Let's hear it for.. Prefab Sprout

[editor]

Blimey. That some beard McAloon's rocking here:

 

[Belushi]

Must have missed this thread first time round, Prefab Sprout were

 

[ethel]

When it comes to twee-esque indie pop of an 80s persuasion, surely Durham's Paddy McAloon and Prefab Sprout have got to be up there with the greats (Sundays, Aztec Camera etc)?

I mean, just how good was their second album 'Steve McQueen', featuring pure songwriting quality like Faron Young, Bonny and When Love Breaks Down?

Genius, I tell ye!

this makes me feel better for playing the king of rock and roll at offline

i have steve mcqueen on vinyl....next time....

 

[twistedAM]

Headed up by a lovely lovely Cwmbran boy from Croesyceiliog Grammar School!

and probably the most famous person in my phonebook

I love Prefab Sprout and it is pretty sub pop, but Scritti Politti were just much more better at that fine art.

 

[Kaka Tim]

I remember a lot of music journos used to rave about them - so I gave Steve Mc Queen a whirl. I then compared it with my Clash, Smiths, Specials, Echo and the Bunnymen, Ruts and Pogues albums and realised Prefab Sprout was a load of twee, luke warm, nerdy wank.

'When Love Breaks Down'? its sounds like 10cc FFS.

Them and Deacon Blue and Beautiful South - Aural Ovaltine.

 

[editor]

I remember a lot of music journos used to rave about them - so I gave Steve Mc Queen a whirl. I then compared it with my Clash, Smiths, Specials, Echo and the Bunnymen, Ruts and Pogues albums and realised Prefab Sprout was a load of twee, luke warm, nerdy wank.

Imagine! They had the cheek not to sound as lively as your other faves!

Still, it's your loss. Steve McQueen is a fantastic album.

 

[KA8]

Don't post while you're pissed

 

[saucisson]

Steve McQueen has constantly been one of my most played albums over the last 20 years. the production on it is sublime...good job dolby. (who incidentally played keyboards on foreigner four and pyromania by def leppard...nerd fact I learned the other day)

 

[El Jefe]

Thanks for your opinion, which is, in the main, shite and ill-informed in this instance.

But thanks for taking the time to piss over my little thread. Twice. No, sorry. Thrice.

Ah, so you're allowed to post an opinion but we're not allowed to disagree?

Right, long as that's clear

 

[saucisson]

thomas dolby is a good raconteur as well.

 

[Iam]

Not for me, thanks.

 

[Kaka Tim]

Imagine! They had the cheek not to sound as lively as your other faves!

Still, it's your loss. Steve McQueen is a fantastic album.

That was music that was other music that was around at more or less the same time. I was about 16 and was into music that came from the heart and hit you in the guts. Not up-its-own-arse-arty-clever dickness that raised a knowing smirk of ironic cool (See also - Belle and Sebastian).

In the very polarised music scene of the 80s it annoyed me that PS were considered by some (well the NME) as credible.

 

[editor]

Ah, so you're allowed to post an opinion but we're not allowed to disagree?

Nothing wrong with popping up on someone's thread praising a band to say that you personally don't like them.

But to keep coming back onto the same thread just to keep going on and on about how much you don't like them is, well, bordering a bit on the obsessive. You've made your point, so why keep pissing on someone else's parade? It's only music, innit?

 

[Hi-ASL]

I don't like them - and can understand the obsession.

Because when I say I don't like them, I mean I really, really don't like them. They are fundamentally unlikeable.

Or rather he is.

 

[editor]

I don't like them - and can understand the obsession.

Because when I say I don't like them, I mean I really, really don't like them. They are fundamentally unlikeable.

Then do yourself a favour and stop going on about them. Ignore them. They're not trying to break into your headphones and there's lots of other music out there.

Jeez. Some people.

 

[Hi-ASL]

I think this is the first time I've mentioned them? In response to you soliciting my opinion?

For the record, I'd like to kick him in the nuts.

 

[editor]

For the record, I'd like to kick him in the nuts.

I think you might need help for your weird violent fantasies.

 

[editor]

They've (unexpectedly) got a new/old album out on Sept 9th called 'Let's Change the World with Music.'

 

[imposs1904]

Excellent music blog devoted to all things Prefab Sprout over here:

<ed: now spammy link removed >

 

[twistedAM]

Funny how this got bumped just as Lightspeed Champion started a cack-handed revival.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

was it prefab sprout who sang that "hot dog, jumping frog, alberque" one?

if so, they should be sent down the dumper forever.

The king of rock and roll. My daughter has just put that on the record player.

 

[Belushi]

Was going to post my approval then realised I already have a couple of years ago

Must have missed this thread first time round, Prefab Sprout were

 

[Chairman Meow]

I used to love Steve McQueen ( my mates bought me it for my birthday, probably some of the last vinyl I ever had). I loved Faron Young, but King of Rock and Roll was played to bloody death on the radio. I liked Scritti Politti and Thomas Dolby too ( especially Windpower, or whatever it was called), but Deacon Blue and Flock of Seagulls, well that's a step too far!

 

[editor]

We've got Scritti Politti's guitarist playing the Albert on Friday!

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

We've got Scritti Politti's guitarist playing the Albert on Friday!

I love the sweetest girl.

Is he going to play that?

 

[cybertect]

They've (unexpectedly) got a new/old album out on Sept 9th called 'Let's Change the World with Music.'

[starts saving pennies]

The comparison with Aztec Camera in the OP is apt. Roddy Frame and Paddy McAloon are two of Britain's finest, lesser-appreciated songsmiths of the 80s and 90s IMO.

e2a: I'm rather partial to Swoon. It's one of the albums that helped get me through my 'A' Levels.

 

[editor]

Here's rather a strange idea - and they managed to hire the original drummer into play on the album.

What is The Prefab Sprout Project?
A global fan collective, coming together to write and record a minimum of 11 original songs that embody the sound of Prefab Sprout. A celebratory record written by fans and for fans of this wonderful musical group. The final product will be more than a tribute album, every song will be original from the ground up, though purely influenced by the sound and style of song writer "Paddy McAloon" and his great band - Prefab Sprout.

http://www.theprefabsproutproject.com/

Ad this sounds EXACTLY like them!
https://soundcloud.com/tiny-volcano/ps-i-love-you

The real band have got a new album out in October:

Fans of reclusive songwriting genius Paddy McAloon spent a good part of last month debating the authenticity of a 10-song album called The Devil Came A Calling that mysteriously appeared online June 10, but now the verdict’s in: It is, indeed, a new Prefab Sprout album — although it’s actually titled Crimson/Red — and it’s due out this fall.

PrefabSprout.net has confirmed the new record will be released Oct. 7 by Icebreaker Records. The album is the U.K. sophistipop act’s first since the 2009 release of Let’s Change the World With Music, a collection that actually had been mostly recorded in the early ’90s as an aborted follow-up to Jordan: The Comeback.
http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2013/07/22/prefab-sprout-crimson-red-new-album/

 

[editor]

Their/his new album gets a really good review in Uncut mag.

Guardian interview: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/05/paddy-mcaloon-prefab-sprout-make-music

Unofficial looking video here:

 

[editor]

How's this for a fuck up?!

During an interview on The Radcliffe and Maconie Show on BBC Radio 2 (3 September 2009) McAloon explained that in 1993 at a meeting with Sony he presented a tape of about fourteen songs as the follow-up to the lengthy Jordan: The Comeback. Apparently there were too many people in the room and the meeting did not go well. Although Sony's A&R man, Muff Winwood, wanted him to trim the record down to a more manageable length, for whatever reason there was a misunderstanding and McAloon understood that they wanted him to expand on just one or two of the ideas (rather than just trim 1 or 2 of the songs from the album). He then went away for a year and a half and developed one of the 3 minute songs into a 30 song piece of music. After a period he realised that was not what they wanted, but by this point it was too late.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's_Change_the_World_with_Music

 

[editor]

Just played 'Impossible things' from the new album on BBC6 and it sounds pretty much like top-notch, classic period Prefab. His voice sounds more or less exactly the same - which is sort of weird when you see how he looks these days!