A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout

A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout
Greatest hits album by
Prefab Sprout
Released July 1992
Genre Pop
Label Columbia (Europe), Epic (USA)
Producer Thomas Dolby, Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout chronology
Jordan: The Comeback
(1990) 		A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout
(1992) 		Andromeda Heights
(1997)
Singles from A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout
  1. "The Sound of Crying"
    Released: June 1992
  2. "If You Don't Love Me"
    Released: July 1992
  3. "All the World Loves Lovers"
    Released: September 1992
  4. "Life of Surprises"
    Released: December 1992
  5. "I Remember That"
    Released: March 1993
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
NME 8/10

A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout is a compilation album by the English pop band Prefab Sprout, released by Epic Records in July 1992. The album reached No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart.

The compilation features selections from their 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 other previously released tracks - "Life of Surprises" from Protest Songs, "I Remember That" from From Langley Park to Memphis and "All the World Loves Lovers" from Jordan: The Comeback - were also released as singles to promote the compilation.

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 featured only 11 songs and did 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 did feature videos for "The Golden Calf" and "Looking for Atlantis". Thus only nine songs were common to both audio and video releases.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Paddy McAloon.

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

Video track listing

  1. "The King of Rock 'n' Roll"
  2. "The Sound of Crying"
  3. "Cars and Girls"
  4. "We Let the Stars Go"
  5. "The Golden Calf"
  6. "Looking for Atlantis"
  7. "Hey Manhattan!"
  8. "If You Don't Love Me"
  9. "When Love Breaks Down"
  10. "Carnival 2000"
  11. "Appetite"