I always found it just doesn't fit on the album very well. It would make a charming B-side but that's about it. I still love the album as every other song is a 10/10.
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 23:24 (seven years ago) link
I did hedge a bit when I said "just about every track". ;-)
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 20 December 2016 23:34 (seven years ago) link
I think the best non album tracks are the pre-Swoon stuff and the stuff from the Andromeda Heights era.
― funk79, Wednesday, 21 December 2016 00:26 (seven years ago) link
At least in NYC you hardly ever see them anymore. Is there even Pluck U anymore? I sometimes have the Buffalo Boss wings at Fulton Mall. I always get them so hot I cry
Iago, what are the good b-sides? I'll hit up sseek later
― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 21 December 2016 00:52 (seven years ago) link
Fuck! My wings post that never happened. Sorry calstars
― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 21 December 2016 00:53 (seven years ago) link
Ok, calstars, I moved my whole PS collection onto sseek. My user name is sekaer. There's a folder called b-sides. Also don't miss the folder KCRW 1988--great in studio solo performance (including Wichita Lineman) and interview
― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 21 December 2016 01:09 (seven years ago) link
thank you Iago!
― calstars, Wednesday, 21 December 2016 01:33 (seven years ago) link
I sold "Andromeda Heights" but kept the singles.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 21 December 2016 05:15 (seven years ago) link
Spoiler alert (for those who can't wait for the May 2018 results of this one):Steve McQueen/Two Wheels Good Poll
― enochroot, Friday, 6 January 2017 17:20 (seven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Friday, 11 May 2018 00:01 (six years ago) link
Oh shit I missed the last poll. This is a REALLY hard one. Appetite or Desire As....
― J. Sam, Friday, 11 May 2018 00:05 (six years ago) link
"Bonnie" in a heartbeat
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Monday, December 19, 2016 3:29 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― brimstead, Friday, 11 May 2018 00:10 (six years ago) link
this poll is too cruel, but I ended up voting for "Goodbye Lucille #1/Johnny Johnny"
― joshywinty (josh), Friday, 11 May 2018 00:16 (six years ago) link
This poll closes in a year and a half
― Iago Galdston, Monday, December 19, 2016 4:33 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
the right amount of time imo. picked goodbye lucille
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 00:31 (six years ago) link
this is soooooooooooooooo hard but i just decided not to think to hard and went with appetite.
― scott seward, Friday, 11 May 2018 01:28 (six years ago) link
Apparently I've already voted although I can't recall what my choice was. This year, it'd be "Moving The River".
― doug watson, Friday, 11 May 2018 15:54 (six years ago) link
yeah, appetite. could've been when love breaks down but been more obsessed with appetite lately
― flappy bird, Friday, 11 May 2018 18:19 (six years ago) link
i swear i didn't try to create a mini-me or anything, but it does warm my heart when i hear this coming from my 15 year old kid's room. he was playing high land, hard rain in his room the other night.
i mean, i just play stuff. the rest is up to him.
― scott seward, Friday, 11 May 2018 18:24 (six years ago) link
Nonetheless, Scott, well done.
― doug watson, Friday, 11 May 2018 18:38 (six years ago) link
the core, the heart music... prefab sprout
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 18:59 (six years ago) link
save your speeches, flowers are for funerals
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 11 May 2018 19:03 (six years ago) link
Appetite is such a good song. I love the lyrics. Great album though.
― brotherlovesdub, Friday, 11 May 2018 19:12 (six years ago) link
one of the greatest moments in music
I count the hours since you slipped awayI count the hours that I lie awakeI count the minutes and the seconds tooAll I stole and I took from you
― omar little, Friday, 11 May 2018 19:14 (six years ago) link
otm omar
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 11 May 2018 19:18 (six years ago) link
not always a fan of bands going unplugged, but the acoustic versions of some of these songs are incredible things
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 11 May 2018 19:20 (six years ago) link
Right? Oh my god, those acoustic versions will melt you...
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Friday, 11 May 2018 19:39 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pmp1hr8UxY
this one is total goosebumps
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, 11 May 2018 19:59 (six years ago) link
― i'm surprised to see your screwface at the door (NickB), Friday, May 11, 2018 12:18 PM (forty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― brimstead, Friday, 11 May 2018 20:04 (six years ago) link
― brimstead, Friday, May 11, 2018 1:04 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 11 May 2018 20:12 (six years ago) link
"bonny" was the first prefab sprout song i heard
Very difficult. One of those impeccable albums. Where you cannot take away one song without interrupting the perfect flow. I think i'll go for Faron Young. There is a promise in that song that the album fulfills. The build-up never finishes.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 11 May 2018 21:52 (six years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 12 May 2018 00:01 (six years ago) link
interesting that Appetite won so easily. would probably still vote for it or Goodbye Lucille
― ufo, Saturday, 12 May 2018 00:13 (six years ago) link
Kind of wish I had gone with Desire As now. Can't argue too much with those results tho
― J. Sam, Saturday, 12 May 2018 00:33 (six years ago) link
Can't believe this actually finally finished, but glad I accidentally gave it a year-and-a-half runtime. Good turnout.
I thought I'd voted, but it let me vote again yesterday - Desire As.
Shame about Blueberry Pies, but it's lots of moments I like ('ask me what the time is… my eyes shift and slide', 'Hello stranger – the stranger I've become') that don't quite come together into a song I love.
― woof, Saturday, 12 May 2018 01:07 (six years ago) link
Voted When Love Breaks Down. I had recently written a song with a similar title when that record came out, which obviously wiped the floor with my own efforts
― Dr X O'Skeleton, Saturday, 12 May 2018 13:04 (six years ago) link
I've only just discovered this album but oh my god where has Bonny been my whole life???
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 16 September 2018 02:29 (five years ago) link
Whoops how did that post twice
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 16 September 2018 02:30 (five years ago) link
it's that good
― flappy bird, Sunday, 16 September 2018 02:31 (five years ago) link
Damn
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Sunday, 16 September 2018 02:43 (five years ago) link
It's a conspicuously front-loaded LP really. It's time I refreshed my memory of the second half/lower-ranked tracks...
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 16 September 2018 03:14 (five years ago) link
Gee, some of the second half does indeed feel pretty unfamiliar, still. I suspect I know the deeps cuts on both Swoon and Protest Songs more intimately. Weird. (Certainly not about to claim that either of those have a sequence that matches the first side of SM/TWG though.)
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Sunday, 16 September 2018 05:42 (five years ago) link
moving the river is the sleeper hit for me. also surely been discussed but some of the acoustic versions of these are mind blowing -- desire as, whoa.
― anza808, Sunday, 16 September 2018 23:00 (five years ago) link
it is a totally amazing record and the second half is very good but like
maybe an unparalleled side a i'm just saying
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 21 December 2018 23:10 (five years ago) link
I *really* got into "Desire As" and "Moving the River" immediately after my September post. My use of the phrase "front-loaded" was intemperate and regrettable.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Saturday, 22 December 2018 02:37 (five years ago) link
The second half is just a different sort of perfection to the first.
― yugi ex, Saturday, 22 December 2018 10:12 (five years ago) link
Best first 7 track run of any album ever. And it's a shame that Desire As comes after Horsin' Around 'cos it could so easily be 8.
― triggercut, Saturday, 22 December 2018 12:15 (five years ago) link
all my insights from retrospect
― omar little, Wednesday, 7 August 2019 07:02 (four years ago) link
Apparently 35 years ago today we released this @Prefabsprout beauty. A work of love and tears produced by the unsurpassable @ThomasDolby, the fifth Sprout. pic.twitter.com/3qRmR36YbL— Wendy Smith (@wendyfinnandmax) June 22, 2020
― ACABincalifornia (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 23 June 2020 03:23 (three years ago) link