Prefab Sprout - Has All The Best Tunes (1992)

In 1977 brothers Paddy and Martin McAloon formed The Dick Diver Band, but by 1978 the name had changed to Prefab Sprout, a name McAloon had created years earlier, when band names were supposed to be profound and have hidden meaning, and so he just joined two random words together. After drummer Michael Salmon joined the brothers, they began playing live, and in 1982 they recorded their first single 'Lions in My Own Garden: Exit Someone' / 'Radio Love', which was self-released on their own Candle Records. Paddy McAloon later said that he wanted a song title where the first letters of the words spelled out Limoges, the French city where his former girlfriend was studying at the time. Music journalist Stuart Maconie praised the track as "enigmatic, melancholy, and tuneful", and shortly after its release their lineup expanded to incorporate vocalist Wendy Smith, and this new configuration recorded their second single 'The Devil Has All the Best Tunes' / 'Walk On' in September 1982. In March 1983 they were signed to Keith Armstrong's Kitchenware Records, and their two singles were reissued by Kitchenware and attracted notice including adulation from Elvis Costello, as well as making original copies instantly collectable. Following the departure of Michael Salmon as drummer, the band recorded their debut album with session drummer Graham Lant in a 24-track studio in Edinburgh on a budget of £5,000, and 'Swoon' (an acronym for Songs Written Out Of Necessity), was released in March 1984. It was critically acclaimed, with several reviewers highlighting its unorthodox musical style and unconventional lyrics, and it reached No. 22 on the UK Albums Chart, attracting the attention of musician Thomas Dolby along the way, who began producing new material with the band. Graham Lant's relationship with Prefab Sprout ended soon after the recording of 'Swoon', so Neil Conti joined the band as a permanent drummer, and the band's second album 'Steve McQueen' was released in 1985, (issued in America as 'Two Wheels Good' in anticipation of displeasure from McQueen's estate), and was highly praised by critics, as well as giving the band its first hit UK single with 'When Love Breaks Down'. The band's next project was 'Protest Songs', a sparsely-produced and quickly recorded album intended for a limited release in late 1985, but it was put on hold by CBS so as not to affect sales of 'Steve McQueen', and languished in the vaults for four years before finally seeing the light of day in 1989. 

Before that the band issued the  follow-up to 'Steve McQueen', 'From Langley Park To Memphis', in 1988, and this record gave the band their biggest commercial success in the UK, with the single 'The King Of Rock 'n' Roll' reaching No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart, their only single to reach the Top 10. The album was also notable for including guest appearances from Stevie Wonder and Pete Townshend, as well as using multiple producers, including Thomas Dolby, who could not commit to working on the entire album. Two years later, the ironically titled 'Jordan: The Comeback', was nominated for a BRIT Award, and although Thomas Dolby was on board to give the music a more accessible appeal than their earlier material, the lyrics and subject matter remained characteristically oblique and suggestive. In 1992 the band took a five year hiatus, returning in 1997 with their first new studio material in the form of the album 'Andromeda Heights', but this was also a time of change for the group, with Wendy Smith leaving to pursue a new career as a voice instructor. In 2001 the band, now reduced to Paddy and Martin McAloon, released 'The Gunman And Other Stories', a concept album based around the American Wild West, and produced by Tony Visconti, but although the opening track 'Cowboy Dreams' was a hit for the British actor-singer Jimmy Nail, the parent album did not enjoy commercial success. In 2003 Paddy McAloon was diagnosed with a medical disorder that seriously impaired his vision, but he still released his first solo album that year, with 'I Trawl The Megahertz' coming out on the EMI Liberty label. Fifteen years later, in autumn 2018, the album was reissued on Sony Music as a Prefab Sprout record, as it had originally been intended. In 2006, McAloon suffered another medical setback, where due to the onset of Ménière's disease his hearing had deteriorated. 

Prefab Sprout's first album of new material since 2001, 'Let's Change The World With Music', emerged in 2009, but this was actually a collection of McAloon solo demos, originally recorded in the early 1990's and intended for an unmade full band Prefab Sprout album. Despite this, reviews in the UK press were favourable, and in 2013 a leak of ten previously unreleased songs on SoundCloud led to speculation that a new Prefab Sprout album was being recorded, but when it did appear, once again 'Crimson/Red' consisted of developed versions of tracks from the vaults. It also confirmed that Prefab Sprout was now in effect a solo project, with Paddy McAloon singing, playing and programming all of the music on the album on his own, as the deterioration of his hearing and eyesight made it impractical for any other musicians to be involved. Throughout the band's career, McAloon has been an extremely prolific songwriter, and there are rumours of hundreds of unreleased songs stored away in plastic boxes, and even several concept albums, such as ones based on the life of Michael Jackson, the history of the world ('Earth: The Story So Far') and even a fictional superhero ('Zorro The Fox'), but he also made sure that most of the band's singles included new songs on the flips, and so this album collects all the non-album singles and b-sides, from that very first cryptic ode to his girl-friend, right up to the band's hiatus in 1992. When you listen to these songs alongside their albums, you can hear just why McAloon is regarded as one of the great songwriters of his time, and why the band have been credited with producing some of the most beloved pop music of the 1980's and 1990's.

Track listing 

01 Lions In My Own Garden: Exit Someone (single 1982)
02 Radio Love (b-side of 'Lions In My Own Garden: Exit Someone')
03 The Devil Has All The Best Tunes (single 1983)
04 Walk On (b-side of 'The Devil Has All The Best Tunes')
05 Spinning Belinda (b-side of 'Couldn't Bear To Be Special' 1984)
06 Diana (b-side of 'When Love Breaks Down' 1984)
07 The Yearning Loins (b-side of 'When Love Breaks Down' 1984)
08 Donna Summer (b-side of 'When Love Breaks Down' 1984)
09 Heaven Can Wait (b-side of 'When Love Breaks Down' reissue 1985)
10 He'll Have To Go (b-side of 'When Love Breaks Down' 12" 1985)
11 Silhouettes (b-side of 'Faron Young' 1985)
12 Oh! The Swiss (b-side of 'Appetite' 12" 1985)
13 Wigs (b-side of 'Johnny Johnny' 1986)      
14 Dandy Of The Danube (b-side of 'Johnny, Johnny' 12" 1986)
15 Old Spoonface Is back (b-side of 'Johnny, Johnny' 12" 1986)
16 The Guest Who Stayed Forever (b-side of 'Johnny, Johnny' 12" 1986)  
17 Vendetta (b-side of 'Cars And Girls' 1988)
18 Nero The Zero (b-side of 'Cars And Girls' 12" 1988)
19 Real Life (Just Around The Corner (b-side of 'Cars And Girls' CD single 1988)
20 Tornado (b-side of 'Hey Manhattan!' 1988)
21 Bearpark (b-side of 'Nightingales' 1988)
22 The Sound Of Crying (single 1992)
23 If You Don't Love Me (single 1992)