Jordan: The Comeback

Recording began in June 1989 at Ridge Farm Studio in Surrey. McAloon wanted 24 songs, CBS worried about a double album, and the band took the standard advance for one album and recorded 19 tracks. Sessions meant to last three months stretched to about a year, and after six months the band moved to Los Angeles, where Dolby and his wife put them up. Dolby and McAloon mixed it there.

McAloon split the album into straight pop songs, an Elvis suite on tracks 6 to 9, love songs, and a closing section on death and fate. It reached number 7 in the UK, spent 17 weeks on the chart, went gold in November 1990 and was nominated for British Album of the Year at the 1991 Brit Awards. The singles did less well: Looking for Atlantis reached 51, We Let the Stars Go 50, and Jordan: The EP 35. NME's Stuart Maconie called it the pop triumph of the year, and Pitchfork's Sam Sodomsky called it the most ambitious Prefab Sprout album and one of their greatest. Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor named Wild Horses the song he wished he had written, and Natalie Prass covered it in 2018. A remaster and double vinyl edition followed on 27 September 2019.