prefab sprout: jordan: the comeback

He's been on their official Instagram talking about each of the newly reissued vinyl albums, some interesting and funny stuff on there; the Life Of Surprises comp was originally to be called Ten Years On The Launchpad.

arctic winds blow and still you believe
love makes you one of the chosen

a frantic phonecall from a friend has alerted me that the jordan demos have finally leaked

!!!

Woah, where?

yep

the j0rdan demos

The google link here worked for me.

Jordan demos anyone? https://t.co/lrFKDEvUTS and https://t.co/7gs4lz5Q2m - nothing to do with me but grab them while they’re there. From the PS unofficial FB group. Unreleased song too

— NicD (@Sproutology) May 19, 2020

Nice, many thanks! An unreleased song from this period is pretty exciting.

woa! this is amazing.
i love this record so much... never thought i‘d be able to hear alternate versions of every single song, and they are just beautiful! i love the shiny productions of the records but hearing these versions already carrying the same grand vision while keeping the naive purity of home recordings - even if pretty elaborate ones - is something else.

Well, these demos of one of my all-time favorite albums are such a gift. But are they demos or just rough mixes, perhaps a bit of both?

mostly seem like roughs, but scarlet nights is definitely a demo and it's 1000% worth checking out

while the arrangements are pretty fleshed out they seem clearly enough like demos

michael is so good

I usually try to avoid the comments on RYM but this one captured my feelings: "a good example of a band who whilst making a record, probably thought they were making their last." There's so much here, much of it great. If I had heard this album in time for the poll, I think I would have thrown my vote to "Looking for Atlantis" but there's like six or seven tracks here that could vie for best

my friend hates "horsechimes" but loves "the wedding march". i don't know how you can be so wrong

i love em both

wedding march gets a little too close to mccartneyesque granny music (which we also have very differing opinions on)

oh yeah, it's very 'when i'm 64'-esque. another song i love. it's corny, but paddy's sincerity and sharp lyricism shines through the corniness, just like on plenty of other moments throughout the album. tho, i understand why the wedding march is the hardest to take.

title track might have the strongest contrast of amazing chorus and what-were-they-thinking verses, although only paddy could even come close to pulling off the 'voiceover' style verses. but greatest chorus of all time! what a band

not only a voiceover-style verse, but delivered in a weak attempt at a southern-cowboy accent.

Yeah title track has quite a switch between the verses and chorus. I think there's a few moments like that on the album but I love how this album also feels like it contains every genre and every mood and so, switches like that are part of the deal. "Moondog" also has an abrupt switch from the section with the electric piano and fake brass back to the icy verses. Probably the only thing I wish I could change about this album is make more of the instrumentation live

the album is all about word painting too, so if he’s singing about angels and king david, he’s gonna add harps, if he’s singing about elvis, he’s gonna sing in elvis’s accent, if he’s singing about carnival in rio, you better believe there’s gonna be some samba.

i love it to death, tbh.

I don't think it's so much the arrangements as much as the slightly boxed-in nature of the synthetic sounds.

Still fucking slaps though.

Yes, I only mean to replace some of the synthetic instruments (like aforementioned brass) with real ones. Yes, the album is great anyway

I might be off base, but i think they layer real horns on top of synth horns in carnival 2000, which is kinda wild if that’s what they actually did

30 years old today

This album. I'd assumed it was the perfect spring listen but of course it makes sense at Christmas - it practically lights the fire for you. And all those bells.

I think I'd go for Scarlet Nights or Doo-Wop in Harlem if I voted today.

I get that wonderful spiralling feeling from this album, that every time I hear it, it just gets better and better - more coherent, more romantic and ambitious. And I only found out today that Jenny Agutter's line from Wild Horses is performed, not a sample.

Anyone know the story behind how they got her to do that line?

For those who want a bit of mini-history, critical response edition

To share this out with any Prefab Sprout fans out there -- posted this in response to a request asking for the writeups they and _Jordan: The Comeback_ got in the December 22 1990 year-end edition of _Melody Maker_ https://t.co/q29agyX527

— Ned Raggett (@NedRaggett) February 12, 2022

Definitely pushing into that time of year again.

It's time to admit when I listen to this for the first time in a while, I sometimes feel like I'm not making it past 'Machine Gun Ibiza'. "Voodoo up rollmo' down" makes me die a bit inside. Then 'We Let the Stars Go' comes on and I realise everything is going to be fine.

"machine gun ibiza" is silly but the bass is sumptuous

there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. rollmo forever.

But “hot dog jumping frog” didn’t bother you? I love Machine Gun Ibiza. Their lyrics are sometimes corny and sometimes sublime.

oh yeah, extreme sincerity boldly crossing over to corniness is certainly a feature, not a bug on this album. wouldn't have it any other way

Machine Gun Ibiza is BAD. The Ice Maiden into Paris Smith is the PEAK.

Criminal "looking for atlantis" received no votes. A perfect opener, that running baseline, "rain or shine", the acoustic guitar that seems like another synth background layer until you listen closely, "lesson 2 the worlds a cherry, but tomorrow maybe not, lesson 3 come on and taste it". That chorus melody, the inflection on the word "AND" a thing of beauty. A harmonica solo outro?!?!?!? And those lyrics. It might be my favourite prefab song

xp the very essence of this band to me is "corny + sincere"

as I mentioned upthread, I would've given "Looking for Atlantis" a vote if I'd heard this album when the poll ran. probably my favorite Prefab song too

Especially love it's message as described by the mouth of Paddie, "Go find someone to fall in love with and fall in love". With all the love songs in the world, that's a message that isn't very common!

it would never have occurred to me that a prefab fan could dislike machine gun ibiza

it’s prob my least fav on jordan, but still good. i like the way he sings “nitro-glycerine”

A perfect opener

Indeed!

Listening to this album for the first time in a while thanks to this thread. It's one of those rare albums that can move me to tears.

Not really fan of "Ibiza" either TBH. IIRC it wasn't all that popular in the ballot-based poll three years ago either.

*checks notes* Okay, it got 4 mentions there too. ( From 27 voters with up to 30 ballot slots to fill; ultimately tied for #57 across their whole oeuvre. )

Play this in a moving car and I will sing most of it loudly and mostly in tune.

love jordan so much. I wrote the wikipedia page for it because it used to be a stub.

Thanks for your work. Had a good read today

I will NOT countenance this criticism of Machine Gun Ibiza. Dude's a stone dead-a bluesman! And like you're getting that hurricun sound anywhere else.

Definitely pushing into that time of year again.

Hard for me to imagine listening to this album in the fall! I always think of it as basically Christmas music. Real sun-glinting-off-the-snow vibe.

Also can't believe "Looking for Atlantis" got zero votes.