Prefab Sprout - when the angels, 1985

"The song is a tribute to Marvin Gaye, who passed in April 1984. Instead of being a sad tribute, it is a celebration of Marvin, and perhaps a lighter justification to his passing than the dark reality. The angels take his beautiful voice away because they are simply jealous. (1986, Music Life) But he lives on eternally, as Paddy sings “Must get so blase, knowing you’ll never die/Lounging on a cloud, polishing the sky” which is true to the legacy he left behind. It’s a beautiful richly produced song and a fitting end to this fantastic album. You get everything in this song, all of the great production, the wonderful sound of the band working all together, and an homage to an amazing musician who passed to soon."

Prefab Sprout - appetite, 1985

"Paddy McAloon wrote "Appetite" in 1984. It was one of the first songs he had composed on a keyboard and was written using a "hip-hop-type groove" on a drum machine. The song's lyric is about "a pregnant girl so in love with her child that she wants to name it after all the good things in her life".

Prefab Sprout - faron young, 1985

"Name dropping can certainly get you places and in music it’s no different; both Madness and Bananarama sang about Michael Caine and Robert De Niro respectively but surely no one drops more names, in song anyway, than Prefab Sprout. They named their 1985 album Steve McQueen and the track that opened that album was named after the country music singer Faron Young."

Prefab Sprout - cars and girls, 1988

"Lyrically, "Cars and Girls" is a comment on Bruce Springsteen's use of romantic metaphors in his songs. McAloon felt Springsteen utilised "a poetry that an Englishman can’t understand". The song is often seen as indicating a personal distaste for Springsteen, but McAloon elaborated on the lyrics in a 1992 interview; "The point of the parody is this: not that I think Bruce Springsteen is crap, it's that I think a lot of his audience get into him on a patriotic level that he doesn't intend. They misinterpret him, their enjoyment of him is inaccurate, all very imperialist American. I wanted to write a song about someone who was thick white trash, listening to Springsteen, and saying 'But our lives aren't like that'".

Prefab Sprout - appetite acoustic, 2006

"Although they sold millions of records during their heyday in the 1980s, deservedly so, UK "sophisti-pop" band Prefab Sprout is not really a household name despite their excellent and compelling music. A visually striking band, guitarist/singer-songwriter Paddy McAloon and girlfriend Wendy Smith gave the band a certain glamour rooted in humility. McAloon has suffered serious health issues in recent years, which may explain why the band has not had much promotion since the height of their career."

Prefab Sprout - america, 2017

"Like perhaps his closest early contemporary, Green from Scritti Politti, McAloon’s love songs often acknowledged their own impudence in seeking to follow in the footsteps of songwriters such as Jimmy Webb and Stevie Wonder. McAloon sometimes casts himself as a true believer in idealised love who nonetheless remains aware of evidence to the contrary."

Prefab Sprout - goodbye lucille one, 1985

"When Thomas Dolby began working with Prefab Sprout, McAloon played him a number of songs without telling him what period they belonged to. McAloon felt that because he had played the songs live so many times, he could no longer be objective about them. "Goodbye Lucille #1" is one of three songs included on Steve McQueen dating to the band's initial lineup, the others being "Faron Young" and "Bonny". According to Ian Pye of Melody Maker, "Goodbye Lucille #1" features "a beautifully haunting vocal from Wendy Smith"."

Prefab Sprout - we let the stars go, 1990

"The first five tracks on the album are straightforward pop songs with no deliberate linking theme. "Looking for Atlantis" is based around McAloon's nylon string Ibanez guitar and atypically uses only two chords. McAloon has summarised the song's sentiment as "stop wasting time, find someone and fall in love with them". McAloon considered the hip hop-influenced "Wild Horses" to be one of the album's best songs. Lyrically, it is written from the point of view of "the older man longing for the younger girl, without it being seedy". He initially contemplated sending the song for Daryl Hall's consideration. The actress Jenny Agutter recorded the spoken words that accompany the song's instrumental section."

Prefab Sprout - bonny, 1985

"I grew up in Witton Gilbert in County Durham and started Prefab Sprout with my brother [Martin, bass] and Michael Salmon, who lived down the street. Michael borrowed a drum kit and Martin and I shared an amplifier. We rehearsed in my dad’s run-down wooden-framed petrol station. We were as rough as can be, but we sounded like a band, at least to ourselves."

Prefab Sprout - all the world loves lovers,1990

"A 19-track album encompassing a variety of musical styles and themes, Jordan has been considered by the band and critics alike to be Prefab Sprout's most ambitious project. The album was produced by Thomas Dolby, who had helmed the band's acclaimed 1985 album Steve McQueen but had been unable to commit to the entirety of its 1988 follow-up From Langley Park to Memphis."

Prefab Sprout - desire as, 1985

"I don’t say many songs are perfect, but this song is perfect. The production is amazing, the main synth is beautiful and shows that synthesizer based music can portray human emotion as well as any “natural” instrument. Not to mention the perfect sprinklings of saxophone, guitar, breathy harmonies. It’s a painting in deep blues and purples."