 | Tracklist:
1. Faron Young
2. Bonny
3. Appetite
4. When Love Breaks Down
5. Goodbye Lucille #1
6. Hallelujah
7. Moving The River
8. Horsin' Around
9. Desire As
10. Blueberry Pies
11. When The Angels
Release Date: 1985 | |
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On 8 Lists
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2 of 3 thought this review was well written
Prefab Sprout’s Steve McQueen is everything I could want in a “pop” album (as nebulous a term as that’s become): its production is super-pretty, its lyrics are literate and humorous without being condescending in the slightest, it’s fun to listen to, and there’s just something in the way lead singer and songwriter Paddy McAloon puts chords and melodies together that’s instantly gripping and gratifying.
I sort of wish I could leave it at that and let all you lucky readers decide for yourself exactly what kind of amazing album Steve McQueen is (or, if you’re going to be that way, whether or not it’s amazing, or even good, at all), but professionalism beckons: this album’s excellence is immediate in the beginning of opening track “Faron Young,” which, incidentally, doesn’t really sound like anything else off the album. The track starts with twanging country guitars and rollicking drums, which the band cleverly invert to service their gorgeous adaptation of ‘80s pop. This is an album that feels slightly antiquated (on that note: you know those breathy vocal pads that are always in ‘80s pop songs? Those need to be brought back, stat.) but in the best way possible; it’s an album that takes the best aspects of the musical landscape that surrounds it and uses it to create something distinctly of its era and yet somehow timeless.
This timelessness is a result of that inexplicable songwriterly skill I half-described in the first paragraph. Here, I must take the ultimate cop-out and simply urge you, the listener, to get the album and hear for yourself. Hear how the pummel of “Faron Young”’s chorus magically dissolves into the gorgeously lightweight chorus. Hear how “Hallelujah” flows through a hundred or so of the weirdest chord changes possible, yet somehow comes out hummable. Or how “Moving the River” deftly switches moods multiple times before finally ending on the triumphantly angelic title chorus.
Steve McQueen is a subtle masterpiece; a nearly flawless convergence of gorgeous, smart pop songwriting and immediately pleasurable production that divides itself into eleven songs that are both distinct and also separated by a common thread of excellence.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 5
this review is no good, but i just wanted this to have a review
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holy shit someone reviewed a Prefab Sprout album, mad propssss.
Digging: fun. - Some Nights
| | | Album Rating: 4
One of the best 80's pop albums.
Digging: John Talabot - Fin Digging: John Talabot - Fin | | |
and rollicking drums, which the band cleverly invert to service their gorgeous adaptation of ‘80s pop
inverts
Prefab Sprout is a subtle masterpiece;
Steve McQueen is
this review is no good
on the contrary i think it is good, since i don't know this band and i fully understood what i would listen to, should i had picked this up.
pos.
Digging: Vauxdvihl - To Dimension Logic
| | | Album Rating: 5
good catches, but can anyone settle this for me once and for all:
is a band plural or singular?
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ive always used plural
Digging: Mount Eerie - Clear Moon Digging: Mount Eerie - Clear Moon
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ive always used plural
me too. In my native tongue (Greek), it is plural as well.
| | | Album Rating: 5
well in that case, if a band is plural, shouldn't it be invert?
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but you wrote:
which the band cleverly inverts to service their gorgeous adaptation of ‘80s pop
to service its gorgeous adaptation
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no, it just makes it look grammatically correct
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but it is "one" band and "one" gorgeous adaptation.
oh well..
| | | Album Rating: 5
it's either invert/their or inverts/its
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i mean both look right, its frivolous
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
if you are referencing the band as a singular entity then your grammar should fit accordingly. If you are referring to the band as a group of people it is plural. So like:
The National is blowing up right now.
The band are blowing up right now.
I'm pretty sure that's how it goes, but remember grammar is ambiguous and arbitrary anyways and this is one of those instances where it's like, do what you feel is right.
Digging: Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself Digging: Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself | | | Album Rating: 4.5
also, yes this mmmm tasty.
| | | Album Rating: 5
hype train
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
only 26 years late
| | | Album Rating: 5
ooooooooooooh johnny johnny johnny
| | | Album Rating: 5
okay, yes. johnny johnny ooooh
| | | Album Rating: 5
hoo-ya
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