The Scottish group Prefab Sprout, the brainchild of singer Paddy McAloon, rose to prominence in the 1980s with carefully crafted pop. A certain sterility, partly due to the production fashions of the time, meant that despite the commercial success the albums did not finally end up in the 'canon of pop music'. The band never broke up, but the breaks between albums got longer and longer. Eight years
… after Prefab's last record, and six years after McAloon's first and only solo album, Let's Change The World With Music is released, an ambitious album for which McAloon had already laid the foundations in 1990 but which he did not finish then. Inspired by the story of Brian Wilson's masterpiece Smile, McAloon is committed to completing his 'lost album'. Remarkably, it is produced in the same sterile way as before, although the drum computers and synths now also have a nostalgic quality. Fortunately, McAloon still writes the same irresistible melodies, so that the balance tends to turn in the right direction. (MS)more
