I POLLED the Megahertz - ILM Artist Poll #100 - Prefab Sprout - RESULTS

Wow, it looks like I'm the only #1 vote for Langley Park. Steve McQueen is more consistent but it took a while to grow on me, whereas Langley Park bowled me over immediately and never stopped hitting.

It's funny the connections albums make. SM/TWG for me evokes summer of '88, dragging a ping pong table from basement to lawn on sunny Ballard days, playing beer pong with SM/TWG and Temple of Low Men cranked. Makes a quality album that much better.

I was surprised by the rollout - Steve McQueen and Jordan vying for the top two spots is totally expected, but I would have picked Megahertz to come third on ILX.

It has some really good songs, but From Langley Park To Memphis doesn't work as an album for me. I read an interview with McAloon where he spoke to Paul McCartney and McCartney referred to 'The King of Rock and Roll' as McAloon's 'My Ding-a-ling'.

It took me a long time to enjoy Swoon - it's just about the densest pop album I've ever heard.

I still don't really 'get' Swoon. Probably a factor in its durability for me.

Nice to see some positivity regarding AH here, after I went to bed.

Poor Crimson/Red though. No one wants to say anything about it at all? :)

It starts off well and ends well, I can't remember much about the songs in between. This poll has reminded me how little attention I've paid to the albums since Jordan. I need to rectify that.

C/R certainly sounds great, probably due to the engineer, who I think also produced The Blue Nile's best albums. I rated "The Best Jewel Thief In The World" and "Billy" amongst my top tracks. Can't easily recall any of the others on that album, though.

"adolescence" is brilliant and i forgot to vote for it :(

crimson/red and let's change the world with music both quite underrated here!

https://images2.imgbox.com/9a/8c/93WazKPt_o.jpg

I'll drop a few these now, I think. Maybe the whole lot?

There are a lot of ties and the distribution is pretty flat, as expected. I'll just regurgitate what was submitted and leave you to find whatever patterns might be lurking. :)

#32 (TIE)
Score: 1
Votes: 1 (0)

…I am the next poet laureate
And she is the cherry Madonna
And all of the summer is hers.

- I Trawl the Megahertz

In the morning I go walking,
It helps the hurting soften
I've seen a lot of places,
'cos I miss her very often

- Technique

Didn't vote in this, but I would've quoted those exact lines from Technique.

#28 (TIE)
Score: 2
Votes: 1 (0)

All my silence and my strained respect
Missed chances and the same regrets

- Bonny

The sunset makes a fence out of the forest

- Faron Young

Michael, help me write a letter to you-know-who
I will sign it ‘Lucifer Regrets’

- Michael

Now everybody wears the look
Of the child that wished to marry you
Who knocking proudly on your door
Was greeted by your pretty wife

- The World Awake

every lyric on bonny is fantastic, so, logically, i didn't vote for any of 'em

#18 (TIE)
Score: 3
Votes: 1 (0)

If you take, then put back good
If you steal, be Robin Hood
If your eyes are wanting all you see
Then I think I'll name you after me

- Appetite

No one planned it
Took it for granted

- Bonny

I could love you till the stars don’t shine
But I’m not yours and you’re not mine

- The End of the Affair

We’re talking fire
We’re talking flame
We’re talking ice into ashes
But death is a small price for heaven

- The Ice Maiden

Don’t goodbyes deserve some Bach, not Barbershop

- Jesse James Bolero

All my lazy teenage boasts
Are now high precision ghosts
And they're coming round the track
To haunt me

- The King of Rock 'n' Roll

We chopped a billion trees
To print up eulogies

- Moondog

My love and I, we are boxing clever
She'll never crowd me out
Fall be free as old confetti
And paint the town, paint the town

- When Love Breaks Down

There was a boy I used to be
I guess that he was cold
If she came to buy him now
How cheaply he'd be sold

- We Let The Stars Go

Whoops, meant to post this non-tie first. Sorry.

#27
Score: 2
Votes: 2 (0)

You and I won't be the fools that other lovers are
thinking every silver bottle top potentially a star

- All the World Loves Lovers

#14 (TIE)
Score: 4
Votes: 1 (0)

A century has shut its eyes and who are we to wake it?

- Carnival 2000

Little boy got a hot rod
Thinks it makes him some kind of new god
But this is one race he won't win

- Cars & Girls

Desire as a sylph figured creature who changes her mind

- Desire As

We're only men and women doing what we can
Sometimes I think that God is working to a plan
Then other times I swear that he is improvising
Discordant and remote

- The Sound of Crying

shout out to all my votes at #18 lol

Unranked ballot presumably? That must be how it was interpreted, at least!

One voter quoted the second line here. I grouped it with a vote for broader verse.

#13
Score: 4
Votes: 2 (0)

The dream helps you forget you ain't never danced a step
You were never fleet of foot, hippy
All the pathos you can keep for the children in the street
For the vision I have had is sweeping

- King of Rock’n’Roll

Unranked ballot presumably? That must be how it was interpreted, at least!

― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Monday, March 16, 2020 6:10 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes it was! but i thought maybe at least one other voter would vote for just one of my choices.

lol all of my lyrics placed

A bunch of first-place votes...

#8 (TIE)
Score: 5
Votes: 1 (0)

Her eyes china blue saucers, she's born that way
She tastes of apple strudel, you can tell she does
- Diana

If there ain't a heaven that holds you tonight they never sang doo-wop in Harlem
- Doo Wop in Harlem

Oh Anne Garland, You can't call this heartbeat a man
- Ghost Town Blues

Never let your conscience grow harmful to your health
Let no neurotic impulse turn inward on itself
- Life of Surprises

Daddies shook their fists at hidden communists
- Moondog

oh wait i forgot life of surprises!

The 'Diana' excerpt was mine, I believe. Must be -- not many seem to rate that slightly ludicrous song!

#6 (TIE)
Score: 5
Votes: 2 (0)

And there’s nothing pathetic
Listing clothes she’d wear
If it proves that I had you
If it proves I was there

- I Remember That

Life's not complete till your heart's missed a beat
And you'll never make it up, or turn back the clock

- Goodbye Lucille #1

NO YOU WON'T

xpost to some previous comments: For as much as some might say 'KIng of Rock and Roll' is Prefab Sprout's 'My Ding a Ling,' the lyrics are ace!

^ They are rather!

Given that I already said they were first-place votes up there, this is clearly how this bit should have read:

#8 (TIE)
Score: 5
Votes: 1 (1)

#5
Score: 5
Votes: 3 (0)

You surely are a truly gifted kid
But you're only good as the last great thing you did

- Moving The River

#4
Score: 6
Votes: 2 (0)

Paris, any music worth its salt is good for dancing
Paris, but I tried to be the Fred Astaire of words

- Paris Smith

Both of those are great lyrics and both feature in songs that have some serious clunkers in them too

#3
Score: 10
Votes: 2 (2)

Here she is with two small problems
And the best part of the blame
Wishing she could call him ‘Heartache’
But that’s not a boy’s name

- Appetite

The top 2 form another tie, perhaps unsurprisingly. I'll not attempt to build suspense...

#1 (TIE)
Score: 10
Votes: 3 (0)

I’ve got six things on my mind
You’re no longer one of them

- Desire As

"We were songbirds
We were Greek gods
We were singled out by fate
We were quoted out of context
It was great

- Electric Guitars

oh lol i voted for that "electric guitars" lyric too

I didn't vote, but this line from Moving the River was robbed!

But I'm turkey hungry, I'm chicken free
And I can't breakdance on your knee.

Oh yeah!

I've just been fiddling with the final tracks results. I think a top 60 is feasible, but I'll spread it out at fairly long intervals between now and Friday. Interested parties can tune in and out without much risk of missing massive chunks of concentrated posting. Besides, I can't do as many late nights for disparate timezones this time!

https://images2.imgbox.com/eb/2b/YTs5gdy4_o.jpg

https://images2.imgbox.com/6d/a9/qOEr500M_o.jpg

#60
TIFFANYS
from Protest Songs (1989)
Points: 59
Votes: 3 (0)
Youtube audio

The Spotify playlist is also being updated now. (Massive spoiler, for maybe three people: the dummy track that was in it originally is not going to place!)

Feels like I shouldn't use up my, too low straight away but I really love this one and I would have liked to see it higher. It's my favourite song on Protest Songs.

https://images2.imgbox.com/86/83/b15W78K0_o.jpg

#59
COULDN'T BEAR TO BE SPECIAL
from Swoon (1984)
Points: 61
Votes: 6 (0)
Youtube audio

Imagine making an album as great as Jordan: The Comeback and it legit definitely not being your best album.

https://images2.imgbox.com/46/8e/p2VJzfQx_o.jpg

#57 (TIE)
MACHINE GUN IBIZA
from Jordan: The Comeback {1990)
Points: 62
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube audio

Hi, this is God here...

https://images2.imgbox.com/9a/82/JP6JmPnh_o.jpg

#57 (TIE)
ONE OF THE BROKEN
from Jordan: The Comeback {1990)
Points: 62
Votes: 4 (0)
Youtube audio

Wow i thought Tiffany's might be a Top 10 contender.

One of the broken is way too low, it’s a beautiful lyric and it arrives at the point of the album where you might actually believe paddy is singing with the divine provenance

it's also one of paddy's own favorites, and who am i to argue with the man himself

Here's Paddy talking about 'Jordan: The Comeback' (available as a double LP for the first time) and how the tracks at the end helped define the final sound of the album.

What's your favourite track from the album?

Pre-order your copies here: https://t.co/uKNWtH6Kkq pic.twitter.com/jL47lTKGG7

— Prefab Sprout (@Prefabsprout) September 5, 2019