...Somewhere between Stephen Sondheim, Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, Lloyd Cole, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach and Steely Dan is where you would find Prefab Sprout's Sound : Atmospheric , Jazzy,Quirky, Romantic songs,with the emphasis on melody,( which, of course put them out of step with most of the Contemporary Pop world...they never sold that well), with producer Thomas Dolby ably adding The icing to the cake...Frontman Singer /Guitarist /Composer Paddy MacAloon also had a penchant for ironic, humorous lyrics --My favorite phrase is from "Desire As" when he croons, over a beautiful melody:

"I've got six things on my mind; You're no longer one of them..."

And again, over a beautiful melody in " Moving The River":

"So You got a new girlfriend; How's the Wife taking it?"

Stevie Wonder heard some of their tunes, and agreed to come in and add harmonica to the song, "Nightingales" ; likewise, Andre Crouch and his choir agreed to do the voices for " I Remember That!"(on From Langley Park To Memphis)...
IMO,Their crowning achievements are the albums Two Wheels Good (Steve McQueen In the UK) and Jordan:The Comeback, at least so far...

Any Fans? My favorite Prefab tracks are:

Wild Horses
Appetite
Desire As
I Remember That
We Let The Stars Go
Moving The River
When Love Breaks Down
Horsing Around
Bonny
Looking For Atlantis
Goodbye Lucille #1 ( Johnny Johnny)
When The Angels
The Sound Of Crying
DooWop In Harlem
Nightingales
Paris Smith
Cars and Girls
Nancy
Swans
[This message was edited Tue Jun 29 16:33:56 2004 by paligap]

I love their album "Steve McQueen" or "Two Wheels Good".It's an 80s classic..

PhilG said:

True!!

I have their "24 Carat" collection. Great stuff. I wanna get Paddy's solo album!!!

I'll love Two Wheels Good and Jordon forever...I'm not too keen on the Andromeda Heights, but I thought The Gunman... was something of a return to form.

I think we've had this conversation before...haven't we?

Hmmm...Yeah, I think we talked about some Sprout songs before, under a different suject/thread...

Appetite is one of the most beautiful New Wave songs ever!

They truly were an underrated band.

Jordan:The Comeback is a masterpiece, I love too many songs let's start with Carnival 2000, The sound of crying, King Of Rock n Roll :nostalgia:
Electric Guitar from the Andromeda album
*
[This message was edited Fri Jul 2 4:58:02 2004 by jn2]

Wonderful group! Paddy MacAloon is one of the most brilliant songwriters of our time!