38 Carat Collection is a very nice set of splendid and crafty tunes, including both "hit" singles and other less well known titles. I do already own every Sprout CD, but this double set is interesting for two reasons : you've got a previously unreleased track on it, and I do believe that the songs have been remastered. Clearly, the sound quality is better than on the usual albums. Prefab Sprout is one of the best band you'll ever meet. If you don't know their works, please do yourself a favor : buy 38 Carat Collection !
At $25 for a double-CD import, this is a steal. As for the music, in my book, Paddy McAloon is the most unappreciated, neglected, or just unknown songwriter of his generation. In Britain, he's taken for granted. Over here, he's all but unknown, which should be corrected by this release. This guy--and his band--deliver song after song brimming with melodicism, inventive time changes and unique chordal touches, beautiful orchestral and vocal arrangements, equal parts melancholy and joy, and just plain good music. Sure, some of the lyrics can be cliched, trite and somewhat precious. But, even when they are, he has an undeniable knack for redeeming the song through melodic hooks. Face it, even in his prime, McCartney's lyrics could be lightweight, but his genius for melody rode to the rescue time and time again. So it is with the other Mac---Paddy McAloon. In fact, if you want to pass the torch...I'd say that McCartney can be mentioned in the same breath as MacManus (Elvis C.) and so with McAloon. In each case, the Irish spirit of heartfelt expression is infused with the British genius for pop imagination resulting in flawlessly written and performed songs. As for the songs, there are 38 gems from the band's entire oeuvre. About 25 are classics, 10 are awesome and 3 are just good--which is still 10 times better than most of the nonsense that passing for songwriting these days. As he sings, "Life's A Miracle." So is this CD.
