Our project fundraiser on Indiegogo.com ended last night and it was a complete success! And in addition to securing fund to hire Sprout drummer, Neil Conti, we also have enough funds to press at least 100 CD's.
I'm looking into possibly pressing more than 100, but at the moment I can safely guarantee a minimum run of 100.

The first 41 CD's are reserved for those who contributed to the fundraiser, however ... I do plan on creating a page on this site that will offer a PayPal link -for those who wish to reserve a CD (pre-pay). If we pre-sell the other 59 CD's - then, that will give us enough funds to press another 100 CD's.

I will post news and progress reports of the recording status as we go along.
I look forward to posting the occasional teaser song, and of course - any good news!  Many thanks to all of you who have believed in and supported The Prefab Sprout Project!    - Chat soon, Scott

Just a friendly reminder .... all though we have reached our goal for hiring Prefab Sprouts drummer -Neil Conti, we still need funds for pressing CD's -and perhaps for adding another song or two to the album. Please reserve your album here! If we end up with enough funds to press CD's, I will happily send one to every person who donated $10 or more. (if you cover shipping) : ) Many thanks to all who have already supported the project! -Scott

The NEW fundraiser, or Fundraiser 2.0 is up and running! We are nearly half way there, and it's only day one of 30! Wow, I can not thank you all enough. Super excited to start working on this project! 

We have set the goal for a reasonable $2100, which is the balance needed to hire Prefab Sprout drummer -Neil Conti. But, that doesn't leave us anything else I'm afraid. And since we hit roughly $4200 with the Kickstarter campaign, I am hopeful that we will go beyond our set goal and have enough to move forward with the rest of the project plans, such as hiring the artist. Nothing was gained with Kickstarter, since we fell short. But, the new choice of platform "Indiegogo.com" is designed so that you win! Even if you miss your goal, you still keep what was donated, which means the project is sure to succeed. If the goal falls short $500 or better, then we can't get Neil on-board for all songs, but we can get him for most, and hire another pro for the balance. Either way, this is going to work out ... thanks to you!
Please note that when you donate to the fundraiser below, the funds you offer are immediately debited from your account via PayPal. You do not need a PayPal account to contribute. I will keep you all posted on the status! Thanks again! -Scott

Some of you might be wondering what is going on behind the scenes. Did the project just fade away, much like the real Prefab Sprout did? The answer is NO, nothing has faded - not just yet. It's true, the project has been stalled for lack of funding, but the desire, will and want to finish is still very much alive and well.
I have been chatting with a few key people, and as it stands - In order of achieving a reasonable financial goal, I have had to revamp the song list and trim a few as well.
Plans for the album look like this ----->
1). 10 Songs to be recorded (instead of 12)
Song reduction equals a more realistic affordability (Neil Conti does not come cheap, though he is well worth it!)
2). Digital release of the record, rather than a CD release. But, I should add -that IF the funds are there -I will certainly press a small run of CD's (a few hundred).
3). A second fundraiser will take place in the near future, this time with Indiegogo.com (rather than Kickstarter). Indiegogo has much better perks and makes better sense for this project to succeed. And the goal will be set dramatically less than the previous $10K, which was to cover Neil and Pavllou (the artist), as well as a large CD pressing with posters, T-shirts and various other reward product that was offered.
I'm not sure of how the art work will pan out yet, though, I have spoke with Pavllou (East Orange) and she is willing to work something out -so I am hopeful there.

I encourage those of you who have an interest in helping the project succeed, by sending me your email address so that I may contact you when the Indiegogo fundraiser is about to go live. I do feel quite positive that this go-round will be a successful one!
I will keep you posted with updates, just check the blog ...and/or shoot me your email address, as I will be sending out a few mass emails with deeper updates on the project, as well as John Birch book info and a few bonus songs that I have prepared for the fundraiser *But, if you are on the email list -you will get them much sooner than anyone else*    : )

Many thanks to all of you who have supported the project with such zeal!
Chat soon, Scott
Scott@theprefabsproutproject.com

Well, sadly we fell short with the Kickstarter fundraiser, and with Kickstarter it's an "all or nothing" scenario, thus nothing was collected in the end. But that doesn't mean we are out for the count.Not just yet.
At this time we are regrouping and talking to a few folks about pulling enough funds to at least hire Neil Cont for drums.
Most likely the project would then be a digital release only, but if enough extra funds make their way in -then we would most likely press a few hundred CD's. Or, if we sell enough of the digital downloads, we would than take that money to use for a bulk CD pressing.

So, we shall push on and hope that "PLAN B" turns out to be a success for the project.

Thanks to those who have supported the project!

Jazz musician Joakim Milder has just released a superb CD called, ”Quoted out of context".
Every song is of course a 'Prefab Sprout' composition, and Milder's interpretations of Paddy McAloon's music is quite simply sublime!
If you are a sprout fan, and I assume you are - as you probably would not be reading this blog otherwise, I highly recommend you pick up this CD. But, in the meantime ...please check out the tunes offered below, as well as more sprout covers found on his sound-cloud site.

The Prefab Sprout Project still needs 2 more songs for the bonus tracks. There will be a total of 4 non-album bonus songs, these songs will be used for promotional purposes and digital download only.
At least 2 bonus songs will be used exclusively for the Kickstarter.com fundraiser, which will go online next week sometime - once it has been approved by the Kickstarter folks.

If you are a song writer or you know one who might be interested in contributing to the project, please pass this on to them!
And once again, many thanks to all for the fantastic support!

Good news!
As of today, we have chosen the final two songs that round out the album and complete The Prefab Sprout Project (song selection).
12 songs have been selected from the many submissions sent in over the past 10 months, and now it's time to move on to the next level!

We will post the 12 selected song titles as well as the name of the respective composer a bit later tonight.
Many thanks to all of those who kindly sent music to the project, for without you all there would be no project. Cheers!