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

Mine - bolded didn't place

Tracks:
The End Of The Affair
The Ice Maiden
Appetite
The Best Jewel Thief In The World
The World Awake
I Remember That
Cornfield Ablaze
Faron Young
Scarlet Nights
Billy
Jordan: The Comeback
The Sound Of Crying
I Trawl the Megahertz
When Love Breaks Down
Life Of Surprises
Looking For Atlantis
If You Don't Love Me
Cars And Girls
Moving The River
Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
Dublin
Let There Be Music
We Let The Stars Go
Moon Dog
The Dreamer
Electric Guitars
The Songs Of Danny Galway
Enchanted
Donna Summer
Pearly Gates

Albums:
Jordan: The Comeback
Steve McQueen
Crimson/Red
Protest Songs
I Trawl the Megahertz

And thanks very much for running the poll, it was fun!

FUN FACTS
Album tracks attracting no votes:
All Boys Believe Anything        JTC {1990)
The Mystery of Love              AH (1997)
Anne Marie                       AH (1997)
Whoever You Are                  AH (1997)
Steal Your Thunder               AH (1997)
Avenue of Stars                  AH (1997)
The Fifth Horseman               AH (1997)
I'm a Troubled Man               TG&OS (2001)
Streets of Laredo/Not Long...    TG&OS (2001)
Love Will Find Someone for You   TG&OS (2001)
When You Get to Know Me Better   TG&OS (2001)
The Gunman                       TG&OS (2001)
Fall from Grace                  ITtMHz (2003)
We Were Poor...                  ITtMHz (2003)
Orchid 7                         ITtMHz (2003)
Ineffable                        ITtMHz (2003)
Music Is a Princess              LCtWwM (2009)
Falling in Love                  LCtWwM (2009)
List of Impossible Things        C/R (2003)
Grief Built the Taj Mahal        C/R (2003)

List of Impossible Things and Orchid 7 were on my longlist

crazy to think that thomas dolby believed he never did justice to the song

― ooga booga-ing for the bourgeoisie (voodoo chili),

He didn't. I think it sounds stupid. I like the song a lot, fwiw.

anyway here's the real number one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StTYET71jDQ

TRACKS (all placed!)
Cars and Girls
Appetite
When Love Breaks Down
The King of Rock 'N' Roll
We Let the Stars Go
Moving the River
Wicked Things
Goodbye Lucille #1
Hey Manhattan!
Moon Dog
Doo-Wop in Harlem
Faron Young
Paris Smith
When the Angels
Scarlet Nights
The End of the Affair
Bonny
Looking for Atlantis
Wild Horses
A Prisoner of the Past

ALBUMS
Steve McQueen
Jordan: The Comeback
From Langley Park to Memphis

LYRICS
"If there ain't a heaven that holds you tonight / they never sang doo-wop in Harlem"
"Little boy got a hot rod / thinks it makes him some kind of new god / but this is one race he won't win"
"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"
"Any music worth its salt is good for dancing / but I tried to be the Fred Astaire of words"
"You were never fleet of foot, hippie"

Thanks, Nag!

I hear McAloon has an entire album of songs named 'Goodbye Lucille', hence the 'Goodbye Lucille #2'.

― aphoristical, Friday, 20 March 2020 00:41 (one hour ago)

I think he makes up stories about vast catalogues of unwritten work. If he had these songs he'd put them out.

sorry, unreleased work.

but I think unwritten is right!

Thanks, Nag!

I thought that writing a whole album of "Goodbye Lucille"s was a plan he never got around to following up on.

Tracks (ranked, bold didn't place):
Scarlet Nights
I Trawl The Megahertz
The Ice Maiden
Bonny
Goodbye Lucille #1
When Love Breaks Down
One Of The Broken
Appetite
We Let The Stars Go
All The World Loves Lovers
Cue Fanfare
Jesse James Bolero
I Remember That
King of Rock and Roll
Don’t Sing
The Sound of Crying
Moon Dog
Wild Horses
Cruel
Sleeping Rough
If You Don’t Love Me
Enchanted
The Golden Calf
Hallelujah
Carnival 2000
Knock On Wood
Moving The River
The Best Jewel Thief In The World
I'm 49
The Wedding March

Albums (ranked)
Jordan The Comeback
Steve McQueen
I Trawl The Megahertz
From Langley Park to Memphis
Swoon

Lyrics (unranked)
The Ice Maiden - “We’re talking fire, we’re talking flame/We’re talking ice into ashes/but death is a small price for heaven”
Moon Dog - “We chopped a billion trees/To print up eulogies”
Jesse James Bolero - “Don’t goodbyes deserve some Bach, not Barbershop”
King of Rock and Roll - “All my lazy teenage boasts/Are now high precision ghosts/And they're coming round the track/To haunt me.”
We Let The Stars Go - ‘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”

thanks nag, the poll was super fun.

these songs are sooo good.

Although Richard D. James did shock me by actually having albums worth of material that could have been released.

So, maybe, with Paddy? I really doubt it though.

he's just a mega bullshitter.

let's change the world with music was a whole unfinished album taken from the vaults and tweaked a little, and the songs on crimson/red date back to 1997 at the earliest apparently, he went through the vaults to choose songs to record as well as writing new ones for it. i don't think he has like rdj amounts of unreleased material but i'll happily believe he has a decent amount of demos for unreleased songs lying around at least

what i want him to release is the 30-minute version of one of the let's change the world with music tracks he supposedly made after misunderstanding what his label wanted him to do

These were, apparently, my non-placing selections. I was the lone voter (*) for half of them. *weeps*

Andromeda Heights
Tin Can Pot*
Radio Love
The Devil Has All the Best Tunes*
The Yearning Loins
Angel of Love*

Thanks for a fantastic poll Nag, every time the current situation started to get to me I would relieve the pressure with a bit of PS therapy!

Coming out of this I now know:

a) Of the three PS albums I own, Swoon is now my go-to and I have had snippets of songs from it bouncing around in my head for weeks...usually with the lyrics incorrect! Every song is awesome and Here on the Eerie and Ghost Town Blues were robbed.

b) Listening to the others on Spotify for a few weeks is not long enough to absorb them - dismiss a PS song at your peril; Hey Manhattan has got its hooks into me since I wrote my poll, what I thought was light and inconsequential has now become essential head music. Those disco strings are what done it.

c) As others have said, at least 3 of their albums for me would rank above most bands best single album...and those are just the ones I know well (albums 1, 2 and 5).

d) I need to own I Trawl the Megahertz NOW (and probably all the others)!

Can we do another one next week please?

Yes thank you N!N!N!, I haven't posted much in this thread but it's been very welcome this past week. Can't really argue with the top four - I had the same songs in a different order but really it's impossible to choose between them.

My ballot:

SONGS(ranked 1-30):
When Love Breaks Down
Goodbye Lucille #1
Appetite
Bonny
All the World Loves Lovers
Cars and Girls
Desire As
Life of Surprises
I Trawl the Megahertz
Hallelujah
We Let the Stars Go
Carnival 2000
The Ice Maiden
Jordan: The Comeback
The Golden Calf
Paris Smith
Looking for Atlantis
Moving the River
Wild Horses
...But We Were Happy
Don't Sing
The Sound of Crying
Green Isaac (I)
A Prisoner of the Past
Hey Manhattan!
Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
The Best Jewel Thief in the World
Technique
Scarlet Nights
Swans

ALBUMS (ranked 1-5):
Steve McQueen
Jordan: The Comeback
I Trawl the Megahertz
From Langley Park to Memphis
Swoon

Tracks:
The Sound of Crying
Appetite
Nightingales
Ride
Desire As
I Trawl the Megahertz
A Prisoner of the Past
Moon Dog
A Life of Surprises
Cars and Girls
When Love Breaks Down
Earth: The Story So Far
The Best Jewel Thief In the World
Cowboy Dreams
Bonny
Scarlet Nights
The King of Rock ’n’ Roll
Dublin
Til the Cows Come Home
Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
I Remember That
Looking for Atlantis
Jordan: the Comeback
Diana
Wild Horses
Horsin Around
Horsechimes
Enchanted
The Ice Maiden
Jesse James Bolero

Albums:
From Langley Park to Memphis
Steve McQueen
Let’s Change the World With Music
Protest Songs
Jordan: the Comeback

Another thanks for running this, Nags. Great music to have in my head this past week.

Only shut out on three: Michael (my #8), Bearpark (22), Life's a Miracle (29). The End of the Affair is so aggressively catchy in a If You Don't Love Me vein, but the demo beat and "I know, I know..." of Bearpark make it my favorite b-side.

Kudos to the lone Farmyard Cat vote! I was close to putting it on mine. It might be slight, but there's a glee in singing along with "Me - Me - Yow". Makes me think of the house-raising fight in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".

Only myself to blame for not voting, but I was *shocked* to see no placing for 'Girl I'm Here'

https://youtu.be/tWfHlt91n9k

Yes - thank you! Haven't been around as much as I'd like to chatter & comment - things a little busy because of the you-know-what - but it's been great to dip in.

I'd never heard the End of the Affair! So extra thanks to all the voters for that.

I scan down the post-40 results and just keep thinking 'but but but that's an amazing song' - Ghost Town Blues at 72! Some catalogue.

Proud to be lone voter for Green Isaac II. I like it sitting there right at the end.

Tracks

1. Desire As
2. Green Isaac (I)
3. Goodbye Lucille #1
4. The Golden Calf
5. Appetite
6. The World Awake
7. Lions in my own garden (exit someone)
8. The Best Jewel Thief in the World
9. Cornfield Ablaze
10. Nightingales
11. Life of Surprises
12. I Trawl the Megahertz
13. Cruel
14. Hallelujah
15. Elegance
16. I Never Play Basketball Now
17. Cars and Girls
18. I Remember That
19. Wild Horses
20. Adolescence
21. The Ice Maiden
22. All the world loves lovers
23. We Let the Stars Go
24. Ghost Town Blues
25. Hey Manhattan
26. Donna Summer
27. Moving the River
28. One of the Broken
29. Scarlet Nights
30. Green Isaac (II)

Albums:

1. Jordan: the comeback
2. Swoon
3. Steve McQueen
4. From Langley Park to Memphis
5. Crimson/Red

thank you Nag! one of the reasons that i made an unranked ballot was when i thought about Appetite and Bonny, i just could not pick one over the other. i sort of lost track of this band after Langley came out for some reason even though they were a total fave at the time. it and wasn't until Brad's Jordan enthusiasm a few months ago instigated somewhat of a rabbit hole excursion. but what a freaking solid discography, half of which i was completely unfamiliar with a couple weeks ago. oh, and my god, the vinyl reissue of Jordan is an amazing pressing and exquisite listen

thank you for the poll.
somehow i forgot to submiss my votes, but this will be a great soundtrack for the quarantine.
probably 'desire as' would be my #1.

Thanks for the poll and the discussion.
Definitely enjoyed listening to these albums again especially the more obscure B-sides and the albums I don't care for as much (Gunmen, ITtMhz).

Also, thanks to whomever posted the chord walkthrough videos. The first two records in particular have such unusual and interesting chord progressions but hearing them so much over the years diluted the impact/shock. Watching them played through made me appreciate them, esp. the Swoon songs, much more.

Note on albums. Flipped on TWG and Jordan a dozen times. I also vacillated on Andromeda Heights, Crimson/Red and LCTWTM as my fifth place and now wish I would have gone with Andromeda since it placed so low. I get a lot of the criticisms of that record, but if if you can get passed the easy listening instrumental passages and the prominent alto sax it has as many great songs (Prisoner, Electric Guitars, title track, Weightless, Swans, Avenue of Stars, Whoever You are) as the other those later records. To me Andromeda is a much better record than Protest Songs which outside a few songs (The World Awake, LoS, Pearly Gates) seems more undercooked and demo-y than LCTWM.

Note on songs. Totally flaked on Desire As - definitely should have been in the top 20 (as my wife immediately pointed out). Surprised by the lack of love for Last of the Great Romantics, Pearly Gates, and Meet the New Mozart, but baffled most by vote totals for Horsin' Around.

My Ballot:

Albums
1. Jordan: The Comeback
2. Two Wheels Good/Steve McQueen
3. Swoon
4. From Langley Park to Memphis
5. Crimson/Red

Songs
1. The Ice Maiden
2. Wild Horses
3. Faron Young
4. Scarlet Nights
5. Carnival 2000
6. Appetite
7. Don't Sing
8. We Let the Stars Go
9. When Love Breaks Down
10. Cue Fanfare
11. Jesse James Bolero
12. If You Don't Love Me
13. Bonny
14. The King of Rock N Roll
15. Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny)
16. Green Isaac (I)
17. Cars and Girls
18. Technique
19. The Sound of Crying
20. Life of Surprises
21. The Last of the Great Romantics
22. Nightingales
23. A Prisoner of the Past
24. The Songs of Danny Galway
25. Doo Wop in Harlem
26. Pearly Gates
27. The Best Jewel Thief in the World
28. Cruel
29. Meet the New Mozart
30. Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone)

weighted ballots ahoy

Tracks::
The Sound of Crying
Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny)
Nightingales
Scarlet Nights
Appetite
The Ice Maiden
Life of Surprises
Knock on Wood
Real Life (is Just Around the Corner)
Carnival 2000
I Trawl the Megahertz
Doo-Wop in Harlem
Bonny
All the World Loves Lovers
If You Don't Love Me
The World Awake
Cars and Girls
I Remember That
Green Isaac
Ride
Electric Guitars
Donna Summer
Wild Horses
Enchanted
Technique
Horsechimes
The King of Rock 'N' Roll
Cornfield Ablaze
Nero the Zero
Cruel

Albums:
Jordan: The Comeback
From Langley Park to Memphis
Steve McQueen
Let's Change the World with Music
Swoon

Lyrics:
"Never let your conscience grow harmful to your health / Let no neurotic impulse turn inward on itself" - Life of Surprises
"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
"We were songbirds / we were Greek gods / We were singled out by fate / We were quoted out of context / It was great" - Electric Guitars
"Now every child 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
"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

Again, many thanks, Nag! Here's my list which, if anything, shows I hold Protest Songs in a little higher regard than many other voters! I probably also should have listened to Jordan a little more during ballot creation.

Tracks:
1 Cruel
2 Goodbye Lucille #1
3 Elegance
4 Bonny
5 Faron Young
6 I Never Play Basketball Now
7 Appetite
8 Donna Summer
9 Wild Horses
10 Hallelujah
11 Horse Chimes
12 Talkin Scarlet
13 Moving The River
14 Machine Gun Ibiza
15 When Love Breaks Down
16 Mercy
17 Technique
18 Cue Fanfare
19 Enchanted
20 The Golden Calf
21 Diana
22 Looking for Atlantis
23 Wicked Things
24 Lions in My Own Garden
25 Adolescence
26 Paris Smith
27 Dublin
28 Horsin' Around
29 Life of Surprises
30 The Best Jewel Thief in The World

Albums:
1 Steve McQueen
2 Swoon
3 Protest Songs
4 Jordan: The Comeback
5 From Langley Park to Memphis

Yes, the Andromeda Heights era in general suddenly sounded a lot better to me - I haven't really revisited since feeling deep disappointment at the time.

I didn't vote in the lyrics poll (much too difficult, plus a couple of sentences taken out of context always seem underwhelming) but surprised that there were no votes for any lyrics from The Songs of Danny Galway. Ostensibly about Jimmy Webb, the lyrics of the second and third verses also seem to incorporate Paddy's post Swoon lyrical aspirations and are a good summation of his catalogue.

"In words he paints a vivid scene
Of places you may not have been
Yet listen and you're moved to swear
I know that house, I've climbed that stair
I've shared those overwhelming feelings
I've suffered loss, I've known such joy
Emotions we all know are burnished till they glow"

"chord changes like Baptist hymns
They lift your spirit till its soars
Till you forget that spirit's yours
Sound and word in sweet communion
Echoes of a better world
Where chivalry's not dead, we'll look for it instead"

On the C/R artist tributes I really love Mysterious too. When he's describing the "quicksilver task", it's like "to catch the world in images" fine, fine, bit flat maybe, but then "to annotate the feast" just a marvel.

great poll

i don't know the names of any of their songs for some reasons, kept having to check which one was which

Thanks for this poll. I didn't vote because I only know about half the catalogue. Time for a catch-up!

If anyone cares...

1. Swoon
2. Steve Mcqueen
3. Langley Park To Memphis
4. Jordan The Comeback
5. I Trawl The Megahertz

1. Bonny
2. Wild Horses
3.. When Love Breaks Down
4. Cruel
5. Appetite
6. We Let The Stars Go
7. I Remember That
8. Don’t Sing
9. Hallelujah
10. Goodbye Lucille
11. Technique
12. Cue Fanfare
13. Cars And Girls
14. The Best Jewel Thief In The World
15. The King Of Rock And Roll
16. Elegance
17. Radio Love
18. I Trawl The Megahertz
19. Lions In My Own Garden
20. Life Of Surprises
21. Blue Roses
22. Looking For Atlantis
23. Faron Young
24. Could’ve Bear To Be Special
25. Enchanted
26. The Venus Of The Soup Kitchen
27. Green Isaac
28. Horsin Around
29. The Yearning Loins
30. When The Angels

^ I care. Yours were the only other votes for "The Yearning Loins" and "Radio Love". Which means you roolz!

It just occurred to me that this is the first poll for which I've done the number-crunching where absolutely everyone submitting tracks also submitted an albums ballot. The latter is usually a smaller pool. This is surely a crucial and significant outcome, hinting at some deep truth about the artist but I'm not entirely sure what!

My ballot. Albums vote was tactical / applied EOY poll conventions.

LPs
01 Swoon
02 I Trawl the Megahertz

Songs
01 Goodbye Lucille #1
02 Jordan: The Comeback
03 Faron Young
04 Nightingales
05 Cruel
06 When the Angels
07 Horsin’ Around
08 Moon Dog
09 Here On the Eerie
10 Cue Fanfare
11 Moving the River
12 We Let The Stars Go
13 I Love Music
14 Desire As
15 Walk On
16 The King of Rock’N’Roll
17 One Of The Broken
18 Couldn’t Bear To Be Special
19 Scarlet Nights
20 Mercy
21 Appetite
22 Diana
23 Maching Gun Ibiza
24 Lions In My Own Garden (Exit Someone)
25 Don’t Sing
26 Paris Smith
27 The Ice Maiden
28 Wicked Things
29 Wild Horses
30 Looking For Atlantis

My main regret is not voting for "Technique".

TRACKS, RANKED
Appetite
Goodbye Lucille #1
Bonny
Desire As
Faron Young
When Love Breaks Down
Moving the River
Cue Fanfare
Jesse James Symphony
Jesse James Bolero
We Let The Stars Go
I Remember That
Nightingales
Scarlet Nights
Lions in My Own Garden
Enchanted
Carnival 2000
The End of the Affair
God Watch Over You
The Ice Maiden
Weightless
All The World Loves Lovers
The Sound of Crying
Life Of Surprises
Sweet Gospel Music
The Best Jewel Thief in the World
If You Don't Love Me
Wild Horses
Hallelujah
When the Angels

ALBUMS
Steve McQueen
Jordan: The Comeback
From Langley Park to Memphis
Andromeda Heights
Let's Change The World With Music

Has anybody heard the Jimmy Nail version of ‘Blue Roses’...I’ll stick my neck out and say it’s better the Prefab Sprout version...*sees people with pitchforks amassing on doorstep...

The fourth episode of the Netflix series I Am Not Okay With This opens with a teenage boy bouncing around his bedroom singing along with "The King of Rock and Roll." If I wasn't in love with the show before that point, I definitely am now.

i didn't vote in this, sorry, but i appreciated it. 'when love breaks down' might be their best song. might be the best song

I just realized Blueberry Pies only landed at 81 here. Absolutely ridiculous.

At least it's one track we know isn't modestly ranked due to being hopelessly under-heard. :)

Oh, dope! I didn't vote or follow the rollout, but I'm over the moon about "Appetite" winning.

I didn't post a ballot in March, but this will do.

The more I think about it, the more futile ranking PS songs is...my top ten is an ephemeral beast that could contain ten different songs from one day to the next.

...it's telling that a quarter of your top twenty didn't make the top forty in the ILX poll!

good list, but ya can’t quote ice maiden without including it dammit

I went to sleep with Spotify shuffling 2020 releases and woke to this conspicuously not-so-2020 sampled loop. Freaky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgGkr6Qi8ro