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For a lot of you
the name Paddy McAloon might not say very much yet when I tell you
Paddy has been the songwriting brain behind the successful band
Prefab Sprout for years then I’m convinced this introduction doesn’t
need to go any further. However, 1999 seemed to be a disastrous year
for Paddy with eye surgery being the major issue. McAloon could no
longer read. This prevented him from writing music in his usual
manner so in order to fill his days he would listen to and tape all
kinds of TV and radio programmes, bits of phone-ins, pieces of chat
shows, citizen’s band conversations filled to the rim with clichés,
military encryptions. Different time zones and frequencies would
intertwine and make up new stories in the mind of McAloon. ‘Have you
any idea how many sad stories are floating on the airwaves after
midnight’, Paddy asks ? Indeed a lot of people share their entire
life with someone miles away sitting behind a microphone.
Recorded in room
551 of the Royal Garden Hotel; Kensington, London on October 25th
1999 between 6.15 pm and 8.45 pm, the major voice on the lengthy
titletrack is that of one Yvonne Connors. She is the paint on
McAloon’s canvas backed by an outstanding arrangement featuring the
sublime Robert McFall Orchestra and subtle brass and woodwind. The
nearly 22’ long track keeps on repeating the main theme yet it
blends well with the narration but as the opening track maybe it’s
still a little too ambitious. However with this track the atmosphere
for this album is set and the same kind of ‘pure British’ atmosphere
will be found all over the CD. Wonderful, lush instrumental
soundscapes balancing on the border of minimalist music. Throughout
this album the strings, brass and woodwind will firmly make their
mark. In a way ‘Esprit de corps’ can even be seen as sort of a rural
“Tubular bells”. As can be expected the cello in ‘We were poor’ adds
the necessary drama whilst the muted trumpet kind of harks back to
World War II. When a military drum is inserted during ‘Fall from
grace’ that effect is even enhanced. The repetitive marimba of
‘Orchid 7’ acts like the backdrop for even more strings and brass
interventions.
For ‘I’m 49’
McAloon has made up a new set of lyrics by cutting and pasting
snippets from ‘trawling the megahertz’. Without masking the actual
voices, people out there might be lucky enough to hear their voice
being part of this composition. For those who forgot how unique
Paddy’s own voice sounds, ‘Sleeping rough’ is sung by the man
himself becoming like an acoustic Prefab Sprout song. The final song
probably has the nicest orchestration of them all with fine harp
contrasting with the low cello.
In a
way this album reminds me of Joe Jackson’s “Heaven and hell”.
Compared with his early period it also marked a big change and even
bigger changes were still to come. Due to his illness it was like
McAloon wanted to remain silent what spoken word is concerned and
thus restricted himself to the all instrumental format. It’s as if
he wanted to prove that he was capable of producing interesting
music regardless of a certain handicap. However in order to fully
underline the importance of the titletrack he let an outsider in as
narrator so that ‘I trawl the megahertz’ became something truly
special. ‘If you’re in pain, music can work on the level of
anaesthetic.’ I’m sure this album does ! |
