Prefab Sprout: Classic Or Dud

The kick / snare drum triplets on the Bobby Fischer section of Cue Fanfare

You know, almost all of the songs on LCTWWM are excellent innit. I'm going to blame the arrangements for obscuring this state of affairs for a decade.

In 1985 County Durham pop band Prefab Sprout sung about Moving the River on their highly acclaimed album Steve McQueen. But why are we bringing this up now, and what has it got to do with life in Stoke-on-Trent in 2020? Well, strap yourselves in... pic.twitter.com/dGQ3JTM7r3

— Stoke-on-Trent CC (@SoTCityCouncil) May 21, 2020

Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone.
Let's pretend that we're together, all alone.

i want to hear the diplomats over a flip of "moving the river" so fucking bad. the horn ostinato over those chords is pure plush sonic luxury

Some absolute shockers of posts at the beginning of this thread. The Sprout were incredible.

holy shit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhZA8GuZ1SI

this is a worlds colliding unexpectedly moment for me to rival the blue nile/rickie lee jones video discovery

Those plangent chords in Lion are the greatest thing ever

Lions

I have been absolutely hoovering up PS the last three weeks. Which is funny because I love them but not unconditionally. I find Paddy’s über-breathy voice and the “slick-but-kind-of-cheap” sound of many of their records to be … not off-putting exactly but also not as enveloping as it could or maybe should be. And outside of Desire As and Bonny, I’ve always had a bit of a tough time locking in on Steve McQueen. And yet, I can’t get enough of them right now.

Some thoughts:

I started many years ago with Jordan, which still
feels like their most fully realized release – kind of a compressed version of all those sprawling concept records he could never finish and chock full of classics (like, literally, a dozen). I sort of wonder what we’d say about them had it been another casualty of Paddy’s ambitious perfectionism.

Langley, as a friend rightly points out, is their Scritti record with multiple producers and probably their most experimental sounding record. It’s great to hear them playing around with arrangements here, and the Stevie Wonder harmonica on Nightengales is an inspired collision.

Let’s Change the World With Music is the surprise for me in their catalogue. Ride, God Watch Over You, Sweet Gospel Music, Earth, the Story So Far are all among their best tunes. And with all respect to Gerald McBoing Boing (who recently shared his b-sides CD-R’s with me), its sound has dated surprisingly well. Just a really delightful record.

Sound of Crying has been rightly praised here but Steve Lipson’s other production that came out on the Best Of, If You Don’t Love Me, is a pretty terrific as well – a PSB-style disco(!!) stomper replete with strings, scratchy guitar and a lovely ethereal Wendy harmony vocal.

I had completely forgotten Tony Visconti produced Gunman – which isn’t on Spotify but I want to spend a little time with.

"barnyard cat! barnyard cat! me, meow!"

Steve McQueen/Two Wheels Good being my first, it's the one I'd take to the desert island.

Surprised that an album or two from the vault haven't been completed thanks to the COVID years, not to mention Femmes Mythologiques finally coming out.

Every time, a PS or Blue Nile / Paul Buchanan thread revives, I enjoy that brief "new album, good news?" burst of joy.

same with scritti lol

"Your daddy loves you very much, he just doesn't want to live with us anymore."

Absolute classic. Steve McQueen is one of the top three albums of the decade. It rewards repeated listens in a way that few other albums do.

That ITtM title track makes my eyes leak, so I avoid it at work. The lyrics, the assembly, the woman's voice, the music - in my top 5 PS/Paddy songs.

re: new music, i thought paddy was having health/vocal issues that made new prefab music unlikely?

he had a new album on the way a few years ago with but ended up losing the files or something iirc and it never came out

Femmes Mythologiques was the 2019 release supposed to follow the remasters/vinyl.

From a March 2020 interview:

Speaking of the many written things, there’s a rumoured-to-be-forthcoming Sprouts album due at some point, Femmes Mythologiques, containing pop songs about famous female historical figures, if reports are to be believed.

“I’m working really hard on that, I’m trying to finish a vocal now, which is a bit slow given the hearing condition. If it’s not ready for September, it’ll be ready for January.”

Then from July 2021, this interview mentions his eyesight and the Meniere’s Disease he struggles with, but also the "three albums a year" still being written (adding _Jockey of Discs_ to the unreleased album names list), working with Cinque Lee & Spike Lee, etc, but no mention of lost files or the FM album.

femmes mythologiques was the one i remember hearing didn't come out due to losing the files or some similar technical issue. briefly looking i can't find a good source but there are people mentioning that story on twitter so i didn't totally imagine it at least

Fansite mentions it here as rumour, but likely:
https://www.sproutology.co.uk/exposition/sproutological-review-of-2019/

Sorry, didn't mean that as doubting you. I read the same news, and was looking for a credible answer online. Seemed like Martin was encouraging his brother to release more stuff, as was maybe Keith Armstrong, so the delay continues to seem odd given all the mentions back then. He's an artist I wish would communicate once or twice a year on projects in work.

Every December I wait for 'Total Snow' to appear and every year I'm disappointed. Enough to stop me believing in Santa Claus.

Reminds me of the famous second Ralph Ellison novel.

Let’s Change the World With Music is the surprise for me in their catalogue. Ride, God Watch Over You, Sweet Gospel Music, Earth, the Story So Far are all among their best tunes. And with all respect to Gerald McBoing Boing (who recently shared his b-sides CD-R’s with me), its sound has dated surprisingly well. Just a really delightful record.

OTM, that might be my favorite Prefab record now. It's kind of a meme do describe things as "pure" and "wholesome" but those words come to mind when I hear that album; it has this warm, empathetic, positive glow about it that's bolstered by the conspicuously artificial instrumentation

Not a big fan of that album but "Earth, the Story So Far" is gorgeous

Yeah that's definitely the highlight (along with "Ride" imo)

Also this board's namesake song is so adorable, an instant aural anti-depressant

It seems like one of the problems with releasing the unreleased albums is that Let’s Change the World With Music set such a high bar for completedness. Did Paddy record all his stuff that well? I mean, the Jordan demos are great … but sound much more like demos. Of course, I want to hear all of them anyway …