Prefab Sprout: Classic Or Dud

Paddy sort-of went from youngish looking lad to very old looking bloke, without any in between stage!

Well we didn't really see him for a long time, that was obv. the horrific in-between transition stage

I'd love a Prefab Sprout all songs poll but I have no time to volunteer! Talk about all deep cuts!

Best Jewel Thief is some top-drawer Sprout indeed.

Yeah that is an incredible opener. Shame the rest of the album doesn't quite match up to it.

Oh I don't know about that. Billy, The Dreamer and Adolescence are are highly anticipated here.

*are also

PS fans, drop everything and listen to this

http://www.mixcloud.com/longplayer/long-player-with-pete-paphides-episode-5-paddy-mcaloon/

Blocked in the U.S. (or maybe just for me). Any news of a new PS or Paddy album? _I Trawl the Megahertz_ is a comfort food album for me. Would love additional work in that vein.

can some kind soul capture an mp3 of this for the yanks? i just happen to have had i trawl the megahertz on heavy rotation for the last couple weeks!

This was great. If my middle age is spending sunday afternoons building flat-pack furniture while listening to an hour-and-a-half interview with Macaloon, then I can just about accept my middle age.

Iago, do you still need an mp3? I could probably work it out, but I'd just be using a mixcloud downloader - & I imagine if you used an online one it might bypass the US block.

I must say that, although I found Crimson/Red overall a bit underwhelming, "The Dreamer" is a super, super tune, one of his finest ever songs. It definitely has a Jimmy Webb tinge to it - evocative of "The Moon's A Harsh Mistress", "Still Within the Sound of my Voice" et al. - and needs to be covered by some moderately popular MOR singer stat. (The actual song about Jimmy Webb, "The Songs of Danny Galway" is rather bland by comparison.)

Actually thinking about it this happened with the backing vocals more than the lyrics - something like "When Bobby Fischer's plane touches the ground" is interrupted by that pert little "(plane, plane!)" in the backing, and for whatever reason it infuriates me every time, draws attention to the lyrical quirkiness. I hate that feeling when I'm listening to music and suddenly find myself thrown out of the record thinking "But why on earth is *that* there?". The "Doh-bee. Doh-bee." stuff at the start of 'I Couldn't Bear To Be Special' has the same effect.

It's "Boh-bee". Obviously it's "Boh-bee". I love "Boh-bee" and I love the album it's on. I think of it as being a bit like "77" by Talking Heads, a sort of awkward debut album, overlooked and understimated, but one I'm more likely to listen to than their later albums. The "Boo-Boo-Ba-Ba" at the end is pushing it though.

This was great. If my middle age is spending sunday afternoons building flat-pack furniture while listening to an hour-and-a-half interview with Macaloon, then I can just about accept my middle age.

Iago, do you still need an mp3? I could probably work it out, but I'd just be using a mixcloud downloader - & I imagine if you used an online one it might bypass the US block.
--woof

Thanks, woof. Still dying to hear this! Anyone have?

"Bonny" came up on shuffle and there is not a single thing out of place with it. From the breathy backing vocals to Paddy's inflection, it is absolutely perfect.
.

indeed. one of my absolute favorite songs on the 80s

on of

Have you guys heard the band Roman a Clef? Clear Sprout love.

Love "Cue the Fanfare"

playing for blood, as grandmasters should

i listened to steve mcqueen for the first time this year and it was immediately one of my favorite records of all time

Yup. It's great. Try Swoon next.

I only just heard 'The End of the Affair' for the first time. My favourite non-album track I've heard from them so far.

Moving the River is beautiful and ridiculous simultaneously

Iago - I have a copy of the interview now if you're still looking. My ilx mail should work.

Teared up a little at 'Adolescence' this morning - that final "Girls - have some fun".

between "when love breaks down," "goodbye lucille #1," and "moving the river" sometimes it seems like steve mcqueen is talking directly to me

oh and "desire as" of course

I feel you.

Perfect album for after a thunderstorm when the sun and the clouds make love

Iago - I have a copy of the interview now if you're still looking. My ilx mail should work.

Teared up a little at 'Adolescence' this morning - that final "Girls - have some fun".

Thanks, woof! I'll email you

lol i've been listening to this band nonstop for two weeks

i guess everyone already knew that "the sound of crying" is the greatest song ever

over the past week i've really grown to love let's change the world with music even though it's transparently an early '90s demo for what could've been, with "the sound of crying" included, the best ps record. i almost want to go back in time to make that happen

it may surprise you to learn that I grew up with their best-of in heavy rotation on car trips

the sound of crying is a good one

Jordan the Comeback is so great too. Ice Maiden is one of my top PS jams, love the conceit and the lyrics, everything.

it may surprise you to learn that I grew up with their best-of in heavy rotation on car trips

not particularly! swoon feels like your kind of record

I often have phases when they are all I can listen to for weeks. I usually obsess over Swoon, Steve McQueen and Jordan: The Comeback which are all 10/10 albums.

After several weeks of loving the leaked demos for Crimson/Red, I bought the album on CD although didn't listen to it for a few months. Was kinda gutted when I realized that the two versions were so different, as I much prefer the demos and had foolishly deleted them from my HD after grabbing the CD. Anyone know if/where these might still be found?

I had the album leak, but I don't remember it being very different - were there demos too?

Shall we run through the albums? I know there are only about half a dozen of us who care, but anyway…

Prefab Sprout - Swoon poll

steve mcqueen poll would be literally impossible imo

XP The album had a noticeably different mix than the leak.

A Steve McQueen poll wouldn't be impossible for me, and I love that record. It's 'Appetite', with absolutely zero doubt.

i mean "appetite" is the best song ever but so is "goodbye lucille #1"

God, what a fantastic group. Like The The, they're famous for recording an immense amount of material that has never leaked, which is incredibly frustrating. The first five songs on Jordan: The Comeback may be pop music's zenith

If we'd do a Steve McQueen poll, I'd put "Bonny" just a hair above "When Love Breaks Down" and "Appetite". Prefab has a reputation for being a real "music nerd/snob" group. Anyone agree with that sentiment?

I might have to go with Bonny. "Save your speeches, flowers are for funerals".

Has anyone else come across these live performances on YouTube from 85? They are seriously incredible.

https://youtu.be/zefR13phCKM

The first pressed CDr I ever got in 1998, with a pro looking label and liner notes, was a comp of Prefab b-sides. I felt like I was holding the future.

Thanks for that live link - I saw them right around that time (three weeks before or so), will enjoy reminding myself.

Only band I've ever seen where one of the road crew sprayed breath freshener on each microphone just before show time. Seemed appropriate.

the way he sings the word "improvising" in "sound of crying", i'm like, paddy, never change

also "life of surprises" is so good too

"Only the boogie music ..."