Jordan: The Comeback

Prefab Sprout | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 7, 1990)
• Original Release Date: October 2, 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000273P
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,154 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Jordan: The Comeback is Prefab Sprout's crowning moment, a pop album whose ambition--and achievement--challenge and ultimately top those of, say, XTC's Skylarking. Group mastermind Paddy McAloon covers the gamut here, ranging from incisive takes on American legends (Elvis and Jesse James) to love songs both wistful ("We Let the Stars Go") and self-assured ("Looking for Atlantis"). Jordan climaxes with "One of the Broken," a singular plea for compassion in which McAloon assumes the character of none other than God. --Rickey Wright

Product Description

Paddy MacAloon is arguably one of England's finest modern songwriters, and this 1990 release was a gloriously overlong melange of styles, bound together by some of his most inspired melodies. The nineteen tracks cover a typically diverse range of subject matters, including a quartet of songs about the rise and fall of Elvis Presley that provide the album with its thematic core. Elsewhere, on songs such as "We Let The Stars Go", "All The World Loves Lovers" and "Doo Wop In Harlem" MacAloon's songwriting hit new peaks. Never gaining the commercial success it deserved, "Jordan: The Comeback's" heady brew even appeared to be a step too far for MacAloon, who did not release another album for seven years. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest Album in the Past 30 Years, October 18, 1999

By 

Rich - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jordan: The Comeback (Audio CD)

It's hard to believe that anyone will ever top this masterpiece. Paddy McAloon goes straight for the head, heart and soul with this astonishing group of songs about life, love, death and hope. The final set is the only truly great synthesis of thoughtful theology, mystical spiritualism and pop music that any contemporary artist has yet to produce. The ode to Jesse James/Elvis is the best narrative set of pop songs ever recorded, unique in terms of structure, sophistication and subtlty. McAloon's take on love is both wry and romantic: he'll fall for the girl every time, no matter how it's bound to end. And Carnival 2000 is the ultimate millenium song -- a prayer for forgiveness coupled with an anthem of hope for the future.

One of the best groups in pop history at peak form -- even if you've never heard these of guys, you owe yourself a listen. There's nothing else like Prefab Spout.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even more brilliant than others have claimed, June 12, 2005

By 

Sir Snoper "Al Cools" (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jordan: The Comeback (Audio CD)

Great Beauty. Mastery. Breadth. Depth. Integral Balance. Humour. A dark streak. On and On and On.

And it came from that golden time: when alternative music was truly alternative and not a commercial peg; when the legacies of psychedelia, the singer-songwriter tradition -- and just about anything else you can imagine, had the opportunity to allign itself in the practiced, collective geniueses of McAloon and Dolby; there must have been hell to pay.

The album may prove to be hermetic though; its references may resonate for relatively few lucky people. Count yourself lucky.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Prefab's last, truly great album, May 21, 2002

By 

Lypo Suck (Hades, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jordan: The Comeback (Audio CD)

"Jordan: the Comeback" is an epic. That means that yes, it's a loosely conceptual album that aims for a grand statement with impassioned songs, but yes, that also means quality control kind of went out the window. Prefab songwriter/singer Paddy McAloon revised the 70s prog concept album with "Jordan" making it a concept album in two parts: side 1 is a vague, romanticized American patchwork, with references to the Cold War and Jesse James, much of it loosely tying into an Elvis theme. Side 2 is apparently about love and God, and McAloon tackles the subject with his typically keen wit and insight, though he occasionally succumbs to sentimental sappiness.

Many of "Jordan's" songs are finely-crafted, lush, gorgeously melodic, deceptively simple, soulful, gossamer pop that may send chills down the spine of the most hardened misanthrope. "Looking for Atlantis," with its driving beat and airy melodies, gets the album off to an energetic start before slipping into the soul/jazz minimalism of the slinky "Wild Horses" (about an old geezer pining for jailbait). "Jesse James Bolero" is a beautiful, moody number set to an upbeat bolero, with lyrics that use the imagery of Jesse James as a metaphor for Elvis and all that he embodies in American culture. The song contains some interesting parallels with Brian Wilson's "Smile"-era work, particularly "Cabinessence."

The upbeat, catchy "Moondog" romanticizes and condemns America's Cold War "Red" paranoia. Other tunes worth mentioning are the dramatic, swoony beauty of "The Ice Maiden" and the soft, mesmerizing "Paris Smith." From there, however, "Jordan" slips noticeably downhill with tripe like "Wedding March" and the trite closer "Doo Wop in Harlem." McAloon could've easily shaved off the last quarter of "Jordan," and we'd still be left with a mind-blowing album of high consistency and tremendous depth. But, cutting it off there evidently would've left "Jordan" conceptually incomplete; it's just too bad things have to go south for McAloon to finish his ruminations on the subject. Regardless, "Jordan" is still a wonderful album that's easily as recommendable as "Steve McQueen" or "Swoon."