Prefab Sprout is the brainchild of singer / songwriter Paddy McAloon. The intelligent, acoustic pop on albums such as Steve McQueen (1985) and From Langley Park To Memphis (1989) garnered critical acclaim. Nowadays McAloon takes plenty of time to make a new album. The last one (Andromeda Heights) dates back to 1997 and it took him seven years to complete that album. The Gunman And Other Stories is,
… as we are used to from Prefab Sprout, an extremely well-maintained album. Every song is sung flawlessly by Paddy and has been given a tasteful and sophisticated arrangement. For example, at Cowboy Dreams we hear a piece of bluegrass banjo and at Farmyard Cat we hear to your heart's content. Everything in the service of the song. Still it seems that maybe too much attention has been paid to the CD. Because the overall impression is that it sounds very clinical and bloodless. And that is actually a mortal sin in pop music. (MS)more
