hissyfit: Lovesong: Prefab Sprout: Crimson/Red

Saturday, 28 September 2013

Lovesong: Prefab Sprout: Crimson/Red

"I'm in love with Susan, Bill
Her smile is like a fairground
I'm basking in the glow...
I let my feelings show
Let your feelings show
Trumpets come, trumpets go
It's amazing what gets left out in the snow..."

It's great to hear that Paddy MacAloon has a new album out on October 7th.
'Crimson/Red' is actually a Prefab Sprout release, but that seems to be nowt but a vehicle for Paddy these days.
It's an increasingly rare occurrence and is to be celebrated, given the stories of Macca's failing health.
Let's hope that he's not as close to The Lord as is reported, although the voice of God now sports the beard of God; and the songs are indeed heavenly.
I've had a pirate of most of these tunes for awhile in the form of a bootleg (do we stall call them that?) 'The Devil Came A Calling'. There's no reinvention, you know what you will be getting, more of the same. But when 'the same' is a continuation of a majestic run that's been drip fed to us ever since the wondrous 'Swoon' you know that you are in for an aural treat. Unless the songs have been totally re-imagined from 'The Devil...' (not to these ears), there are less dodgy saxophones and radio 2 arrangements this time around. They twitch with lyrical vitality; polished gems of melodic genius.
I don't use that word lightly.
Those shaking hands have definitely been stroking His beard...

Read more about the album over on the exemplary Direct Current site where you can hear a couple of tunes; 'The Devil Came a Calling' and the sublime 'The Songs of Danny Galway', plus a fan made video of 'The Best Jewel Thief in the World'.

The Direct Current piece also shares this link to Paul Lester's excellent interview in The Guardian, in which Paddy talks about his new album:
"I was 28 when 'Steve McQueen' came out, you know? I'm double that age now. Every 28 years I come up with a good 'un."

You can buy/pre order 'Crimson/Red' here.

If you need convincing that it's a good investment, have a listen below to what is apparently referred to as an 'audio mash up'.
It's a bit like calling bisque 'a soup'...

3 comments:

Tim Patrick29 September 2013 at 07:23
Hmmm.... I'm still a bit puzzled by the whole thing. Whether the clips we're listening to are final mixes or not? You know I love Paddy, and it's always a treat to hear new material, but I really wish he'd put together a proper studio band, as well as seek smart outside production. As much as "Gunman & Other Stories" was perhaps a bit weak in the tunes department, the production was sparkling. "Let's Change The World" suffered considerably because of the demo quality and "do it yourself" approach, and I fear Crimson/Red may as well. Some of the manufactured synth sounds seem pretty dated to me. And what's the deal with the cheezy melodica/fake harmonica/whateveritis? I guess I was so blown away by the stunning acoustic versions Paddy did for the remastered Steve McQueen, that I'm expecting more; I'm finding the stuff "from the vault" very retro. We shall see!
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Hissyfit29 September 2013 at 11:38
I suspect that his hermitage and self confessed megalomania has rendered him a one man band, and therefore prone to making choices that are limited by the confines of his garret. I agree with you about 'Let's Change the World's clatter. I'm always confused by dated synths these days. Unsure whether the production is dated, reverential or winking ironically. Have a listen to the excellent Emiliana Torrini's latest 'Tooka' for evidence of the latter...
http://emilianatorrini.com
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Anonymous29 September 2013 at 20:41
I've been listening to this since mid June. The leaked version is the same as the soon to be released album.It's just Paddy, his guitars and his synths. I think it's doubtful we'll ever get the Sprouts back together, more the pity, but I'm still savouring this fantastic album. The melodies and wordplay show Paddy still has it, and it is something he's recorded over the past 18 months even though it does sound 'old'. I know the computer/synths Paddy uses are pretty ancient!
Phil
Tel Aviv
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‘Jones’ is Trevor Jones; principle songwriter with the critically acclaimed duo Miracle Mile, where he works alongside collaborator, arranger and musical partner Marcus Cliffe. Together they have produced nine albums, the latest of which was 2012’s ‘In Cassidy’s Care’, rated ‘Album of the Month’ by HiFi News, with respected journalist Johnny Black noting that Miracle Mile were “far and away the most unfairly unsung musical wizards ever to emerge from this sceptered isle. Big on memorable tunes wrapped around honest-to-goodness emotionally involving lyrics.”

Trevor Jones has also previously produced four solo albums: ‘Hopeland’ (2009), ‘Keepers’, (2010), ‘To the Bone’ (2014) and ‘Happy Blue’ (2016). Co-produced again with Marcus Cliffe, ‘Carver’s Law is another triumph of intimacy.
Previous critical acclaim for Trevor Jones:

“Gorgeous, as ever. Trevor Jones finds the poetry in real life; gently beautiful and genuinely moving. You may cry.” The Sunday Times

“Masterpieces of subtlety and observation clothed in sumptuous, lush melodies.” R2

“Jones is in a class of one. Near-perfect explorations of the human heart. The beauty on offer here is enough to make you weep. It did me.” Americana UK

“Achingly tender.” Folk Radio UK

“Intellectually as well as emotionally engaging.” MOJO

"Meticulously orchestrated, careful and complex, this is canny songwriting leavened by bona fide humanity." Q

“Moves you to tears and refreshes the soul. Scintillating.” Maverick

"Gentle enchantment. The loveliest melodies you've ever heard.” Uncut

“Classic pop songwriting, gorgeously realised. Jones has compiled possibly the finest catalogue of adult pop. Gently beautiful and genuinely moving” The Times

Miracle Mile: A User's Guide by Johnny Black

Despite being based in a home studio in a rural backwater on the outskirts of West London, Miracle Mile chose to name themselves after a fictional gold rush main street half a world away where, according to adventure yarn spinner Jack London, ragged 49ers would blow their hard-won nuggets on booze and broads.
They apply a similarly unorthodox approach to their career in general. The band’s core duo of singer/guitarist Trevor Jones and multi-instrumentalist/arranger Marcus Cliffe have been relentless in their pursuit of the perfect song. Not the fastest, the gnarliest or the loudest, not even the most instantly commercial, but the song whose melody, lyrics, arrangement, performance and spirit might stand the test of time, giving pleasure to listeners not just for years but centuries.
They’d be the first to admit they haven’t yet found that perfect song and maybe never will, but I’d argue that their albums — the documentary evidence of that search — deserve a place alongside the best work of time-tested tunesmiths as elevated as Randy Newman, Elvis Costello or Tom Waits.

Marcus Cliffe wasn’t yet on board when the first album, Bicycle Thieves, arrived in 1997 but already it was evident that frontman Jones didn’t fit in with the prevailing mode. There was no rage, bitterness or self-loathing in his songs and nothing at all turned up to eleven. Instead, he offered meticulously orchestrated slices of ordinary human life, transforming the mundane into the marvellous with carefully crafted lyrics sincerely delivered. Even here, though, the hypnotic sample-based "Recycletwo" revealed a willingness to experiment that marked Jones out as more than just a pop craftsman in the vein of Crowded House or Aztec Camera.

What had started essentially as a recording project had become a five-piece live band by the time the follow-up, Candids, was released in 1998. Loaded with nagging guitar hooks and dynamic vocal interplay, it included one particularly affecting piece, "Small Ad," which featured just one line of lyric, the heart-rending couplet, "Baby’s shoes, never used." With those four words, Jones conjured up a yawning abyss of grief that other writers might struggle to evoke in an entire album.

Jones quickly realised that live performance was not his forte and retired to the womb of the studio for 1999’s third album, Slow Fade, which also saw the birth of the partnership that would lift Miracle Mile higher still above the norm. Marcus Cliffe, in demand as a player for Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Mark Knopfler and others, was drafted in on upright bass.
Immediately the music took a more intimate turn, with Jones exploring the little things that illuminate the big things. Almost every song offers up at least one unforgettable line, like "I'd rather be ashes than dust" in "Everybody Loved You," or the concept of filling the void left by his loss of faith "with despair and metalware" in "Starwatching."
Slow Fade was further enhanced by the delicately filigreed swirls and swoops of England’s finest steel guitar maestro, B.J. Cole, whose style sat so well with Jones and Cliffe that he has become virtually a full-time member of the band.

And then, out of nowhere, catastrophe struck. Trevor Jones’ beloved sister died in tragic circumstances. It’s typical of the man that, rather than wallowing in his grief as he had every right to do, he dealt with his loss in the quiet, honest dignity of "Sister Song," the achingly lovely tribute that concludes the fourth album, Alaska. It can’t have been coincidence that the album, despite its meltingly beautiful musical landscape, was named for one of the coldest places on earth.

By the time of Stories We Could Tell in 2004, Miracle Mile were drawing critical plaudits in every significant British magazine and newspaper, along with comparisons to such pop pluperfectionists as Prefab Sprout and the Blue Nile. Critics were noting that Miracle Mile was fast becoming a repository of timelessly romantic music fueled by the same shamelessly emotional human concerns that inspired the great standards. More than this, it was being noticed that while most bands go into decline after two or three albums, Miracle Mile were getting better, perhaps because they’d avoided the trap of trying to be contemporary, and had no need to be more outrageous than the competition, largely because they didn’t see music as a competitor sport.

The sixth album, Glow, showed up in 2005 and found Jones and Cliffe further expanding their musical palette mixing Celtic folksiness with slow, semi-industrial percussion on the inspirational "An Average Sadness," blending Badalamenti guitars with Bacharach horns on "What Kate Did Next," and opening "Strange Sympathy" with a beautifully synthesised string orchestration before letting the song melt seamlessly into a laid-back country-rock rumination on the gap between aspiration and acquisition. Glow was also their most lavishly packaged disc, gorgeously presented at no small cost to themselves.

Album No. 7, Limbo, offered fifteen songs overflowing with sensitively wrought melodies and heart-fluttering lyricism. If it’s not a contradiction in terms, Limbo was even more quietly passionate than usual, deliciously understated and, at times, devastatingly tear-jerking.

‘Cassidy’s Care’ followed in 2012 and received similar critical acclaim.
Miracle Mile may just be too concerned with timeless quality for their own short-term commercial good. They’ll never sink a fang into the jugular when they can plant a whisper of a kiss on that sensitive spot at the nape of the neck and set off a tiny ripple that will, in the fullness of time, explode in the heart. I, for one, wouldn’t want it any other way.
Johnny Black

“Trevor Jones finds the poetry in real life; Marcus Cliffe anchors it in the sweetest pop. Gorgeous as ever. You may cry.”
Sunday Times

"Gentle enchantment. The loveliest melodies you've ever heard."
UNCUT

“Gorgeous melodies, hooks galore, intelligent lyrics that demand and repay careful listening, beautifully produced instrumentation, and an overall effect that combines poignancy and joy in equal measure. Music and words come together in a state as close to perfection as makes no difference, and leaves you with a delicious ache that makes you hug yourself with the sheer overwhelming joy of hearing such wonderful music. The beauty on offer here is enough to make you weep. It did me."
Americana UK

“A little oasis illuminated by musical creativity, glimpsed like a lovely mirage. Intelligent tunefulness that doesn’t kowtow to passing trends has always been as rare as fish fingernails, but it’s here.” Mojo

“Classic pop songwriting, gorgeously realised” The Times

“Moves you to tears and refreshes the soul. Scintillating.”
Maverick

“A tender sadness. Songs that have universal resonance.”
Netrhythms

"Trevor Jones has produced a gorgeous pop album that few will hear — unless there’s justice in the world.’ The Wall Street Journal

“Jones has compiled possibly the finest catalogue of adult pop. Gently beautiful and genuinely moving”
The Sunday Times