Music is a princess
I'm just a boy in rags
I would gladly spend my life
carrying her bags
If in dying I'd move her or make her heart stir
if I thought for one moment I'd be missed
but extravagant gestures are wasted on her
she's a princess, I'm Oliver Twist
Music is a princess
I will remain unknown
falling asleep at night
dreaming of her throne
But her jewels are brighter than my eyes can bear
and although she is something to die for
I do not have the slipper she's waiting to wear
I'm a boy dressed in rags at her door
Prefab Sprout imaju novi album, Let's Change The World With Music (Kitchenware Records). Zapravo, strogo govoreci, niti je u pitanju "novi" album ovog benda niti je u pitanju bend, barem kakvim ga se secamo. Pesme na ploci koja je pred nama samostalno je napisao i snimio, u demo formi, na sesnaest kanala u svom kuhinjskom studiju, frontmen, kompozitor i tekstopisac ove grupe, Paddy McAloon, sam, okruzen masinama, jos daleke 1992, i to na apsolutnom vrhuncu svoje kreativne snage. Zasto je, medjutim, bilo potrebno sedamnaest godina da album, prosavsi minimalnu post-produkciju i neophodne tvikove, ugleda svetlost dana, ni sam autor ne ume sasvim da objasni, dok se, s druge strane, pouzdano zna da takvog, planiranog i pripremljenog a nikada objavljenog materijala postoji jos mnogo vise: "I have this massive creative urge", kaze on, "which I struggle with. Usually the desire to write is much stronger than the desire to turn any of them into records. Financially, its the act of a madman. I feel like someone in an Edgar Allan Poe story, buried under my boxes of albums. From a record company point of view, I can see the vast unreasonableness of my position: 'Yeah, I'd love to make a record for you but I have no intention of doing anything to promote it.' Its not very dignified to throw yourself in front of people if that is your state of mind. So I backed off. I wish I didn't have these problems, I wish I could be someone else sometimes, but I'm stuck with me."
Dok slusam jedanaest, prvobitno u ostavu odlozenih pa iznova pronadjenih "novih" pesama, medju kojima se "Music is a Princess" odmah namece kao radio favorit, iako formalno - bar za sada - nije izdata kao prateci singl, mojim prostorom razlivaju se skoro zaboravljene a dobro poznate harmonske progresije i brizljivo izvajane, nepogresivo autenticne i originalne melodijske linije koje zeljno prizivaju jedno staro, a zapravo nikada prekinuto prijateljstvo izmedju autora i vernog slusaoca. Paddy McAloon ne smatra se uzalud jednim od najvoljenijih kult-kantautora u Britaniji - njegov kompleksan, slojevit, gotovo bajkovit muzicki izraz uvek je optimistican na jedan cist, decacki otvoren a opet otmeno nenametljiv nacin - mozda ponajpre stoga sto ga gotovo uvek prati i jedna latentna a ipak sasvim prisutna i vrlo bitna senka ceznje, nemira i prizeljkivanja, ili mozda zaljenja za onim neispunjenim i neostvarenim - senka koja opsti zvucni tonus boji tom karakteristicnom, ranjivom, bitter-sweet nijansom, nadovezujuci se tako, cisto muzickim sredstvima, na tekstualnu tematiku pesama. To je u velikoj meri slucaj i sa ovim Prefab Sprout albumom, od strane muzicke kritike pravilno ocenjenim kao perhaps one of the most uplifting and romantic albums of the entire Sprout canon. The songs are glittering hymns to the power of music, full of humour and idealism. Prefab Sprout records always stood outside of fashion because they married the aesthetic of edgy, left-field singer-songwriting with the super-glossy polish of pop and jazz, creating something utterly unique. Autor kao da se slaze s ovim: "I've always liked that attention to sonic gorgeousness. It's not so much the gloss as the detail. Everyone who calls themselves a friend of mine urges me to just to stick a microphone in front of a guitar and sing. I could make a record in a day in that way, but there's something in me that just resisted. If it's someone else, I enjoy a warts and all approach, but for myself there's no real artistry in just putting it out like that, it's not what I intended".
U godini u kojoj su nam se uz velika zvona vratili izmedju ostalih i takvi doajeni kakvi su David Sylvian, Pet Shop Boys ili Massive Attack, s nama su ponovo i Prefab Sprout - i "svet je zopet mlad". Pop muzika za odrasle koji su jos uvek deca srcem, zeljna ljubavi i sanjarenja - muzika velikodusna, gostoljubiva, sarmantna i draga, bas kao stari prijatelj. She's a princess.