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Writer, filmmaker and co-host of the Box Office GROSS podcast Rob Stammitti joins me from Pittsburgh to begin a miniseries on the UK cult band Prefab Sprout, a critically acclaimed band that sold millions of albums and yet didn’t become as huge as they deserved to be. They were hard to categorize, barely toured outside of continental Europe and were somewhat out of step with prevailing trends in popular music in their day and still left behind a fascinating body of work that more people should be aware of.

In part one we discuss arriving late to the game in discovering Prefab Sprout and the long shadow Paddy McAloon casts on modern music before returning to the origin story in County Durham, England, their attention-getting early singles and then track-by-track on their 1984 debut LP Swoon (Songs Written Out Of Necessity). McAloon throws down the gauntlet here, combining post-punk with Bacharach and Broadway influences to create a stunning set at odds with the commercial trends of the era, songs about hard-to-express emotions presented in complex arrangements, which also served as a portrait of the artist as a young man and his declaration of intent, which included projecting an insane youthful self-confidence in his own greatness and great scorn for his contemporaries, wanting to be compared to Sondheim, not Spandau Ballet.

Along the way we discuss the importance of Wendy Smith’s voice, the Steely Dan factor, Paddy’s “Shots Fired” diss tracks, and some of our favourite moments from Swoon that we hope will Sproutpill the uninitiated.

Follow Rob Stammitti on Bluesky, subscribe to his Substack, visit his YouTube page and listen to his podcast with Brian Schmid, Box Office GROSS.

“Side by Side with Sondheim – Swoon and the Great American Musical”, from the Sproutology website, a great resource for the Sproutpilled.

Music video for Don’t Sing, Prefab Sprout, 1984