Prefab Sprout – From Langley Park To Memphis

I love the song ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ great album opener . Don’t care what people think 😀

My vinyl still sounds lovely? Had it from release.
This is a great, great album with enough range and guile to keep you listening. The big sounds and songs switch from pop confectionery ‘cars and girls’ to swooning ballads like ‘Nancy…’
There’s some top quality playing, like Martin’s bass on ‘enchanted’
As with this and the words are especially amusing, dry, comedic and poignant
The whole thing comes from the late 80s period on the cusp of Acid House and has a brightly coloured but fuzzy focus which makes the old senses tingle with lovely vocals and good old fashioned songs.
Oh, and it’s dirt cheap!

I like how the cover looks like it was taken right as a flashbang grenade went off

So waddya y’all think? This original pressing or the recent remaster?

I adore Prefab Sprout, but I have always had reservations with this album (my first foray into PS purchases back in 1988 and far from the last, I became slightly obsessed!). I think the problem may stem by having so many different producers maybe and also the album sounds a little disted to me. Starstruck Paddy maybe? What with having superstar friends like Stevie and Pete all of a sudden.
The production overall sounds a bit ordinary and very 80's in an overproduced way. The one track on the album that stands out production wise is Hey Manhattan! with an exquisite string arrangement by John Altman and expert production by Andy Richards (his only production credit on this album).
However, it does have at least one classic in Cars And Girls, but it's all too "kitchen sink" for me. Having said that, Paddy McAloon can do no wrong for me - the man is a living legend.

My preferred PS albums would be Jordan, the vastly underrated Protest Songs and of course "the other one" ;-)

When are they going to remaster Prefab Sprouts catalog? All we got was Steve McQueen in 2007 but the bonus was an acoustic disc! No good! We want the lot right now with all the bonus material.

This is one of the least known and most underrated british records of the last forty years, the Dolby produced tunes are great and say what you will of the lead single, the rest of the record albeit different from Steve McQueen is fantastic in it's own right and with Stevie Wonder and Pete Townsend in the mix it's a real tour de force. Processing onto Jordan and beyond, Paddy MCaloon's pop journey has been one of the more rewarding discographies to follow.

LP sounds not so great. A typical problem for Prefab vinyl?

My fave LP by Prefab Sprout. Also, one of my faves of all.

i'll never understand how they went from making the music on steve mcqueen to releasing the song 'the king of rock and roll', and this album. very strange transformation; not for the better.