I POLLED the Megahertz - ILM Artist Poll #100 - Prefab Sprout - RESULTS

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#60
TIFFANYS
from Protest Songs (1989)
Points: 59
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube audio

The Spotify playlist is also being updated now. (Massive spoiler, for maybe three people: the dummy track that was in it originally is not going to place!)

Feels like I shouldn't use up my, too low straight away but I really love this one and I would have liked to see it higher. It's my favourite song on Protest Songs.

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#59
COULDN'T BEAR TO BE SPECIAL
from Swoon (1984)
Points: 61
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube audio

Imagine making an album as great as Jordan: The Comeback and it legit definitely not being your best album.

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#57 (TIE)
MACHINE GUN IBIZA
from Jordan: The Comeback {1990)
Points: 62
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube audio

Hi, this is God here...

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#57 (TIE)
ONE OF THE BROKEN
from Jordan: The Comeback {1990)
Points: 62
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube audio

Wow i thought Tiffany's might be a Top 10 contender.

One of the broken is way too low, it’s a beautiful lyric and it arrives at the point of the album where you might actually believe paddy is singing with the divine provenance

it's also one of paddy's own favorites, and who am i to argue with the man himself

Here's Paddy talking about 'Jordan: The Comeback' (available as a double LP for the first time) and how the tracks at the end helped define the final sound of the album.

What's your favourite track from the album?

Pre-order your copies here: https://t.co/uKNWtH6Kkq pic.twitter.com/jL47lTKGG7

— Prefab Sprout (@Prefabsprout) September 5, 2019

lol i can’t tell you how baffled i was the first time i listened to jordan and heard “hi, this is god here...”

beautiful song i didn’t vote for

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#56
WEIGHTLESS
from Andromeda Heights (1997)
Points: 64
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube audio

lol i can’t tell you how baffled i was the first time i listened to jordan and heard “hi, this is god here...”

it's a hilarious line on its face--i mean, if god were really addressing you, you'd probably know it. but he says it like a radio dj would.

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#55
DIANA
from "When Love Breaks Down" single (1984), re-recorded for Protest Songs (1989)
Points: 65
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube audio - single version
Youtube audio - album version

Definitely preferring the Protest Songs version here. They single version sounds too much like The Smiths were the backing band.

"weightless" sounds better outside of the context of andromeda heights

Love the breadth of the lyrical nominations.

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#54
GOD WATCH OVER YOU
from Let's Change the World with Music (2009)
Points: 68
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube audio

my first vote to show up!

the chorus is wonderful and i love the synth strings

Hi, this is God here, watching over you, with my majestic grey beard.

I might have to retire at #51, I'm afraid. My brain is *really* saying no to a late night!

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#53
CORNFIELD ABLAZE
from The Gunman and Other Stories (2001)
Points: 71
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube audio

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#52
BILLY
from Crimson/Red (2013)
Points: 74
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube audio

"cornfield ablaze" may be the best later-prefab sprout song

billy is a nice song, glad it placed around here

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#51
DONNA SUMMER
from "When Love Breaks Down" single (1984)
Points: 75
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube audio

^ Last one for the moment. Give me maybe 7 hours and should be able to drop a few more!

donna summer is the first from my ballot to place! really amazing b-side, feels like a slightly softer and dreamier cousin of "hallelujah"

I didn't end up voting for any B-sides. If I'd had another 20 places I would have found room for Donna Summer and a couple of others.

Couldn't Bear To Be Special is one of the songs that really stood out when I first got Swoon about 15 years ago. I'd already had Steve McQueen for years, but weirdly it was Swoon that made me get obsessed with them. This song in particular just got into my head. It's brilliant they put such a strange downbeat song out as a single (although it I guess that was fairly common in the early 80s). I love the way he sings, "I couldn't bear.. RIGHT!" with that noise that follows.

Cornfield Ablaze just missed my list. Definitely the standout from their weakest album.

"You overwhelmed agricultural man,/You wild pyromaniac daughter of Pan"
Magnificent.

Billy was a late cut for me. Was scrambling around for reasons to trim, and it feels a bit lopsided - third verse hasn't got much new, and the coda strolls along amiably enough for too long. BUT it's brought SO much joy by then - the flickering between bill, billy, william, "her smile is like a fairground", and that "Trumpets come and trumpets go/Amazing what gets left out in the snow".

Glad to see Donna Summer placing. I put it in my top 10. As much as I love the slow lounge version, the thrashy version they did as a three-piece live is great.

Gave points to 59, both 57s and 55 in the lower half of my ballot. Pleased they all made it.

Billy and Cornfield Blaze are both major late-career highlights for me - placing so low probably indicates there's not a whole lot more to come from the post-Andromeda Heights albums.

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#50
'TIL THE COWS COME HOME
from Protest Songs (1989)
Points: 76
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube audio

Choosing period-matched band portraits is amusing when the composition, recording and/or actual commercial release were so often a decade apart. :)

this one is unremarkable imo

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#49
EARTH, THE STORY SO FAR
from Let's Change the World with Music (2009)
Points: 77
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube audio

I quipped in the other thread that many of my selections were hovering precariously around #50. That only became more true with late voting. But with "Earth" it wasn't even vaguely a contender until the final few ballots. High-five later voters!

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#48
KNOCK ON WOOD
from From Langley Park to Memphis (1988)
Points: 79
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube audio

the synth soundscape of "earth" is wonderful, i voted for it

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#47
WHEN THE ANGELS
from Steve McQueen (1985)
Points: 79
Votes: 7 (0)
Youtube audio

First one of mine to place!

I think I have a good chance of having everything I voted for place. I only submitted a 20-track ballot, and all but two of my tracks are from 1985-90.

wow this feels low

Question: Now that we have the first SM/TWG song appearance, what is the consensus on a cover such as 'He'll Have to Go'? I think it's a great version, but didn't place it on my ballot because it is a cover. Probably should have asked this on the earlier thread.

It's pretty good! Their one and only (commercially released) cover, come to think of it?! Maybe I'm forgetting something...

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#46
I NEVER PLAY BASKETBALL NOW
from Swoon (1984)
Points: 84
Votes: 5 (0)
Youtube audio

Love this one! Not sure if I placed it high enough.

Great lines too!

It joins the list of things I'll miss,
Like fencing foils and lovely girls
I'll never kiss