Anne Clark ‘The Sitting Room’ (Red Flame, 1982)

Side-projects can be a complicated affair, particularly if you’re a fan of the precursory band. Acolytes find themselves talking up a lesser-known record they might not actually like very much, but a perceived obligation of support results in them writing cheques their misplaced loyalty can’t cash.

Given the world we live in now, you might think an album called ‘Messy Century’ would be a prescient political statement.

In 1991, Prefab Sprout frontman Paddy Mcaloon was struck down with serious illness that led to perhaps his boldest work, 2003’s ‘I Trawl The Megahertz’, a fever-dream of skittish longing that deserves ear time