After the seven-year gap between 1990's Jordan: The Comeback and 1997's Andromeda Heights, many Prefab Sprout fans were surprised by the comparatively brief four years between that album and 2001's The Gunman and Other Stories.
The album holds other surprises for the longtime Prefab Sprout fan; for one thing, backing vocalist Wendy Smith is absent, having left the group after the birth of her first child, and for another, it's a Western-themed concept album.
Actually, though, this last shouldn't be too surprising, as singer/songwriter Paddy McAloon has had a thing for the American West as far back as the 1984 single "Don't Sing," and has always shown a love of traditional country music, as on Prefab Sprout's 1985 cover of Jim Reeves' "He'll Have to Go." That said, this album owes more to Jim Webb than Jim Reeves.
In the manner of Jordan: The Comeback, this album has a nearly symphonic feeling.
Veteran producer Tony Visconti is a master of balancing orchestral parts with a rock rhythm section, and so The Gunman and Other Stories is considerably less airy than Andromeda Heights, which is not to say that it rocks out or anything.
The lush arrangements and just-so embellishments of strings and reeds recall the polite sterility of Visconti's '70s heyday, but as always, the melodic richness and evocative lyrics of McAloon's songs keep them from being boring, middle-of-the-road pop.
The glorious love song "Blue Roses" and the unapologetically silly "Farmyard Cat," a goofy square dance played by a full string section and bleeping electronic percussion with the dopiest lyrics of McAloon's career (yes, including the chorus of "The King of Rock and Roll"), are two particularly brilliant tracks.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cowboy DreamsPaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 05:19 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Wild Card in the PackPaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 03:40 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | I'm a Troubled ManPaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 03:19 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Love Will Find Someone for YouPaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 03:23 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Cornfield AblazePaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 04:48 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | When You Get to Know Me BetterPaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 03:08 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | The GunmanPaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 08:39 | 19 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Blue RosesPaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 03:11 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | Farmyard CatPaddy McAloon | Prefab Sprout | Play | 03:13 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Streets Of Laredo/Not Long For This World | Prefab Sprout | Play | 04:38 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 43 mins | 99 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sarah Adams | Viola |
| 2 | Carlos Alomar | Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Slide Guitar |
| 3 | James Campagnola | Saxophone |
| 4 | DJ Salinger | Programming |
| 5 | Stuart Douglas | Photography |
| 6 | Joe Hurley | Vocals |
| 7 | John Hurley | Handclapping, Vocals (Background) |
| 8 | Gregor Kitzis | Violin |
| 9 | Dorothy Lawson | Cello |
| 10 | George Marino | Mastering |
| 11 | Martin McAloon | Bass, Bass (Electric), Vocals |
| 12 | Paddy McAloon | Arranger, Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Handclapping, Keyboards, Organ, Percussion, Programming, Synthesizer, Vocals |
| 13 | Martha Mooke | Viola |
| 14 | Richie Morales | Drums |
| 15 | Jeff Pevar | Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Lap Steel Guitar, Mandolin |
| 16 | Prefab Sprout | Primary Artist |
| 17 | Laura Seaton | Violin |
| 18 | Traditional | Composer |
| 19 | Tony Visconti | Bass, Digital Editing, Double Bass, Engineer, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Rhythm), Percussion, Producer, String Transcription, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 20 | Eric Weissberg | Banjo |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |