MYTHS, MELODIES & METAPHYSICS: - Prefab Sprout

flowing melodies and fun, intelligent observations clearly into the direction of a grand
production of orchestral heights.
The Langley recordings that Dolby had to work on in America were only half finished
in Fulham and Newcastle. During their completion, time was taken for some of the Protest
Songs (Dublin and Pearly Gates) to be remixed by Michael H. Brauer at Utopia Studios in
New York. Some changes had also been made to some of the other tracks by the band not
long after their original versions had been submitted in 1985. CBS suggested that Protest
Songs may bridge the gap for fans between Langley and their next album, especially as
they had no plans to tour with Langley.
Langley brought with it some pleasant surprises. The band was recording the song Hey
Manhattan! in Pete Townshend's studio, during which time they found that through his
daughter, he was fond of their work on Steve McQueen. Paddy fell ill and the band
needed to finish a guitar piece in time so Paddy asked Wendy to see Townshend, who
happened to be in the studio building at the time, to ask him if he'd 'fill in'. Paddy showed
Wendy the chord structures. Dear Un-Rock 'n' Roll Wendy obliges and asks U-know-
Who, who exclaims, "Oh, no. I haven't played the guitar in years."
She offers to show him the chords and, impressed by her sweet innocence, offers to
'help them out'.
Paddy's desire to create the perfect sound on Hey Manhattan! almost had Isaac Hayes
arranging the strings, an event called off on the eleventh hour by his management due to
problems with timetables.
Jon Kelly had been recording Nightingales with the band in Fulham and after trying
several harmonica players to play the melody line, it wasn't sounding quite how Paddy
wanted. They even tried horns and several attempts with synths but they never worked
either. Although the melody was simple, it was proving to be a tricky one to play on a
harmonica and to get it sounding smooth and fluent. Keith Armstrong suggested that as
Stevie Wonder was touring in England, why not ask him? Keith knew Stevie's UK
representative, Keith Harris, manager for Junior and Paul Johnson, and sent him a tape on
the chance that Stevie Wonder may listen to it and agree to coming into the studio, which
is what eventually happened. He came into the studio after the Wembley gig and offered
his services.
Paddy, a big admirer of Stevie's The Secret Life of Plants, was flattered and impressed
with his physical presence, his perfectionism and his attitude to work. He works
miraculously long hours and makes do with cat-naps. He precedes his huge entourage,
who follows him around everywhere and has to suffer his unpredictable movements.
Being a perfectionist, Stevie Wonder didn't mind re-taking due to one or two hiccups
during recording. McAloon, meantime, was being thrown into absolute paranoia in the
process.
This collaboration saw the band visit Stevie's studio, 'Wonderland', in Los Angeles
when they moved over to work with Dolby. Here they recorded the song I Remember
That with Andrae Crouch and his disciples, the 20-strong choir who backed Michael
Jackson on Man in the Mirror. This was to be the nearest Paddy had been to giving up his
lead vocal in order to take a back seat in the proceedings. That's why he wanted Dolby to
produce the track.