MYTHS, MELODIES & METAPHYSICS: - Prefab Sprout

offering. In November, a 12" EP including the four songs from the first two singles was
released to send to DJ's and to sell at their gigs.
Keith Armstrong took the Swoon tapes to London in November to the headquarters of
CBS Records. There, he met with the key A&R man, Muff Winwood (brother of Steve
Winwood), who immediately signed them up for an eight-album distribution deal, but
leaving the band's management with Kitchenware.
Kitchenware had made a revolutionary approach to managing musicians on an
Independent record label but enjoying the benefits associated with major record
companies and their powers of marketing and distribution.
Distribution deals were also struck with The Cartel for Hurrah! and The Daintees but all
deals were of a 'flexible' nature. Armstrong proudly boasted that their contracts with the
bands and, equally, their contracts with the 'majors', are only as good as their
relationships with them. The contracts only really survive as long as they are getting on
together as a group and working well together. The contracts also allowed Kitchenware
management of the bands, giving Armstrong & Co. the freedom to work in the way that
they wish, with Kitchenware and their artists having total artistic license over 'product'.
In celebration of the deal with CBS, Kitchenware found a showcase for the Sprouts, The
Daintees and Hurrah! in the Capitol Radio-sponsored 'Big Brother Is Watching You' ICA
rock week, taking up an exclusive evening of Kitchenware entertainment around the other
participants in the week, such as Billy Bragg and an Irish band by the name of
Microdisney, of whom Armstrong was an admirer and who's lead man, Cathal Coughlan,
was in future years to be a serious investment for the Kitchenware management team.
Playing out 1983, the Sprouts kicked off their New Way of Life tour. At the Christmas
Costello support slots, the McAloon brothers were humbled by Elvis' presence; after the
gig at Birmingham Odeon on 11 December, they left after popping in to say, "Goodbye,
Mr. Costello, we'll see you at London at the next gig." A great compliment to Paddy
McAloon, Costello suggested he may cover Cruel, a McAloon composition, during his
1984 solo tour of America but sadly this never happened.
Apart from receiving the full-blown support of the now-defunct music tabloid Sounds
(in the form of Phil Sutcliffe) and national DJ Dave 'Kid' Jensen, reviews for Don't Sing on
its release in January 1984 were dubious:
"Obviously this is a metaphysical study of a failed love affair, or perhaps a speculative
treatise on the nature of guilt. Either way its busy guitars and troubled melody remain
unresolved. A bit like life itself, really" and "Adenoidal vocals, complex folky chord
changes - so this is the new pop is it? Steely Dan for the Wough Twade generation."
By McAloon's admission, although Swoon had some very strong songs he had written
them at a time when he "couldn't give a toss about communicating with people. It's very
intense and personal."
However mixed (or confused) the views of the music press, it became their first (Gallup)
chart single, reaching No. 64 and rolling out the carpet for the seemingly long-awaited
album release. The 12" included extra track He'll Have To Go, a cover of the old Jim
Reeves classic, covered before by Ry Cooder who, incidentally, it is teasingly suggested in
the band's The Militia Have Arrived booklet by their journalist friend Emma Welles,
intended recording the Sprout song The Yearning Loins. He didn't.