Steve McQueen (album)
Encyclopedia
Steve McQueen is the second album by English
pop
band Prefab Sprout
, released in June 1985. It was released in the United States
as Two Wheels Good due to a legal conflict with the estate of American actor Steve McQueen
. The album reached #21 on the UK album chart
and #180 on the Billboard 200
.
The cover of the album is a reference to Steve McQueen's lifelong passion for motorcycles and the 1963 film The Great Escape
, starring McQueen and featuring prominent motorcycle chase scenes (with stunts performed by himself).
On April 2, 2007 it was reissued as a Legacy edition double CD, featuring a remastered version of the original album and a bonus disc featuring acoustic versions of the songs recorded by Paddy McAloon
in 2006.
end of year poll for best albums and #28 on the Pazz & Jop
poll.
It has subsequently featured in a number of all time polls for best album including #47 in a poll by The Times
in 1993, #90 in a poll by Mojo
in 1995 and #61 in a 1997 poll by The Guardian
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
band Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout are an alternative English pop rock band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham, England who rose to fame during the 1980s. Eight of their albums have reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart, and one of their singles, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", peaked at number seven in the UK...
, released in June 1985. It was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as Two Wheels Good due to a legal conflict with the estate of American actor Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
. The album reached #21 on the UK album chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
and #180 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
.
The cover of the album is a reference to Steve McQueen's lifelong passion for motorcycles and the 1963 film The Great Escape
The Great Escape (film)
The Great Escape is a 1963 American film about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp during World War II, starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough...
, starring McQueen and featuring prominent motorcycle chase scenes (with stunts performed by himself).
On April 2, 2007 it was reissued as a Legacy edition double CD, featuring a remastered version of the original album and a bonus disc featuring acoustic versions of the songs recorded by Paddy McAloon
Paddy McAloon
Paddy McAloon is an English singer-songwriter and member of the band Prefab Sprout. Allmusic describes him as "one of the most underrated lyricists of the '80s".-Career:...
in 2006.
Critical reception
Critically acclaimed at the time it reached #4 in the 1985 NMENME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
end of year poll for best albums and #28 on the Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop
The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics...
poll.
It has subsequently featured in a number of all time polls for best album including #47 in a poll by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 1993, #90 in a poll by Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
in 1995 and #61 in a 1997 poll by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
Track listing
- "Faron Young" – 3:50
- "Bonny" – 3:45
- "Appetite" – 3:56
- "When Love Breaks DownWhen Love Breaks DownWhen Love Breaks Down is a single released by the British rock group Prefab Sprout in 1984. It was the first single taken from their album of that year, Steve McQueen...
" – 4:08 (The UK and US releases have slightly different versions of the song) - "Goodbye Lucille #1" – 4:31
- "Hallelujah" – 4:20
- "Moving the River" – 3:57
- "Horsin' Around" – 4:39
- "Desire As" – 5:19
- "Blueberry Pies" – 2:24
- "When the Angels" – 4:29
- "The Yearning Loins – 3:38 [US bonus track]
- "He'll Have to GoHe'll Have to Go"He'll Have to Go" is an American country and pop hit recorded on October 15, 1959 by Jim Reeves. The song, released in the fall of 1959, went on to become a massive hit in both genres early in 1960.-Background:...
" – 3:06 [US bonus track] - "Faron" (Truckin' mix) – 4:45 [US bonus track]
Legacy Edition Second Disc
- "Appetite" – 3:57
- "Bonny" – 5:58
- "Desire As" – 7:08
- "When Love Breaks Down" – 4:24
- "Goodbye Lucille #1" – 3:54
- "Moving the River" – 3:39
- "Faron Young" – 3:47
- "When the Angels" – 4:08
External links
- Album online on Radio3Net a radio channel of Romanian Radio Broadcasting CompanyRomanian Radio Broadcasting CompanyThe Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company , informally referred to as Radio Romania , is the public radio broadcaster in Romania. It operates four national radio channels, and, under the Radio România Regional umbrella, eleven regional radio stations. The four national radio channels are: Radio...