Tag Archives: swoon

Book Review: Truly Gifted Kids (A Book About A Band Called Prefab Sprout) by Nige Tassell

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Nige Tassell would appear to be a good choice for a book on Prefab Sprout, coming hot on the heels of his enjoyable ‘Whatever Happened To The C86 Kids?’

And ‘Truly Gifted Kids’ certainly adds something original to the pretty scant literature on Prefab. It’s an eccentric fan’s perspective (Tassell sets out his stall in the first chapter: ‘I would have taken a bullet for them’), starting with a fine summary of their status as 1980s pop-tribe outliers.

Rather than a chronological biography with access to any of the principals, Tassell offers chapters on various notable aspect of Prefab – the ‘God thing’, Thomas Dolby’s production skills, the influence of Jimmy Webb, the making of I Trawl The Megahertz, Paddy’s hearing problems, his legendary ‘lost’ albums etc. Along the way he delivers many unexpected treats for the serious Sprout fan.

As befitting Tassell’s vivid sense of place, he visits the McAloon family home near Newcastle, their famous petrol station in Witton Gilbert and even stays a night at the B&B which was once Paddy’s school (St Cuthbert’s).

He also visits the Brewers’ Arms in Durham, scene of Prefab’s first residency, and the site of Guardian Studios, where they laid down first single ‘Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)’.

A real coup for the book is a lengthy interview with Muff Winwood, legendary Sony A&R man and brother of Steve, who reveals that he was played Swoon by manager Keith Armstrong and immediately offered them an advance of £100,000.

There are some gripes though. Some may balk at Tassell’s chatty, very modern, sometimes over-twee writing style (‘The King Of Rock’n’Roll’ is described as having ‘a chorus that invited the world to sing along’). And the chapter on replaying I Trawl in the London hotel room in which Yvonne Connors performed her narration is pretty excruciating.

It’s occasionally short on detail (which West London studio was used to record Stevie Wonder for ‘Nightingales’?) and there’s probably not enough info on Wendy Smith, and not much about Paddy’s early musical influences (and no index).

There are also some errors regarding the music (the wait goes on for a really decent technical analysis of Paddy’s songs): ‘Cruel’ is not a ‘shuffle’. It’s a bossa nova (straight 4/4, not swinging). The trombone solo on Thomas Dolby’s ‘Hyperactive’ is very much not a Fairlight sample – it was played by Peter Thoms (but there is a flute sample towards the end…). And Nile Rodgers didn’t have any input into Bowie and Jagger’s ‘Dancing In The Street’.*

But overall this is an enjoyably original take and a great summary of how Prefab were seen by the music press in the mid-1980s, especially useful for those were a bit too young to witness it (like this writer). It’s definitely not for the casual ’80s music fan though.

*Your correspondent was sent an uncorrected proof to review. These errors may have been corrected in the final edition – you’ll have to buy it to find out…

Portrait Of Paddy As A Young Man: Prefab Sprout’s Swoon

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prefab swoonPerhaps like a lot of Prefab fans, I came to Swoon some time after I’d bought and fallen in love with the later albums Steve McQueen, Protest Songs, From Langley Park to Memphis and Jordan The Comeback.

The dry, Thomas Dolby-less production came as a bit of a shock at the time but Swoon stands up pretty well today. Though some critics have compared it to Steely Dan, my contemporary reference points would be Lloyd Cole, The Smiths, Aztec Camera and Songs To Remember-era Scritti, though it’s basically impossible to locate Prefab’s influences.

It’s tempting to say that Swoon – released in March 1984 – sounds like the epitome of an ‘indie’ record, 1980s style, with its stripped-back production values and jagged edges. Prefab singer/songwriter Paddy McAloon recently told The Guardian that he thinks of it as more akin to Captain Beefheart, nicknaming the album ‘Sprout Mask Replica’!

Swoon definitely still sounds very much like a debut album; it’s perky, eager to please, naive, studenty. McAloon’s vocals occasionally resemble the ramblings of a slightly squiffy, randy teenager. But the album’s adolescent in a really good way with its literary flights of fancy, indulgent ruminations on romantic love and lots of audacious melodic flourishes.

paddy prefabIt sounds almost like rock, with solid 4/4 drums, always-inventive bass from Paddy’s brother Martin and ‘girlie’ backing vocals from Wendy Smith, and yet it resolutely refuses to ‘rock out’ with not a single power chord or jangly electric guitar in the mix.

Instead, the intrepid layering of synths and acoustic guitars (utilised to far greater effect on Steve McQueen and Jordan) probes the songs’ pressure points. And Smith’s pristine vocals give the music an enigmatic, otherworldly flavour.

Lyrically, Swoon reminds me of Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’; a survey of a young man’s hopes, dreams and romantic/professional disappointments. From a songwriting perspective, the words presumably came before the music, resembling stream-of-consciousness prose rather than traditional verse/chorus songcraft. Novelist/essayist Dave Eggers wrote a great piece about how much he was influenced by this golden generation of literate British songwriters.

As befitting a band from the North East, work (and the lack of it) is a recurring theme, particularly on ‘I Never Play Basketball Now’ and the extraordinary ‘Technique’. ‘Couldn’t Bear To Be Special’ is a classic Prefab ballad (though surely never the right choice for second single) and seems to offer a truly original take on the doomed love affair – the narrator simply doesn’t feel worthy to deserve the attentions of another. Very Nick Hornby-esque.

Future producer Thomas Dolby has talked about the shock of hearing ‘Don’t Sing’ when he was a guest reviewer on the Radio 1 ‘Round Table’ show.

‘Cruel’ is still a delicious piece of pop/bossa nova, more than a decade before the likes of Belle and Sebastian mined similar ground. Some of Paddy’s chords are gorgeous on this. Lyrically it’s original too, an expression of lust and affection from someone who is desperately afraid of offending his ‘enlightened’ paramour. A very modern love song. It was once covered by Elvis Costello.

Oh – and don’t forget to read the funny mock liner notes penned by McAloon in the guise of an over-exuberant music scribe.