Jordan: The Comeback - Prefab Sprout

'''Starter's orders'''
It has come to my notice that some people may be unconvinced of, or even oblivious to, the merits of Prefab Sprout. Such oversights are forgivable. After all, 20 years have passed since the band’s heyday. If people remember them at all, it is for a knowingly cheesy novelty hit: _The King of Rock and Roll_. The daft band name doesn’t help either.

It’s equally possible that even those who've heard them would ...
...along with Tears for Fears and Simple Minds. But that would be to ignore the wealth of musical ideas beneath the studio polish, the wit and insight of the lyrics and the timeless sophistication of the songs.

Because the band’s mainstay, writer and singer Paddy McAloon, is undoubtedly one of Britain’s finest songwriters. This 1990 release was his band’s fourth album (fifth if you count the ‘unofficial’ _Protest Songs_). It is his most ... more

Starter's orders
It has come to my notice that some people may be unconvinced of, or even oblivious to, the merits of Prefab Sprout. Such oversights are forgivable. After all, 20 years have passed since the band’s heyday. If people remember them at all, it is for a knowingly cheesy novelty hit: The King of Rock and Roll. The daft band name doesn’t help either.

It’s equally possible that even those who've heard them would still consign them to the dustbin marked ‘shiny eighties pop’ along with Tears for Fears and Simple Minds. But that would be to ignore the wealth of musical ideas beneath the studio polish, the wit and insight of the lyrics and the timeless sophistication of the songs.

Because the band’s mainstay, writer and singer Paddy McAloon, is undoubtedly one of Britain’s finest songwriters. This 1990 release was his band’s fourth album (fifth if you count the ‘unofficial’ Protest Songs). It is his most ambitious and arguably his most perfectly realised project. Both God and Elvis get speaking parts - need I say more?

Main course
The 19 compositions fall into four distinct ‘suites’ (for want of a less poncy word). The most coherent of these can loosely be termed “The Elvis songs”. The title song imagines The King still alive, but in what McAloon terms a 'compassionate' rather than a sensationalised way.

Paddy narrates the spoken word verses in the guise of Presley, a recluse in the penthouse of a Vegas hotel, waiting for the right song to come along. Jordan here is, of course not the silicon-enhanced glamour model but the idealised destination common in gospel music. The following pair of tracks attempt to create a role which Elvis might have relished - namely that of Jesse James. Then Moon Dog plays wittily with tabloid fictions such as "Elvis discovered on the moon".

This eclectic mix of subject matter is typical of McAloon. Religious ideas run through nearly every lyric (he studied in a Catholic seminary). And although he grew up the County Durham village of Witton Gilbert, his songs are also saturated with American popular culture and Wild West myth. He's previously sung about Marvin Gaye and Sinatra, and his lyrical touchstones are Bob Dylan and Stephen Sondheim rather than Lennon and McCartney.

A few songs, forming what Paddy McAloon described as the 'meat and potatoes' of the CD, play with the idea of what you'd do if you had your time again. Wild Horses imagines an older man wishing himself attractive to a 17 year old girl. It's a far cry from the crass lechery of other songs on the subject. At the other end of the album, Scarlet Nights takes the viewpoint of someone looking back at the end of their life and finding peace.

These meatier songs are leavened by deliberately tantalising morsels. Inspired by the shorter songs on the Beatles' Abbey Road, they're designed to leave the listener wanting more.

Sweet trolley
Elsewhere a whole slew of songs tackle McAloon's perennial themes of love and loss. Ever the romantic, on tunes like We Let the Stars Go and All the World Loves Lovers, he walks the precarious line between sentiment and sentimentality.

And I can see why many people think Prefab Sprout stray over the wrong side of this line. On first hearing, the songs are sumptuous affairs, with producer Thomas Dolby piling on layers of synthesised brass, and Wendy Smith's angelic sighs wrapped around McAloon's velvety tenor.

But familiarity brings out the ironies of the lyrics (to quote Wild Horses: "Sentimental is part of the deal"), and the idiosyncracies of the arrangements - whether it's a flourish on the harp, a skirl of harmonica, the touch of banjo on Jesse James Bolero, fireworks on Carnival 2000, or a sultry Jenny Agutter intoning "I want to have you" (surely many a middle-aged man's dream) on Wild Horses.

Apart from the explicit stylistic influences such as bolero, the musical flavours on this album are equally diverse: the samba of Carnival 2000; the palm court orchestra feel of Wedding March. Scarlet Nights even approaches stadium rock. But they are all unmistakably Sprout songs.

Another valid reservation about the Sprouts' music could be the disparity between the music which McAloon professes to admire and the texture of his own tunes. Paddy draws on and name-drops blues, country, gospel, and doo-wop, but his own glossy confections can seem at odds with this rootsier stuff.

At best, he could be said to have refined the essences of these musical forms. But in the process, he risks producing something twee and cloying. Again, further hearings usually give the lie to such impressions. McAloon's is a tougher, more sceptical world view than is suggested by the rich melodies and songs about angels. After all, on an earlier song he did describe them as "hard faced little bastards".

With such quantity, variety and depth, this album is possibly too much to take in. A harsh critic might advise some editing. But it's hard to know what you would cut. In the end you swallow the whole banquet, and worry about indigestion later.

Tracklisting
1. Looking For Atlantis
2. Wild Horses
3. Machine Gun Ibiza
4. We Let The Stars Go
5. Carnival 2000
6. Jordan: The Comeback
7. Jesse James Symphony
8. Jesse James Bolero
9. Moon Dog
10. All The World Loves Lovers
11. All Boys Believe Anything
12. The Ice Maiden
13. Paris Smith
14. The Wedding March
15. One Of The Broken
16. Michael
17. Mercy
18. Scarlet Nights
19. Doo Wop In Harlem

Download these:

Jordan: The Comeback
Scarlet Nights
Moon Dog
We Let the Stars Go

If you like this, try:

Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout
Meet Danny Wilson by Danny Wilson
Astronauts by The Lilac Time
Songs to Remember by Scritti Politti

 

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