Way Back When
May 10, 2013 5:28 PM
In which my Prefab Sprout obsession results in a nakedly sappy love song speculating about the origins and end of the universe.
This is a sloppy (timing's off and you can hear the click in places) but you get the idea. It came out of trying to learn Prefab Sprout's BONNY, with it's lovely Fmaj7 vamp at the beginning, which turned into the opening riff, and all happened from there.
The only thing I don't like about it is the hiatus after the first bridge just before the drums come in. Feels like it needs a cut there or something.
This is pretty acoustic but I think there's an electric version in there somewhere.
This is a sloppy (timing's off and you can hear the click in places) but you get the idea. It came out of trying to learn Prefab Sprout's BONNY, with it's lovely Fmaj7 vamp at the beginning, which turned into the opening riff, and all happened from there.
The only thing I don't like about it is the hiatus after the first bridge just before the drums come in. Feels like it needs a cut there or something.
This is pretty acoustic but I think there's an electric version in there somewhere.
posted by unSane (4 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
Yeah, I hear ya. I have another version of this going which is very much in the vein you suggest.
I've been overdosing on Prefab the last couple of weeks. I LOVE the Fairlight choral sounds on those Thomas Dolby-produced tracks on Steve McQueen. Have you heard the acoustic version of the album, which is basically Paddy's demos I think? Some of them (Moving The River) are much better than the album cuts, while others (Bonny) aren't a patch on them.
This version of Cars and Girls is everything I'm about at the moment.
posted by unSane at 5:32 PM on May 11, 2013
I've been overdosing on Prefab the last couple of weeks. I LOVE the Fairlight choral sounds on those Thomas Dolby-produced tracks on Steve McQueen. Have you heard the acoustic version of the album, which is basically Paddy's demos I think? Some of them (Moving The River) are much better than the album cuts, while others (Bonny) aren't a patch on them.
This version of Cars and Girls is everything I'm about at the moment.
posted by unSane at 5:32 PM on May 11, 2013
Oh, yeah, the kit is NI Abbey Road 60s as you spotted, with the Jazz preset, which has this lovely roomy woody kick.
posted by unSane at 6:18 PM on May 11, 2013
posted by unSane at 6:18 PM on May 11, 2013
This prompted me to dig out my copy of Steve McQueen because there was a track on it that was my favourite but I couldn't remember it offhand. "Appetite". The Fairlight stuff dates it a bit now, but it still makes me go "ohhh, yesssssssss". There's a sort of cool funkiness there that makes it all click together very satisfyingly.
Maybe if we ever do another full album challenge Steve McQ could be a runner. But I suspect that the Prefabs are virtually unknown in the US - could be wildly wrong about that of course. I mean, Paddy has a very British sort of "take" on life somehow doesn't he. It somehow rains a lot and there's often an undercurrent of stoic resignation to fate...........
Oh and "Cars and Girls" is one of my all-time-favourite singles. Absolute genius. Great tune, but I love it not least because it gently takes the piss out of the sort of overblown, believing-our-own-USA-publicity-romantic-myth nonsense peddled by Mr S.
posted by Hoops McCann at 5:11 AM on May 12, 2013
Maybe if we ever do another full album challenge Steve McQ could be a runner. But I suspect that the Prefabs are virtually unknown in the US - could be wildly wrong about that of course. I mean, Paddy has a very British sort of "take" on life somehow doesn't he. It somehow rains a lot and there's often an undercurrent of stoic resignation to fate...........
Oh and "Cars and Girls" is one of my all-time-favourite singles. Absolute genius. Great tune, but I love it not least because it gently takes the piss out of the sort of overblown, believing-our-own-USA-publicity-romantic-myth nonsense peddled by Mr S.
posted by Hoops McCann at 5:11 AM on May 12, 2013
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I hear ya with the Prefabs (I loved 'em too). Listening to this I was thinking production-wise about this - some ethereal noodly stuff flying around, multi-harmony breathy vocals coming and going, general lushness abounding.
In terms of constructive crit - I thought the intro was too long. I thought that you could bring the kit in a lot earlier that at 2.20 or thereabouts so that the momentum gets underway sooner (I know you're trying to build the track up...) - great kit sound btw (one of the NI Abbey Road jobs n'est pas?). Maybe the track is a tad over long? There's a bit of a timing problem starting around about 2.51 and going on until about 3.10 - something isn't quite on the money and it's throwing the whole track out rhythmically.
Basically I reckon you could go a bit more "large" on this one mate - it'll stand it and you'll not lose the intimacy you're striving for here.
posted by Hoops McCann at 10:21 AM on May 11, 2013