Prefab Sprout - Earth The Story So Far.

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Man, Paddy is so amazing. Surprised more folks aren't into this.

The whole '09 album is really a treat.

Man, are they still making music?

I suppose the reason why more folks aren't into newer Prefab Sprout stuff is because we like to hold onto the memories of just how great they were. Ever hear new Echo and the Bunnymen? What a rip off and a real blight on their once glorious career. Ever hear what Paul McCartney has been up to in the studio the past decade or so? Another blight on a once glorious career.
I love the Prefab Sprout I listened to in the '80s. Don't want to spoil my wonderful memory of that band.

Wow, yeah...hadn't thought about them in years. I used to have their first album and the Two Wheels Good/Steve McQueen albums.

I quite liked them many years ago but it's a little too mellow for my tastes now...a little too polished. But at least back then they were good at what they did and Paddy McAloon is a crafty songwriter.

Man, are they still making music?



Martin is still around (he's Paddy's brother, go figure) but Wendy is long gone and Neil Conti (excellent drummer) is long gone. Basically it is Paddy, recording stuff and not doing appearances.

I respect your decision not to revisit a band once you have a list of songs and you want to stay true to those. Echo and the Bunnymen actually have had some very good recent albums but some are not so good and the magic of their first few (up through Ocean Rain) is not there anymore. The same thing happened to the great band called The Fixx; their later stuff, I sort of wish I'd never heard it.

But I personally don't find Paddy has lost a step. He's still absolutely one of a kind; he just defies the market and could very well be rediscovered someday or maybe he just won't ever connect with that many folks.

Wow, yeah...hadn't thought about them in years. I used to have their first album and the Two Wheels Good/Steve McQueen albums.

I quite liked them many years ago but it's a little too mellow for my tastes now...a little too polished. But at least back then they were good at what they did and Paddy McAloon is a crafty songwriter.

I guess I simply don't follow patterns of "this has become too mellow" and "this has become too thrashy". I go right through the changes (Paul Weller for example) and if I like the core of what the artist is about, I tend to stay true. I've had people complain this album is too theistic, but I don't care and I also don't care if the guy becomes a cannibal. If the music is extraordinary.

But I personally don't find Paddy has lost a step. He's still absolutely one of a kind;
I can accept that. Paddy is of the singer/songwriter ilk. It is their songs that we love and if a songwriter still has the knack for a song, then I'd probably love it no matter what decade it comes out.

In Prefab Sprout's case, though, I do like the Wendy sound. Those tunes from that time were just so perfect and the contributions from those around him made them that much better.

I guess I simply don't follow patterns of "this has become too mellow" and "this has become too thrashy". I go right through the changes (Paul Weller for example) and if I like the core of what the artist is about, I tend to stay true...

No, I didn't mean that they/Paddy had "become too mellow." Prefab Sprout always struck me as pretty mellow (at least in my limited experience with their early material)--I just meant that my personal taste for a lot of mellower, more highly-produced music has waned a lot over the years.

I still like some mellow music, for sure...I don't want everything to sound like Motorhead or free jazz. I just have less of a taste for it than I used to. My ears seem to want to hear more dissonance and rawness.

No, I didn't mean that they/Paddy had "become too mellow." Prefab Sprout always struck me as pretty mellow (at least in my limited experience with their early material)--I just meant that my personal taste for a lot of mellower, more highly-produced music has waned a lot over the years.

I still like some mellow music, for sure...I don't want everything to sound like Motorhead or free jazz. I just have less of a taste for it than I used to. My ears seem to want to hear more dissonance and rawness.

I hear you.

Yeah, my interest in Paddy and Prefab Sprout is basically an outlier. I tend to like rough edged things, inaccessible things that don't even sound so good the first listen (but they sound great the 20th and 50th times). My interest in Cathal Coughlan and his toxic rages with attest to that (or is he that outlier on the other extreme?) :smile:

one of my favorite lyrics ever is from their song "Appetite":

'wishing she could call him heartache, but it's not a boy's name'

one of my favorite lyrics ever is from their song "Appetite":

'wishing she could call him heartache, but it's not a boy's name'

I remember borrowing a bunch of the vinyl from my friend in Baton Rouge who'd lost interest in them right away, and I didn't know what to think at first.

Then my brother heard Appetite and he wouldn't stop raving about the band. So, I went back and listened some more and gradually came on board. It was a very slow process. I get into the band when I'm away from my girlfriend. She doesn't like Paddy and never will.

one of my favorite lyrics ever is from their song "Appetite":

The lyrics for that whole song are brilliant.

Have to say, Elvis Costello, Springsteen, and Morrissey were supposed to be the supreme lyricists of that time, but I always felt Paddy's lyrics were the ones to really delve into. He wrote some amazing stuff.

And Paddy sure had a go at Springsteen with his nasty lyrics to "Cars And Girls." I loved Springsteen at that time, but even I laughed at Paddy's digs sent Springsteen's way.
"some things hurt more, much more than cars and girls." :razz: