Prefab Sprout: Let’s Change The World With Music

Perhaps it’s because I haven’t listened to any Prefab Sprout since the 80’s, but this album has a very strong 80’s essence. Apart from a couple of exceptions, Paddy McAloon doesn’t seem to have done an awful lot since the 80’s either, and this new album of dated material (mainly composed of “lost” stuff from 1993) has certainly not been remixed for a new 21st century audience.

Actually I was never really much of fan of Prefab Sprout in the 80’s to start with. If it wasn’t for the fact that they came from a nearby village to where I lived at the time in Durham, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. But this finally completed new set of songs has received much critical success so it would be rude not to give it a go.

The album is a concept covering the largest and most profound topics. The opening track starts off with the Big Bang and the topic of religion is frequently pondered throughout the album. “Ride” kicks off with a funky bass-line that could have accompanied an Art of Noise hit. But most of the album is a more sedate affair with tracks like “I Love Music”, which has a sort of 80’s, Jazzy, Broadway, Christmassy sort of thing going on, which I find quite agreeable.