Gold" is like a Sloan sandwich with Neil Young in the middle, "Lucky" is all White Stripes without the attitude and the glorious title cut is the best Minus 5 track never recorded. It may be impossible to fully extract the Capitol Years themselves from the genre in which they'll inevitably be placed in—garage rock revival—but as far as smart, hook-filled song craft goes, Let Them Drink is up there with the best that the scene has to offer.

Static Multimedia

While bands like The Von Bondies and The Vines were enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame thanks to the so-called “garage-rock revolution,” Philadelphia’s The Capitol Years were quietly touring the country and putting out records that put anything by either of those bands to shame. Most bands lumped into the “garage rock” scene mistook the label as an excuse to simply crank up the amps to eleven and revel in half-assed dirty blues-rock grooves. What they conveniently forgot, however, was that the best of the original garage rock scene were just as much about the 1960’s psychedelic pop explorations as they were about the lo-fi, DIY aesthetic. It’s one thing to dirty up your sound with distorted guitars and lewd vocals, but another thing entirely to create an engaging pop song worthy of repeated listens while you are doing it. The Capitol Years key to success is the second part of that equation, taking the necessary steps to turn an ordinary stone into an exquisite gem.

Take, for example, Let Them Drink's opening track, “Juicers” which kicks off with some monstrously propulsive drumming and a wonderful bouncing bassline. It’s an inauspicious start, but things quickly get more interesting as more sounds are added into the mix. The multi-layered vocal harmony comes in and lifts the martial beat to dizzying heights, but just as the groove really starts to get going, the bass and distorted guitar drop out leaving us with just the drums and matching staccato acoustic strumming. It’s a somewhat disorienting trick, but the vocals keep the song grounded and flowing along nicely. We slowly build towards another climax as the full beat swings back to life, this time accompanied by well-placed tambourines and horns before fading out with more gentle harmonies and backwards tape effects. This transitions us into the more straightforward rock stomp of “Mounds of Money,” which is also the album’s first single. While this may resemble the more traditional garage rock tune, the twin guitar attack of lead singer Shai Halperin and Jeff Van Newkirk, complete with battling mini-solos, keeps things from falling into any sort of a rut.

This ability to keep things exciting and fresh is one of the album’s, and band’s, strongest assets – as they manage to spice up every track without falling to gimmickry or blatant trickery. The revival tent-hymn swagger of “Solid Gold,” complete with backing organ, or the droning lullaby guitars of the title track are just a few examples of this. The dual guitar format pops up frequently over the course of the album, bringing to mind Television without letting the instruments dominate the mix. At times the guitars will circle and lash out at each other in angular, post-punk riffs while other times they work in tandem to create a disorienting psychedelic stew, but they always create a perfect foundation for the wonderful vocals of Halperin (a.k.a. Shai, Son of Eli). Whether he is going the track alone or accompanied by gentle multi-part harmonies, Halperin keeps the pop sensibilities in check and prevents the album from running off the rails. Let Them Drink doesn’t stray too far from your standard rock topics in the lyric department, with love gone wrong and drinking said love out of mind being two of the more frequent topics. One strong exception is the Strokes-like tale of big city life, “Ramona,” which bemoans the loss of a girl’s love as she trades in the pampered living she has always known for the decadent land of bright lights and smog. “She will have a good time / I won’t have a good time” laments Halperin over spiky new-wave guitars and another solid performance by bassist Dave Wayne Daniels. If you go back and listen to the garage-rock touchstone Nuggets compilation, you will find that the true garage spirit embodies a whole lot more than loud distortion and sleazy sex appeal. The best of that era combined a love for volume and sleaze with an appreciation for pop values and an ear for a good hook or solid melody. The Capitol Years keeps that tradition alive in the twenty-first century, cranking out a solid disc full of rocking tunes that never loses touch with the necessary ingredients for an enjoyable spin even after repeated listens. They may have been born in a Philly garage, but they’ve spent enough time in the sunshine to know how to have fun.

The Onion

Lightly trippy power-pop makes a comeback on another matched set of CDs. The Capitol Years’ LET THEM DRINK juxtaposes Shai Halperin’s crunchy electric guitar and his pillowed voice, forging an off-kilter sound that recalls Lilys as much as the Kinks. Halperin seems to be looking for the places where tuneful rock starts to break down, and The Capitol Years lives in those fissures, hiding from genre purists.

Las Vegas Review Journal

My favorite album of the year, so far, is "Let Them Drink" by the Capitol Years, a Philadelphia rock band that puts a lot of catchy energy into melodies and harmonies -- and it occasionally sounds like George Harrison is on the guitar, circa "Abbey Road." Lucky people with ears get to hear the Capitol Years play Matteo's Underground Lounge in Boulder City on Saturday. Singer and songwriter Shai Halperin (his first name is pronounced "shy") says his Beatles influence doesn't show up in his music as much as it used to. "The only thing (Beatlesque) on this record is we were trying to make the breakdown in `Solid Gold' sound `White Album'-y," he says. So far, the band has been getting some radio play on college stations and on a few mainstream rock stations. So Halperin's group is finding contentment writing good songs. But it would be nice if "Let Them Drink" won more fans for the Capitol Years. He doesn't say this with a boisterous boastfulness, but he is not shy about the quality of his band's music. "We think the songs are a pretty big deal, but we're still sort of waiting for the throngs of people to show up and realize it, too." The last time the Capitol Years were in Vegas, several years ago, the band played the Double Down. It was a great show. Someone videotaped the concert for the band, but he paid for his kind act. "That was a weird night," Halperin says. "There was a weird crack whore around in a striped shirt that ... broke his camera. She threw it on the ground. She had some issues." Halperin suggests that fans get to Matteo's at showtime, 9 p.m., because the Capitol Years may open the concert. They are on a rotating double-bill tour with the band the High Strungs. These two bands are made up of such music freaks that they're working together on songs and discussing the art of creativity. The High Strungs musicians write whenever they can, he says. "They're seriously writing songs on the side of the road and constantly talking about it with us. It's a good zone to get into. When you're not on tour, you're not exactly like this" usually. If you're curious how a musician talks about the writing process, it sounds like this. He says he approaches melodies and harmonies as being unconventional dynamics, not as a "linear straight thing." "I'm a lot more conscious of dynamic melodies, which rise and fall. That tends to help the song, melodically. It's a trick," he says. "If you're just sitting there with a guitar, then you just throw a melody around, up and down." He means up and down octaves and in tonal quality. "That tends to be a good pattern we've gotten into." So, musicians, there you go. That's how you write a great album.

Chicago Tribune

Philadelphia's Capitol Years revolt against today's wimpy Britpop by indulging in the sounds of the British Invasion and the movement's mod successors. The quartet amps up the volume on its rum-spiked "Let Them Drink" (Burn & Shiver) which, while littered with Beatles, Animals and Jam table scraps, swaggers with stair-stepping harmonies, crunchy tempos and jangling energy that should readily translate to the stage.

Prefix Mag

With a flammable concoction of all that is surly and furious about 1966’s pop music, the Capitol Years evoke the sleeping wake of the Yardbirds, the Standells and the sterling vocal match-up of Townsend and Daltrey. On Let Them Drink, songwriter/guitarist Shai Halperin lays down the soundtrack for either a drunken bachelor party of gluttony and brawling or a volatile, well-founded argument over the cost of a bag of weed.

Meet Yr Acres opened the gates on the Philadelphia foursome in 2001. The Jewelry Store EP followed in 2003 and garnered much love from the critics and fans. The subsequent Pussyfootin’ was a collection of earlier, unearthed acoustic work from Halperin, and quite a shift from what has now surfaced.

Let Them Drink boasts golden production, with help from Thom Monahan, who has earned his name behind the boards for the Lilys, Beachwood Sparks and the Pernice Brothers. The unpredictable album moves from choppy, guitar-based Carnaby Street nuggets to smoky throw-rug and hot-tea psychedelia within a matter of four tracks or so. “Juicers,” the album’s building, melodious opening number, couldn’t be further from the searing “Mounds of Money” set-closer that follows it. That balance continues throughout Let Them Drink, punctuated by Halperin’s sing-along choruses and squealing pre-“Tears in Heaven” Clapton licks. Hot stuff.

Delusions of Adequacy (picks of the week)

Philadelphia is a pretty badass little town. Not only does it have the legacy of producing some of the best soul records ever made (back in the 70s), it’s got the Liberty Bell, good seafood, the New Jersey Turnpike, Dr. J played there, and it was also home of one the most underappreciated pop/rock bands of the 1960s: The Nazz. Well, on the upcoming release, Let Them Drink, Philadelphia’s The Capitol Years channel the spirit of The Nazz and produce a power-pop record with enough power chords, seductive guitar hooks, and British Invasion-styled harmonies to make Todd Rundgren himself proud.

Like any good power-pop album, Let Them Drink is completely derivative of all the great pop bands of days gone by, but it also displays The Capitol Years' own personal identity and impeccable taste throughout the record. The band skirts through all the classic British Invasion influences, such as The Beatles (“Giant Steps,” “Ramona”), The Who (“Solid Gold”), The Kinks (“Mounds of Money”), and The Hollies (“Juicer”), while adding elements of Byrds’ style jangle into the mix (“Solid Gold,” “Stones”). However, the two most interesting features of Let Them Drink include The Capitol Years’ gentler, slightly psychedelic songs (“Going Down,” “Let Them Drink,” and “Dirty Bitch”), and their flawless country-rock track (“Stones”).

Each of the three psychedelic/folk inspired tracks contain similarities to many of the darker moments from Big Star and Badfinger (the two kings of power-pop), as well as the twisted folk music of Moby Grape. Much like Moby Grape’s Skip Spence, The Capitol Years’ mastermind Shai Halperin has a gift for singing melancholy lyrics in a dark and detached tone, which, along with the eerie acoustic strumming, creates an evocative psychedelic buzz. Meanwhile, “Stones,” a classic-era country-rock-inspired number, beautifully hearkens back to the kind of ground-breaking roots-oriented songs The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Rolling Stones recorded during the late 60s.

The Capitol Years’ Let Them Drink breathes needed life into the often ignored and sometimes reviled genre of power-pop by adding eclectic taste and style to the standard 60s-style pop/rock rave-up. The result is a record that could easily be mistaken by record geeks as a 60s underground lost-classic... like maybe Quicksilver Messenger Service’s first album.

Chord Magazine

Being capable of complex, nervous pop, askew swooping rhythms and unbridled brittle subtlety doesn't mean those elements need be applied at every turn. Since taking on (finally, after ten years) a full buzzing band in which to record, singer/songwriter Shai Halperin (the occasional chirpier Lennon/Beck sound-alike who recorded the jerkingly eclectic Pussyfootin, Meet Yr Acres, and boombalastic Jewelry Store nearly alone, nearly at home) has taken his sardonic, crushing lyrics to lean epic and brusquer anthems without losing the supple intimacy of his lyrical and vocal nuances. While the moistened harmony crooning that runs through "Juicers" may recall Acres (as well as the chug-clipped vibe of the Velvets) and its hickish ballads (a too brief "Going Down," the title track) some of Halperin's humming solo past, this Years is a total overhaul dedicated to grandeur. The Bic-lighter bliss of the over-lording "Mounds of Money," the skanky hooks of "Solid Gold" and the Who-bashing "Lucky" show off a range and ruggedness few knew the humble Halperin had in him. Capitol!


Detroit Metro Times

Let Them Drinkis the record’s name, but are the Capitol Years talking about us or themselves? Probably both. It’s the Philly combo’s official studio debut as a band — previous outings were mostly just ringleader Shai Halperin — so Drink is a bursting and eager statement of uncut rock ’n’ roll joy. The stomping “Mounds of Money” has a riff from the past, but it’s glued to stinging guitar leads and Halperin’s husky, slightly distorted vocals. “Everyone Is a Skunk” (the Who) and “Solid Gold” (the Beatles) are similar miners of source material, but they always make a cool stylistic turn, like when Halperin’s voice cracks over the latter’s shimmering organ break. “It makes me feel so fuckin’ SAD!” Capitol Years reference 2001’s Meet Yr Acres with the brief, acoustic “Going Down, it’s Alright,” “Nothing to Say” nods along on a faraway and stoned-out bass guitar thrum, and you can warm your cold hands on the vocal harmonies of “Juicers” and “Giant Drunks,” two midtempo gems. Capitol Years certainly tip caps to their influences, but unique hooks and smart songwriting always sell their present day. Now and then meet in a coil of Let Them Drink’s patch chords.

Aiding and Abetting

Yes, these boys do have a bit of the garage basher in them, but what we have here is more finely-crafted pop, replete with sculpted harmonies and tight, yet wandering, hooks. Something like the Beatles meets the Who, with some distortion on the side.

No, this album isn't that good. I've never heard the band that could live up to that description. I was just trying to give an idea of feel. And the Capitol Years truly do evoke the melancholy spirit of the late 60s. I somehow doubt that this ennui is pharmaceutical in nature, but it's there nonetheless.

And damn, does it sound good. There are moments right out of Sgt. Peppers or Abbey Road, especially when a lead guitar line echoes out across an electric piano chord. The Capitol Years have been working this material for some time. Despite their occasional whipsaw approach to songwriting (entire songs within songs at times), the transitions are flawless.

This is the sort of album that would give my dad a serious case of deja vu. You can decide if that's a good thing or not. Me, I like it. Quite an accomplishment in sound.