Hot Dog! I’m The King of Rock’n'roll – Completely
An all time favourite of mine, Prefab Sprout, used to inhabit my turntable and cd player back in the eighties and well into the nineties, I seem to remember. It’s been a long time, far too long. And somewhere in-between the entire record collection, LP’s singles, CD’s – the works – were lost along the way, keeping me and my past well at bay.
As I pondered this today, in the spur of the moment I thought “Hell, why don’t you just download it to your mobile?”, and so I did. Unfortunately though, all my mobile provider had on offer was a Best of-compilation, luckily containing a song or two from “From Langley Park to Memphis” (1988), “Steve McQueen” (1985) and “Swoon” (1984), which is what I was really looking for – the album that introduced me to the beautiful realm of the Sprouts, some 24 years ago (golly…).
Downloaded and ready to go, here’s:
A song like that truly makes you feel you’re the king of rock’n'roll, doesn’t it? Then again, if you feel too high and mighty, let me warn you of its immediate successor, befittingly not in (quite as) glorious Technicolor:
All very beautiful, though.
And I’m twenty years my junior, the proverbial king of rock’n'roll. For a moment.
Unfortunately I record every interview I make – for which I’ll need the headset, so I’ll have to take a temporary leave of the music, invigorating as it was, and get started typing down those interviews.
Albequerque…
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Prefab is a great band. Steve McQueen is one of my favorite albums. Anyways; every time I think of them, I also remember the movie “The Rutles” – a sort of parody/tribute to The Beatles. The Rutles was often called “The Prefab Four”, according to the movie. :-)
The British music industry came up with lots and lots of memorable tunes in those days, Radiohode (heh, for the improbable foreign reader: yes, that’s Radiohead to you), but yes, The Sprouts have a special place. Also, I’m particularly fond of just about everything ZTT (Zang Tuum Tumb) produced in the eighties — especially if Trevor Horn had anything to do with it.
Ah, and let’s not forget 4AD!
An era long gone, of course, but I’ve yet to hear of death by nostalgia.
4AD (and Mute) is a sign of quality. But ZTT is to me a somewhat bitter pill. Some of it is quite ok, but it’s easy to find artists, albums, songs too difficult to enjoy.
Mute? Oh, yes! Instinctively I wanted to reply “Joy Division!”, but I’m glad I double checked. They were on the Factory Records label, of course, sporting huge household names like New Order and the OMD, too (between us, though, I have to admit I soon tired of OMD).
It’s not hard to sympathise with your sentiment towards ZTT, though. It’s quite a matter of what some would call an acquired taste — especially when it comes to The Art of Noise (whom I quite enjoy, actually) and, even for some, Propaganda. But, as I think I insinuated; very eighties only, most of it. In my view Trevor Horn “lost it” after that, I’m sorry to say.
As for Steve McQueen… I expect there’s a reason why most Sprout followers, myself included, seem in perfect accord on that matter (I didn’t put up that picture for nothing). :-)
We appear to be in almost boring agreement, Radiohode, yet I can’t help but feeling like a mid-life crisis desperado, clinging to what — to me — music and youth (gone by) is all about. Then again, today’s youngsters probably haven’t got a clue what we’re rambling on about, rendering us exonerated of such despicable accusations.
We all too often fall victims to the media’s die-hard insistence that the Gen X phenomenon was something restricted to people in their twenties (no matter when), I suppose. But hey, it’s us they’re talking about. I’ll give us that.
Age is only inside your head! :-)
[...] kjent. Selv laster jeg aldri ned musikk, og neimen om jeg kjøper stort heller (om vi ser bort fra de få gangene jeg har kjøpt og lastet ned noe fra Telenor Mobils musikksjappe). Så langt jeg kan bedømme, tar BI-undersøkelsen for seg platesalget alene. Dette er ren [...]