Steve McQueen

With last year's Swoon Prefab Sprout managed to divide critical opinion into two distinct camps: those who regarded Paddy McAloon as a modern-day Al Stewart, self-consciously sensitive, a wimp, and others who felt that 'Swoon' was the glittering emergence of a major new songwriter. I'm firmly in the latter category.

Along with Lloyd Cole McAloon is one of the leading graduates of the post-Costello school of songwriting and he is occasionally prone to the pitfalls of that genre, the upturned cliche and snappy observation taking the place of emotion, but on Steve McQueen he reveals a depth of feeling which Swoon barely hinted at, the more technical exercises in phrase juggling have been replaced by a warm simplicity, a true testament to his growing maturity as a songwriter.

The choice of Thomas Dolby as producer prompted much scratching of the head. How easily would the Sprout's off-beat song structures sit alongside the electronic wizardry of studio wunderkind Dolby? I needn't have worried. The production is beautifully understated with very few gimmicks. The songs far surpass the collection which made up Swoon, they're more direct, less wordy and structurally more accessible. With only one week track, the rather twee 'Blueberry Pies', the album boasts three absolute killers - 'When Love Breaks Down' you should know, it's on it's third release at the moment and is one of the best love songs of the last few years. The album's opener 'Faron Young' is a real surprise, a country/rockabilly romp with a demented banjo playing away at the back of the mix, and you thought this band were po-faced? Forget it! The standout track is side two's 'Desire As', a companion piece to 'Swoon's 'Cruel' and one of the most aching love-lost songs I've ever heard. The lyric is kept relatively simple, but its sung which such feeling as to obliterate any accusations that McAloon's songs are academic exercises in emotion and detached from the real thing. If this song doesn't convince you of his intentions then nothing will.

Other highlights include the jazz-tinged 'Horsin' Around' and the almost-but-not-quite disco of 'When The Angels', surely the next single.

The album stands as proof that when he resists the temptation to box clever-clever McAloon is capable of stunning results. The progression from Swoon to this collection of guilt-edged laments from the yearning loins is as much a quantum jump as was Costello from My Aim Is True to This Year's Model. This is a wonderful record and is already my nomination for Album of the Year.

And NO, I haven't the faintest idea why it's called Steve McQueen.