PREFAB SPROUT
JORDAN: THE COMEBACK
(Kitchenware, 1990)
It’s a glorious
irony that the song Prefab Sprout are best remembered for, The King Of Rock’n’Roll (the one with the chorus ‘Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque’), is about a pop star who is only remembered for his biggest hit (which, of course, has the chorus ‘Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque’).
This is not a fact that’s widely appreciated, but then again Paddy McAloon, the band’s driving force, was highly adept at smuggling devious wit, high concepts and musical chicanery past the mainstream pop audience. Prefab Sprout’s first album, 1984’s
Swoon, is full of odd time signatures, unfathomable chords, tempo switches and arcane lyrical flourishes, but by the time of 1990’s Jordan: The Comeback, McAloon’s songwriting had tightened and his ambitions had grown substantially.