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Japanese import available on Epic/Sony (32 8P 132) with a running time of 40.47. Alongside debuts by the Smiths, Aztec Camera, Lloyd Cole, and others, Prefab Sprout's debut album, SWOON, announced a new, more guitar-based sound in British pop. In the case of this Newcastle, England, trio, that new sound features quirky, off-kilter acoustic-guitar-based songs equally beholden to Elvis Costello, Cole Porter, and Hank Williams and unique, knotty lyrics offering an idiosyncratic, often obscure, new slant on classic subjects like death, sex, and politics. While singer/songwriter Paddy McAloon's later albums are increasingly smooth and sophisticated, SWOON is prickly yet inviting, with songs like "Here on the Eerie," the harmonica-tinged "Don't Sing," and the whirling "Technique" simultaneously deeply strange and instantly engaging. While McAloon's graceful piano ballad "Cruel" foreshadows the compositional clarity and refinement of later albums like JORDAN: THE COMEBACK, the rest of SWOON is the sound of a young band with almost more ideas than it knows what to do with.
