| A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout | ||||
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| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | July 1992 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
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| Producer | ||||
| Prefab Sprout chronology | ||||
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| Singles from A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout | ||||
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A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout is a compilation album by English pop band Prefab Sprout, released in July 1992 by Columbia Records in Europe and Epic Records in the United States. [1] The album reached No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart. [2]
The compilation features selections from Prefab Sprout's first five albums and two new songs, "The Sound of Crying" and "If You Don't Love Me", both of which were issued as singles. Three canonical album tracks – "Life of Surprises" from Protest Songs (1989), "I Remember That" from From Langley Park to Memphis (1988) and "All the World Loves Lovers" from Jordan: The Comeback (1990) – were also released as singles to promote the compilation. [3]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| NME | 8/10 [5] |
In a review of the album for AllMusic, Michael Sutton said that Prefab Sprout created "gorgeously crafted pop songs" and that "A Life of Surprises is an engaging introduction to a group that is nowhere near as bizarre as its name." He described frontman Paddy McAloon as having a "warm, comforting voice [whose] soothing croon can sometimes hide some pretty depressing lyrics. Sutton went on to opine that despite this, "Prefab Sprout isn't one of those grim British raincoat bands", with the group having "a number of wonderfully upbeat moments". [4]
All tracks composed by Paddy McAloon. [1]
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" | From Langley Park to Memphis , 1988 | 4:23 |
| 2. | "When Love Breaks Down" | Steve McQueen , 1985 | 4:08 |
| 3. | "The Sound of Crying" | previously unreleased | 4:44 |
| 4. | "Faron Young" | Steve McQueen | 3:47 |
| 5. | "Carnival 2000" | Jordan: The Comeback , 1990 | 3:21 |
| 6. | "Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny)" | Steve McQueen | 4:27 |
| 7. | "I Remember That" | From Langley Park to Memphis | 4:15 |
| 8. | "Cruel" | Swoon , 1984 | 4:18 |
| 9. | "Cars and Girls" | From Langley Park to Memphis | 4:26 |
| 10. | "We Let the Stars Go" | Jordan: The Comeback | 3:34 |
| 11. | "Life of Surprises" | Protest Songs , 1989 | 4:04 |
| 12. | "Appetite" | Steve McQueen | 3:56 |
| 13. | "If You Don't Love Me" | previously unreleased | 3:43 |
| 14. | "Wild Horses" | Jordan: The Comeback | 3:41 |
| 15. | "Hey Manhattan!" | From Langley Park to Memphis | 4:46 |
| 16. | "All the World Loves Lovers" | Jordan: The Comeback | 3:51 |
Adapted from the liner notes of A Life of Surprises [6] and corresponding studio albums. [7] [8] [9] [10]
Prefab Sprout
Additional musicians
Technical
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums (OCC) [11] | 3 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI) [12] | Gold | 100,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
As well as the popular audio formats of the time (LP, CD and cassette), A Life of Surprises was also released as a 45-minute-long VHS video with a slightly different track listing. The video features only 11 songs and does not include the title track, "A Life of Surprises", "Faron Young", "Wild Horses", "All the World Loves Lovers", "Goodbye Lucille #1", "I Remember That" or "Cruel". However, it does feature videos for "The Golden Calf" and "Looking for Atlantis". Thus only nine songs are common to both audio and video releases.
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