Prefab Sprout

One of the finest works of the 1980s, this album was a massive success in Europe (where it was titled "Steve McQueen"). Songwriter Paddy McAloon employs clever wordplay and sly pop history quotes while studying his own very human failings with humor and heart. "When Love Breaks Down" received plenty of Alt Rock radio play, but every track is a keeper.

At times, Prefab Sprout resembles its British peers: singer/songwriter Paddy McAloon can
reach Glenn Tilbrook's breathy upper range or Elvis Costello's husky whisper, and his
chordal guitar playing on the single "When Love Breaks Down" echoes the modjazz cool of
the Style Council and Sade. But the bulk of Two Wheels Good is as far from pop – not to
mention rock & roll – as an amplified quintet can wander. Both the credit and the... More >

Paddy McAloon is a type we've met many times before--the well-meaning cad. Expressing himself with a grace befitting an intimate of Faron Young and "Georgie" Gershwin, he's sweet enough to come out on the losing side sometimes, but in the end he'll probably "let that lovely creature down," because he can't resist a piece of ass. J.D. Considine calls this music "Steely Dan Lite," which suggests the crucial contribution of producer-sideman Thomas Dolby but misses its pop-folk roots. Reminds me more of the justly obscure, unjustly forgotten Jo Mama--or of Aztec Camera if Roddy Frame were a cad. (Grade - B+)