Paddy McAloon is, well, was one of my favourite song writers. His work for Prefab Sprout has rarely been bettered, and albums like Andromeda Heights and From Langley Park to Memphis are on my list of most played vinyl ever.

So it was rather unsurprising that I was rather excited by the announcement of the release of a new album with new material by Prefab Sprout called ” Let’s Change the World With Music“. Instantly downloaded (remember going to the record shop around the corner every day until the album you were waiting for finally arrived?) from Itunes, I gave it an instant spin (well, I gave the hard disk a spin) and was initially delighted by the usual McAloonesque harmonic joys, but soon was beginning to worry that I might have downloaded something resembling ‘Christian Pop’.  References to God, Jesus and Angels are flying around liberally, and I wonder whether this is a concept album to drum up support for the Church of England.

The sound is a bit weird as well: while the songs themselves reflect McAloon’s musical genius, the production sounds like somebody threw together some ideas on an eighties drum computer and a kid’s synthesizer, often detracting from the beauty of the compositions.

I wonder whether Paddy’s beard length correlates with the religiosity of his lyrics. On the other hand, I can’t really be mad at a guy who made some of the most beautiful music in the universe. A bit like Bach, if you think of it.

Let’s hope it’s just a phase.