Prefab Sprout

Prefab Sprout
General information
origin	Newcastle , England
Genre (s)	Pop-Rock , New Wave , Sophisti-Pop , Synth Pop
founding	1977
Current occupation
Vocals , guitar , piano , keyboard	Paddy McAloon
former members
bass	Martin McAloon (1977-2010)
Drums	Daniel James (1977-1983)
singing	Wendy Smith (1982-2000)
Drums	Michael Salmon (1983-1984)
Drums	Graham Lant (1984)
Drums	Neil Conti (1984-1992)

Prefab Sprout is a British pop band from Newcastle-upon-Tyne , England. Currently, Paddy McAloon is the only member. Prefab Sprout became famous in the 1980s with pop rock influenced by jazz and new wave .

history

The Newcastle born guitarist and songwriter Paddy McAloon (born June 7, 1957) founded the band in 1977 together with his brother Martin (born January 4, 1962) on bass and Daniel James on drums. McAloon gave the song Jackson by Nancy Sinatra as inspiration for the band name , in which he misunderstood the line of text "hotter than a pepper sprout" ("hotter than a pepper sprout"). Prefab Sprout means “prefabricated house sprout” in German. Band biographer Stewart Mason from Allmusic is of the opinion that the name is just an invention of the adolescent McAloon without any deeper meaning. The band made a name for themselves in the pubs of Newcastle and produced the single Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone) on their own in 1982 after the record industry had canceled it , which was released on Candle Records. The title is a backronym for the French city of Limoges , at whose university a friend of McAloons wanted to study. James was replaced on drums by Mick Salmon. Wendy Smith (born May 31, 1963) rose in the same year as a female singing voice.

Through the single, Keith Armstrong - a record seller and owner of the Newcastle-based music label Kitchenware Records, where the editors later published - became aware of the band and signed them. The single was re-released in 1983 on Kitchenware and hit the UK independent charts. The second single The Devil Has All the Best Tunes was also placed there and drew the attention of the record label CBS to the band, which Kitchenware offered a distribution contract. Financially appropriately equipped, Prefab Sprout recorded more singles and the debut album Swoon , which was released in 1984. With the single Don't Sing and the album, the band reached the UK singles and album charts for the first time. In late 1984, after the release of the single When Love Breaks Down , Lant left the band and Neil Conti became the new drummer.

The second album Steve McQueen , produced by Thomas Dolby , brought the band to 14th place in the British album charts and the first gold record from the British phono association BPI. The daughter of the actor Steve McQueen prevented the publication under this title in the USA, so that the album was released there as Two Wheels Good . It became the only British success in the United States. In 1985, Faron Young and Appetite, two less successful singles were released, followed by Johnny Johnny (who was named Goodbye Lucille # 1 on the album ) in 1986 . Again produced by Dolby, the album From Langley Park to Memphis was released in 1988 , which reached number 5 on the British album charts and attracted another gold record. The studio guests on the album included Pete Townshend and Stevie Wonder . In 1989 the album Protest Songs followed , which was created shortly after the album Steve McQueen was recorded, and in 1990 the album Jordan: The Comeback .

It was only with the single The Sound of Crying that Prefab Sprout achieved the first chart listing in the German single charts in 1992 . The 1997 album Andromeda Heights was the first to be listed in Germany . At that time the band was formally only made up of Paddy and Martin McAloon.

On September 7, 2009, new material from the band was announced for the first time in eight years. An album that had already been recorded in 1993, but whose publication had been discarded in favor of Andromeda Heights , was released in its original state without further editing of the songs under the ironic name Let's Change the World with Music . The album was released by Paddy McAloon alone; so the band has been a solo project since then. McAloon justifies this with the fact that he has been suffering from tinnitus and an eye disease since the 1990s and can therefore no longer play with other musicians. However, he also stated that the band itself still exists.

The ninth studio album Crimson / Red was released in October 2013 . It was able to achieve the first chart placement of the band in Switzerland.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1984	Swoon	-	-	-	UK22 (7 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 1984
1985	Steve McQueen / Two Wheels Good (US title)	-	-	-	UK21st gold (35 weeks)UK	US178 (5 weeks) US	First published: June 1985
1988	From Langley Park to Memphis	-	-	-	UK5 gold (24 weeks)UK	-	First published: March 14, 1988
1989	Protest songs	-	-	-	UK18th silver (4 weeks)UK	-	First release: Recorded in 1985 in June 1989 , but not released until 1989 due to the success of Steve McQueen
1990	Jordan: The Comeback	-	-	-	UK7th gold (17 weeks)UK	-	First published: August 1990
1997	Andromeda Heights	DE83 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK7 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 1997
2001	The Gunman and Other Stories	DE74 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK60 (1 week) UK	-	First published: 2001
2009	Let's Change the World with Music	DE46 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK39 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 7, 2009 already recorded in 1993
2013	Crimson / Red	DE42 (1 week) DE	-	CH92 (1 week) CH	UK15 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 7, 2013 already recorded between 1997 and 2010
2019	I trawl the megahertz	-	-	-	UK54 (1 week) UK	-	First release: May 27, 2003 as a solo album by Paddy McAloon; only in 2019 as a re-release under Prefab Sprout in the charts

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1992	A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout	-	-	-	UK3 gold (13 weeks)UK	-	First published: July 1992
1999	38 Carat Collection / (US title)	-	-	-	-	-	First published: October 1999

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1984	Don't Sing Swoon	-	-	-	UK62 (2 weeks) UK	-
1985	Faron Young Steve McQueen	-	-	-	UK74 (1 week) UK	-
	When Love Breaks Down Steve McQueen	-	-	-	UK25 (10 weeks) UK	-
1986	Johnny Johnny Steve McQueen	-	-	-	UK64 (2 weeks) UK	-	Released on the album as "Goodbye Lucille # 1"
1988	Cars and Girls From Langley Park to Memphis	-	-	-	UK44 (5 weeks) UK	-
	The King of Rock'n'Roll From Langley Park to Memphis	-	-	-	UK7 (10 weeks) UK	-
	Hey Manhattan From Langley Park to Memphis	-	-	-	UK72 (2 weeks) UK	-
1990	Looking for Atlantis Jordan: The Comeback	-	-	-	UK51 (3 weeks) UK	-
	We Let the Stars Go Jordan: The Comeback	-	-	-	UK50 (3 weeks) UK	-
1991	Jordan: The EP	-	-	-	UK35 (4 weeks) UK	-
	The Sound of Crying A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout	DE79 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	UK23 (5 weeks) UK	-
1992	If You Don't Love Me A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout	DE60 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	UK33 (4 weeks) UK	-
	All the World Loves Lovers A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout	-	-	-	UK61 (2 weeks) UK	-
	Life of Surprises A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout	-	-	-	UK24 (4 weeks) UK	-
1997	A Prisoner of the Past Andromeda Heights	DE86 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	UK30 (2 weeks) UK	-
	Electric Guitars Andromeda Heights	-	-	-	UK53 (1 week) UK	-

Web links

• Fansite about the band and Paddy McAloon - with regular news, a lively forum, interviews etc.
• Very extensive unofficial fan site ( Memento from February 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
• Prefab Sprout at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ English definition. In: Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved July 18, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Stewart Mason: Prefab Sprout - Music Biography, Credits and Discography. In: allmusic.com. Rovi Corp., accessed August 13, 2012 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} ChartArchive - Prefab Sprout. In: chartarchive.org. Retrieved August 13, 2012 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Certified Awards Search. In: bpi.co.uk. Retrieved August 13, 2012 (keyword: Prefab Sprout). 
5. ↑ Prefab Sprout - single chart tracking. (No longer available online.) In: musicline.de. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013 ; Retrieved August 13, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Prefab Sprout - Longplay Chart Tracking. (No longer available online.) In: musicline.de. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013 ; Retrieved August 13, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ ^{a b} Comment on Let's Change the World with Music at De: Bug
8. ↑ Interview with Paddy McAloon from October 15, 2013, Die Welt
9. ↑ Review of Crimson / Red by Caroline Sullivan for The Guardian, October 3, 2013
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE1 DE2 ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. AT CH UK 
11. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK
12. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7
13. ↑ Interview with Paddy McAloon, Die Zeit, October 7, 2013