MYTHS, MELODIES & METAPHYSICS: - Prefab Sprout

some money for other people but you also stand to get a lot of record sales and you've got
to watch your motives very carefully, so I'm cynical about other groups."
Other examples of this hatred of piousness are quoted in The Power and the Glory. One
village that the priest reached had in it a woman who wanted to take communion just to
be able to tell her friends and family that she was probably going to be one of the last to
receive it. As McAloon puts it, if a doctor is working as a doctor solely for the money, then
his morals are wrong. As Elizabeth Gaskell said of Florence Nightingale, "She has no
friend - she wants none. She stands perfectly alone, halfway between God and his
creatures."
Other connotations towards these beliefs are found in The Venus of the Soup Kitchen,
sang with the backing of gospel singers, and in One of the Broken, where he insists that
God would much rather receive our prayers through our devotion and allegiance to one
another, saying, "Come get up off your knees."
McAloon, confirming his hatred of piousness, keeps his interview schedules to a
minimum and would rather his songs become more famous for their quality than himself
as a person, proclaiming, "I Couldn't Bear To Be Special", accentuating the message with
the word, "Right!" McAloon wishes that people could have a better understanding about
moral issues, where we are in a world which concentrates teaching our children science
and technology rather than teaching wisdom.
In between Langley Park and Jordan: The Comeback McAloon's father died after a long
illness. This served to focus McAloon's efforts towards the project already conceived
during the recording of Langley.
McAloon has unwittingly left a litter of biblical references throughout his works, but
made a point on Jordan dedicating one of the four 'suites' on the album to God and death.
He likes to write equally with the point of view of a 'believer' and also of an 'onlooker' in
terms of religious subjects. He redefines what is found in faith and destiny. McAloon uses
the River Jordan as the scene for being received by God throughout the album, the river
itself the location of many a religious confrontation, good and bad. Once again, McAloon's
use of suggestive lyrics creates a mood and an aesthetic for his subject. The music in the
Jordan 'religion' suite took on board gospel and hymn styles, for which Neil Conti was a
natural agent, having played drums previously for a gospel choir.
Whatever McAloon's views on religion, he suggests that his beliefs are modern, up-todate
and accessible. His songs offer compassion and equality and the religious sit among
the non-religious comfortably.
The spirit of gospel music appealed to McAloon as optimistic, offering 'good news', the
'gospel truth', the promise of a better life hereafter, refusing to grieve over the inevitable -
death. Gospel music began as an extension of the old 'spirituals' and in the 1920's grew
greatly in popularity through the Baptist Church. The gospel styles then passed into the
Methodist Churches of Chicago, where they experimented in blending gospel and white
country folk music, eventually dissolving its harsher forms of southern preachers into
popular music.
McAloon admired in Elvis Presley his obvious delight in gospel music over the early
rock 'n' roll music. Presley was born in East Tupelo, Mississippi and went to high school
in Memphis. He was brought into gospel music during periodic visits to a black Baptist