Around 1983, Kitchenware started taking out ads in the NME and giving out flyers, offering selections of cassettes and other material. Hardly anyone bought any, and I’ve only ever come across a handful of them. They’re arguably the ultimate Sprout collectibles.
The most usual title was “Souled Out” which came in numerous different versions. One of them I’ve seen was on an TDK AD46 and presented a mixture of different bands from the Kitchenware Roster including plenty of Prefab Sprout. Other versions of the same cassette added or subtracted songs, in one case providing an entire Daintees Concert on the second side. There is a recording of a 1980 Domefest performance which may have been issued on one of the tapes, and which will certainly find its way onto this site before too long.
I’ve included here a compilation of otherwise unissued Sprout material from these tapes. A great studio version of Cherry Tree, live material probably from the Soul Kitchen, and the demo version of Bonny. Massive thanks to Rich who entrusted me with his precious original cassette. Unaccountably I sent it back.
Another tape “Like God in a Breeze” contained the 1984 Saturday Live BBC session version of “Hallelujah” – not included here but will be posted at some point.
