Paddy McAloon, take a bow. I now can’t stop listening to Life of Surprises. As with many things, I don’t know why. “Never say you’re bitter, Jack/Bitter makes the worst things come back.”
A Life of Surprises, the album, collects many of Prefab Sprout’s best songs, from Two Wheels Good to Andromeda Heights. On several songs, the production did date; on many, however, the songwriting triumphed over the synthesizers.
On a related note, it was only Charles, an old officemate, who recognized the origin of my Facebook status message: “Never let your conscience be harmful to your health.” I might change it to “Where’s Me Jumper” tomorrow. Or maybe not.