Comments for Prefab Sprout, Two Wheels Good

ummm... that's "two wheels good".

I echo the comments of the first commenter, and I must add that Paddy McAloon is one of the finest songwriters on this planet. His melodicism and adventurous lyricism ("...any music worth its salt is good for dancing...but I've tried to be the Fred Astaire of words...") are as good as anyone's, and he'll be remembered in the years to come. NOTE: You guys haven't listed Prefab Sprout's very first album, "Swoon." It is available on CBS discs as CD 460908 2. This one was released in 1983. Fans of the ban

Lots of washy, ethereal sounding synthesisers blended well with female vocals; over the top lots of clear, interesting, vocals from Paddy with guitar, bass, drum and miscellaneous other sounds. If there was too much of the former and not enough of the latter it wouldn't work, but the blend here is so skillfull that it sounds great and rocks along nicely. The lyrics are a lot better than average, with the odd clunky line, but this only adds to the charm and sensitivity of the whole (I'm nitpicking). This album is a bit of a "sleeper": give it a few listens before expecting total conversion. My copy (in Australia) is "Steve McQueen." Ian Thomas.

"Two wheels good" is the best album of Prefab Sprout.

That's really the best you can get by listening to music. That's THE MUSIC. I guess that beside U.K. this CD is actually known as Steve McQueen. If you really want to read a great description of their music you should have a look to the introduction of CD Swoom. By the way, despite the E-mail address I'm from Italy.

Horsin Around (for various, indescribable reasons) is a life-altering song. Right Joseph?

Prefab Sprout - Two Wheels Good OK, first of all, the title of this album is "Two Wheels Good", not "Four Wheels Good". Somebody needs to tell the keepers of this database to update this (crucial, I should think) information. A friend actually loaned me this CD just days before his house was burglarized and his massive CD collection stolen - so I got to keep this disc. It's a good thing, too, because it took me weeks to finally listen to it. This album was Prefab Sprout's U.S. debut, and it's an interesting piece of work. It fits nicely into the New Romantic school of music operating in the U.K. in 1985 (i.e. Spandau Ballet, OMD, etc.), and then again, it doesn't. "Two Wheels Good" has the same retro-but-lush musical attitude, however, it looks not so much to the big band sound or jazz for inspiration, but to the lush American country music of the 1950's and 60's (think Patsy Cline, Eddie Arnold). "Two Wheels Good" is sort of an abstract version of lush studio country music from the 1960's, filtered through a New Romantic sensibility. This entails heavy use of synths (courtesy producer Thomas Dolby), airy and understated vocals and complex but restrained guitar work. So what? Twisted, yes, but dull, right? Well, no. "Two Wheels Good" turns out to be more than just bizarre - it's also accessible. Even though it doesn't fit into any classification, it carries enough elements of the familiar to keep listeners from feeling lost. On the other hand, it's unusual enough and often surprising enough to hold your interest in spite of the reserved, often tranquil production and style. To give you an idea of how odd but accessible this album is, the guy who loaned it to me is a huge Prince fan who also loves Steely Dan and Roxy Music and about a million other acts - very broad musical tastes. We're both children of the 80's, and I was into pop music my entire life, growing up on a steady diet of David Bowie, The Beatles, The Stones, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Carly Simon, The Bee Gees (disco & pre-disco), Isaac Hayes, Tina Turner, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie and later Eurythmics, Kate Bush, The Police, Prince, etc. My grandmother also liked this album. She's 75. She *sang along* to "He'll Have To Go", which, as it turns out, is an old Eddie Arnold country song Prefab Sprout covers at the end of the disc. She has a beehive hairdo. Everything she owns is polyester. Her lampshades are still encased in their original protective plastic sleeves. She voted Goldwater. This album generates its own Twilight Zone whenever you play it. It's subversive without having a safety-pin through its nose. It's twisted. It's sick. I love it. The lyrics, it turns out, aren't bad either. Like a country song, they often deal with what a pathetic cad the songwriter, in this case group leader Paddy McAloon, has been. Unlike a country song, the songs on "Two Wheels Good" are painfully self-aware, and make intelligent references to pop cultural figures - from Faron Young to Haley Mills. The lyrics and music combine to whip up powerful spirits of melancholy on songs like "Desire As", "Hallelujah" and the fantastic "When Love Breaks Down", a song that should have been a global #1. Other highlights include the truckin' beat powered "Faron", pop masterpiece "Bonny" with its infectious chorus, McAloon's hysterically pathetic self-flagellation for his cad-like behavior in "Horsin' Around", the somewhat uplifting but never-sappy album closer "When The Angels Take" and, yes, even Prefab Sprout's cover of "He'll Have To Go" that my grandmother sang along to. There's just something so subversive about having a pseudo-New Romantic rock band produced by Thomas Dolby covering a pop/country song from yesteryear like "He'll Have To Go", you can't help but be impressed. The fact that it works musically is almost secondary, but doubtless important. The guitar work on this song, by the way, is exceptionally well recorded and worth the price of the entire album in my opinion. Annie Lennox recently scored a big hit with a forgotten song by The Lover Speaks which barely cracked the charts in the mid-80's called "No More I Love Yous". I doubt she'll be covering any Prefab Sprout songs in the near future, and I doubt that - in this era of grunge - someone with unearth and re-release any of these fantastic singles in their original form. It would be nice, though, if someone, somewhere would cover these wonderful tunes. Although the originals seem to rely heavily on Dolby's production and the group's offbeat style for much of their artistic success, many of these songs are just intrinsically well written. In other words, they're just plain good - styles and production regardless. Like "No More I Love Yous", "When Love Breaks Down" or "Bonny" deserve a day in the sun. Ah well. At least they can be classics in your collection. Maybe its best that, say, Michael Bolton fans aren't exposed to stuff like this. It could damage their tiny brains. Assuming theirs haven't completely shriveled up already due to Bolton-exposure.

THE LABUM IS CALLED "TWO" WHEELS GOOD

"Steve McQueen" is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time I'm a SUPERFAN of Thomas Dolby. I think his work in this album is simply gorgeous. The composition of Paddy McAloon and the production of Thomas Dolby makes and incredible sound. It will be more releases from Prefab Sprout someday? I hope so. Miguel Angel Paredes Navarro. (Malaga) SPAIN

In Autumn 1985, friend of mine in college ( I was a freshman) showed me this album and said "This may be the best album of 1985". Respecting his musical opinion, I bought the album the next day. I listened to it once and thought, "Big deal". Too slow, not catchy, no substance lyrically. I promptly stowed it and forgot it. Two months later, my roomate was involved in a split-up with his girl, and I caught him listening to "When love breaks down". Hey, that is kind of a cool tune, I thought. I gave the album another listen. I don''t know whether I was on drugs with the first listen or I should have been. What a revelation. ''Not much substance lyrically, my ass. Poetic subtleties most writers only dream of acheiving; ethereal vocals, stunning acoustical interplay. Every time I listened I heard something more. In an ever expanding CD collection, this is one of a rare breed that I consistantly turn my ear to. I agree with above comments: give this album a chance. Listen to it several times. I guarantee the hauntingly restrained despair of "Bonny" will grip your soul. "appetite", "When love breaks down", "Moving the river", all classics (although I admit I have no clue what "turkey-hungry, chicken-free" means. GET THIS ALBUM.

described by New Musical Express as "almost the absolute perfect album",(or words to that effect!) Songs omitted from this classiclater surfaced on the patchy `protest songs`.This album showcases Paddy Macaloon`s intricate sonwritingskills and delicate guitar style, along with Thomas Dolby`ssensitive production. A musy have for all fans of gentle, intelligentEnglish music.(Originally released as "Steve McQueen", the band were forced to changethe album name to "Four Wheels Good" after complaints from Mr. McQueens estate.)