Let's Change The World With Music!

brad--
wondering if you've cottoned to the "latest" Prefab Sprout album? love me some PS, so i was pretty stoked when it became available.

I have given it a fair shake and find that it is not sticking, aside from the title track and a few pleasant yet ultimately bland songs, some perhaps recycled or maybe just overly familiar/similar. Not sure if this is supposed to be considered new work or if these tracks are leftovers from previous sessions.

I recall some religious elements in Jordan, but since when did Paddy find god?

I understand it's made up of material recorded around the same time as the Jordan album and would have been its follow-up, but was rejected by the record company. I haven't heard it yet, but I just hit a PS phase, listening-wise, so I'll probably pick it up.

I'm ashamed to admit I was very excited when I learned it was coming out, but it completely slipped my mind over the last few months and I've yet to track down a copy.

Quote

pleasant yet ultimately bland

...

How weird. This would be my exact one-line review of the band in general. I've known folks who were quite high on 'em, but couldn't convince me to jump on board.

Perhaps some of ya'll here wouldn't mind offering some proof to force a re-think? Otherwise, I'm very ... what is the expression? ... "meh" about Prefab Sprout.

And that's OK.

...

They will always have a place on any food-based-band-name mix CD that I may or may not ever actually get around to planning to make out a list for ... and then never burning.

Somewhere right up there with ... Blancmange.

I listened to a 2-disk Prefab Sprout best-of a while back and was struck by two things: the songwriting and the production. I think Paddy McAloon's songs are pretty stellar, requiring multiple listens to fully absorb. Even when he seems to be indulging his schlockier instincts, there's usually something more going on under the surface.

That said, after hearing Sprout music for the first time in several years, I noticed the production (most of it by Thomas Dolby) is terribly dated, with lost of twinkly 80s synthesizers doing their very best to smooth the sound out to the consistency of Cream of Wheat. By the time I was done with the second disk, I was almost desperately wishing Mitch Easter or George Drakoulias or somedamnbody would go in and remix their catalog to at least minimize the damage. I think a lot of the Sprout's reputation for blandness is a result of the production more than the songs. But that's just me.