Paddy McAloon & Thomas Dolby on ‘How We Made Steve McQueen’
*22nd June
Steve McQueen is 35*
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
by 8 Comments
Paddy McAloon & Thomas Dolby on ‘How We Made Steve McQueen’
*22nd June
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It’s an album I love, though for me it runs Jordan: The Comeback a close second. But reading that article and watching the video emphasizes how much of a studio band Prefab Sprout were, and just how much influence Thomas Dolby had on them. I saw them live twice and was quite disappointed both times, whilst their videos have not only dated horribly, but would actively put off anyone unfamiliar with their songs from exploring further. Wendy Smith comes over as simpering as Princess Di, and Paddy’s vest is straight out of the Wham! book of 80s style.
Thomas Dolby’s book is excellent and describes how he’d almost given up on music until he heard Paddy’s demo tape.
Thought he was older. Brilliant in The Great Escape.
Who as a boy didn’t want to be Steve McQueen? The Motorbike. The baseball bounce in the ‘cooler’. Do boys have heroes anymore?
As an aside. Fab album.
in a nice synchronicity, I picked up a second hand copy of this album not two days ago, based on it getting good notices forever, but never knowingly having heard it – and now it’s all this. I was surprised the that production is as understated as it is. Lush and opulent on first listen, but was expecting more blipppety bloppity when I saw Thomas Dolby was at the helm. Loving the two listens I’ve has so far, and nice to approach something with fresh ears but with a wealth of available literature about a much thought-about LP.
Am album that repays repeated listening, I did a daily blog about each of the tracks in turn, some three years ago.
I don’t think I listened to anything else for about 6 months after buying this. It was on constant repeat.
Thomas Dolby’s book is an interesting read/listen as well. He comes across as a pretty decent bloke.
The acoustic version is worth a listen.