Prefab Sprout

Durham

Prefab Sprout began in Witton Gilbert, County Durham. Paddy McAloon and his brother Martin formed the Dick Diver Band in 1977, renamed it Prefab Sprout in 1978 and played their first live show in 1979. The name is often said to be a mishearing of the word Jackson, but McAloon says he made it up when he was 13. Paddy wrote the songs and sang; Martin played bass.

Their first single, Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone), came out on their own Candle Records on 25 February 1982. McAloon wanted a title whose initial letters spelled Limoges, the city where his former girlfriend was studying. Wendy Smith joined later that year, and a second single, The Devil Has All the Best Tunes, followed in September. In March 1983 they signed to Keith Armstrong's Kitchenware label, after Armstrong heard their music in the Newcastle record shop he managed. Elvis Costello praised the reissued singles.

Swoon and Steve McQueen

The debut album Swoon was made in a 24-track studio in Edinburgh on a budget of 5,000 pounds, with David Brewis of Kane Gang producing. It reached number 22 in the UK in March 1984. Thomas Dolby then praised the song Don't Sing on BBC Radio 1's Roundtable, and the band got in touch. Dolby traveled to McAloon's home in Durham, where he heard 40 or 50 songs. Rehearsals began in the autumn of 1984 at Nomis studios in London, then moved to Marcus.

The result was released in the UK on 22 June 1985 as Steve McQueen. It reached number 21. In the United States it came out in September 1985 on Epic as Two Wheels Good, a change reported to be down to the estate of the actor Steve McQueen. The US edition added tracks, including a longer Truckin' mix of the opening song, Faron Young. That song was a single in July 1985 and reached number 74, and Appetite followed in August at 92. When Love Breaks Down, first released in 1984, climbed no higher than 89 and 88 on its first two outings, then reached 25 in October 1985 in a version Dolby had remixed.

Reviews were warm. Record Mirror gave it five stars in 1985, and Pitchfork later called it the defining record of 1985 sophisto-pop. In 2007 it was reissued with a bonus disc of acoustic versions McAloon recorded in 2006.

Shelved and ambitious

A quick follow-up, Protest Songs, was recorded in 12 days in September 1985 and then shelved by CBS so it would not get in the way of Steve McQueen. It finally appeared in 1989 and reached 18. In between came From Langley Park to Memphis (1988), their biggest chart success at number 5. Its single The King of Rock 'n' Roll reached 7, while Cars and Girls stalled at 44. Stevie Wonder and Pete Townshend appeared as guests.

Jordan: The Comeback (1990), a 19-track album produced by Dolby, reached 7 and was nominated for a Brit Award. Paul Lester of the Guardian counted Steve McQueen and Jordan among the most beautiful and intelligent records of their era. After a five-year gap came Andromeda Heights (1997), which also reached 7. Wendy Smith left afterward, and a UK and Ireland tour in 2000 was the last by the full band.

McAloon alone

The Gunman and Other Stories followed in 2001 with Tony Visconti as producer, and reached 60. For I Trawl the Megahertz, McAloon worked alone after detaching both retinas in 1999; it appeared in 2003 under his own name and was reissued as a Prefab Sprout record in 2018.

Let's Change the World with Music appeared in 2009, and Crimson/Red on 7 October 2013 reached number 15. McAloon said in 2018 that he was working on an album called Femmes Mythologiques. Since 2023 Martin McAloon has toured Prefab Sprout material on his own.