MYTHS, MELODIES & METAPHYSICS: - Prefab Sprout

Politics and religion soon joined Hollywood and TV as branches of show business. As
suggested by Peter Ustinov in his novel The Old Man and Mr. Smith, people became
satisfied in using religion as "a means of consolation which turns into a weakness, a refuge
from the battlefield of life, a reason for laying down the burden of responsibility." The
American dream no longer existed. It became what it is, literally: a dream.
McAloon wanted to use the idea of this festering fantasy in various comparisons on the
album. In Cars and Girls he writes, "Brucie dreams life's a highway - may he never wake
up". He doesn't dissuade 'dreamers', on the contrary. He toys with Springsteen's language
of cars, girls and the highway as metaphors for life. In reality, back on the industrial
grounds of the north east, he sees us getting car sick and shatters the dream into fact.
In The King of Rock 'n' Roll the ageing veteran clad in outdated flares and sequins is in
fact just a "high precision ghost". Images and dreams are embraced in compromise. In the
video for the song, a copy of a poolside scene from Elvis' film Blue Hawaii was used -
ironic really, as Elvis started singing spiritual/gospel songs and commercially was
pressured by 'Colonel' Tom Parker to produce more of the new 'rock 'n' roll' music which
was far more 'marketable.'
The Langley album plays on ideas, views and dreams rather than featuring specific
subjects or issues. McAloon relates to the whole concept:
"I remember this story about Paul Simon, about he and Art Garfunkel back in the sixties
when their first record, The Sound of Silence, got into the top 10 for the first time. They
heard a DJ on the radio say, 'Boy, I bet those boys are having a great time wherever they
are.' And Paul Simon says that at the time they were in a car in Brooklyn, or somewhere,
in a street and they didn't know where to go to have a good time - I think they were
having a cigarette or something. I think that there is a bit of truth in that you always
imagine that other people are having a glamorous time.
That's why I referred to "Langley Park to Memphis" in the song The Venus of the Soup
Kitchen. Memphis always sounds so exiting to someone in Langley Park and it simply
isn't true. That's how people are everywhere."
As a taster to the album, Cars and Girls was released in February 198’ setting a whole
new image for the band - bright, stylish and more commercially accessible. The TV people
loved the video, which was directed by Andy Morahan (George Michael, Aretha
Franklyn) and despite proving to be a 'dead cert' radio tune, only reached No. 44 in the
Gallup singles chart.
Much was Paddy quizzed, "Is it a dig at Bruce Springsteen?" But why should he do
that? No, it was a play on the rock 'n' roll imagery conjoured up in Springsteen's kind of
language, which is made up of almost romantic metaphors when he relates to the
highway. It would be a double-standard, McAloon claims, to use what he does and then
criticize Springsteen.
CBS decided against sending out copies of the single to the music papers in favour of a
bigger attack at the radio networks (there was a DJ 7" issued with two mixes of the track)
and also promoting the single/album via a long haul of interviews and video broadcasting
on TV. The cover art on the single sleeve was spectacular - a denim jeans-clad matchstick
in 'axeman' guitar pose with its head aflame (with ideas and zeal). The model was the
creation of Gerry Judah (Greenpeace anti-fur campaign). The model was a rip-off of a