Some nice items from my collection...
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The Sprouts' self-released first single, "Lions in My Own Garden: Exit Someone" b/w "Radio Love." 1000 pressed.
On the left is the first
Kitchenware single (same record as the Candle single), on the right is the
second Kitchenware single.
Both are pre-Swoon.
The nifty collectable to the left
is the earliest promotional piece on Prefab Sprout that I am aware of. It was
probably produced in late 1983 or early 1984 prior to the release of Swoon,
perhaps in support of it. The first two pages have an article by Emma Welles,
the woman who went on to write the liner notes for Swoon. I've reproduced those two pages; hopefully you'll be able to read
them.
The balance of the piece consisted of two articles on the band by Sounds and the NME from April and August 1983 respectively, a few clippings of reviews on the first two singles, and a discography (!) with four entries: the two singles, the first EP (which comprised the two singles), and Swoon, again I believe in anticipation of its arrival.
By the way, the photographs on the piece are as they appear here, heavy on
the contrast.
This is the earliest magazine
cover I know about featuring the Sprouts; it's dated January 14, 1984. There
may be earlier magazines with them on the cover; this is just the earliest I
had. The best part is the photo inside which shows the band: Paddy, Wendy,
Martin, and Steve Dalder. Who the hell is Steve Dalder? Tony Harris writes:
"He...was a well-known figure in Newcastle at the time. He had played in a
band called "The Eastside Torpedoes" who were an r'n'b band who
everybody hoped would make it big. They made one album (which I don't think Steve
was on) which when it got it's limited play on national radio was described as
the sort of thing Eric Burdon from "The Animals" would have liked to
play in. Steve was nicknamed "Stallone" by the rest of the band who
included a well-known figure from the Newcastle scene called Nigel Stanger who
had played in an early incarnation of the Animals and then went on to set up
the Newcastle Arena with Chas Chandler of the Animals (again) and sadly died
last year."
That's Steve Dalder on the left.
John Birch stumbled on a bunch of
these rather nondescript badges/pins in a record store. He recognized that the
artwork was from the picture sleeve for the Sprouts' second single, "The
Devil Has All the Best Tunes" / "Walk On" and bought the lot.
Even more remarkable was that this happened in the late 80's, if I recall
correctly. I've seen another pin like this for sale on eBay; it simply had the
script words "prefab sprout" on it; it appeared to be from the same
era.
Another fan (I apologize but I have forgotten who!) had collected the following badges and kindly sent me a scan, (in case you don't recognize it, the green one is of the apple core associated with "Appetite"). There are a couple other badges available in the "King of Rock 'n' Roll box set, (not shown here).
This is the label from the acetate
for Swoon. Acetates are a record of sorts, and are quite rare; only a few would
be produced, typically for the artist or producer to listen to in order to get
a sense of what the final (vinyl) product would sound like. Acetates were not
pressed like records, instead they were etched. They are only good for a few
listens. This one sounded identical to the final release of Swoon.
Epic Records US got off to a bad
start: they got the name of the band wrong on these early promo cassettes!
An early compilation of press
clippings distributed by Kitchenware. Note the modesty!
Emma Welles strikes again! This
time in a cassette interview promoting the release of "Steve McQueen"
and the first single. (Steve McQueen...motorcycle on the cover...'The Great
Escape'...get it?) Includes "When Love Breaks Down" and snippets from
six other songs on the album.
A transcription of this interview is now available.
Who the heck IS Emma Welles anyway? John Birch claims to have solved this
mystery based on some sleuthing he did. According to John, "Emma" was
actually one Paula Goldberg, who was affiliated with Kitchenware in the early
days. And the "Emma" sleeve notes on Swoon? Written by Paddy himself,
according to John. For more info, see John's
website.
Smash Hits issued this collector card on the band.
This 7" single always made
me laugh -- "El Rey Del Rock 'N' Roll" backed with "Autos y
Mujeres." This came from Argentina.
A nice promo brochure for "Two Wheels Good" (close up of one section below). When I get a chance, I'll provide a link to the text here.
Various rare items from this
period: To the right, the Sprouts' one vinyl picture disc (7"), which
abandons the title "Goodbye Lucille #1" altogether for "Johnny
Johnny" -- which is what everyone thought the song was called anyway.
(They also issued CD picture discs (not pictured here) for "Cars and
Girls," "We Let the Stars Go," and "Jordan: The Comeback.)
Below you will find the sheet music for "When Love Breaks Down,"
the Japanese 7" single for the track, and a Dutch 7" for
"Goodbye Lucille #1" with a nice cover variation.
An excellent, hard to obtain BBC
transcription disc (a record) of the Sprouts live.
An excellent bootleg CD of the very same BBC concert, but with an alternate ending track included as an extra. I'm sorry, but I can not help you obtain one of these.
If you thought that "Nancy" was never released as a single, well here it is. OK, even I don't know if I really believe this one or not, but here's the story: Supposedly, vinyl for pressing records was at one time something of a scarcity in Poland. Resourceful folks etched tunes into postcards. I actually played this thing on a turntable, and it worked. Sounded awful, but it worked. If you ever see a listing for a "Polish postcard disc," this is what they are talking about.
As far as I know, this is the only
book ever produced on the Sprouts. It was self-published by superfan John
Birch. You can contact John for
more information about this book.
Left: The promo cassette for
"Cars and Girls." Well, the case at least. I found this item in
Edinburgh; when I got back to California I discovered that the cassette inside
was by some female country-western singer.
Right: A counter display stand for the CD. Note the CD typography is the
later, "alternate" style.
In case you were wondering what
the thinking was behind the "Cars and Girls" artwork...
Two more unusual cassettes: On
the left, an Australian five-song sampler series called The 12" Tapes(?)
On the right, the Sprouts ("From Langley Park to Memphis") and
Talking Heads ("Naked") together at last on an Indonesian cassette,
on Atlantic Records no less!
A rare, 12" box promo for
"The King of Rock 'n' Roll" (actually only contained a 7"
single). There is a real game inside, with trivia questions, a die, and spaces
on the circular board that includes instructions like: "Get prime time
slot on pop show, show is axed - move back two spaces," "Refuse
interviews for 15 years, you're an enigma! - advance 4 spaces,"
"Re-release single for 5th time, it's a hit - advance 3 spaces,"
"Name record after famous person only to be sued - move back 4
spaces," and so on.
(The variations in this image are due to the fact that I had to scan it in
pieces.)
A collectable perhaps, but not a
rarity. This is a U.S. promo-only CD for Machine Gun Ibiza. The quotes on the
front are from various record magazines, touting the brilliance of the track,
the band, the album, etc. It didn't work.
The very-hard-to-find Hey Manhattan!
promo snow dome. I'm not sure if these originally had an additional tag or not.
In small print across the bottom are the words "prefab sprout hey
manhattan!"
The awesome b-side bootleg CD, "Silhouettes" which is discussed at length on my "More Sprout Info" page.
A package of sparklers
distributed to promote "We Let the Stars Go."
A wonderful Japanese six-song promo sampler for "Jordan: the Comeback," with an interview. This image was sent to me by John Birch.
Inside cover and first page of the Jordan tour program, 1990. There is a fun Q&A in the program which I'll transcribe at some point. The link to that text will be here.
Christmas card from the
mid-eighties, signed.
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