Yes, I've always liked them, too.

Relaxed sound and, as you say, some great songwriting. Wonder what happened to them?

After being diagnosed with a medical disorder that seriously impaired his vision, Paddy McAloon released the album I Trawl The Megahertz under his own name in 2003 on the EMI Liberty label (fifteen years later, in autumn 2018, it was announced that the album would be reissued as a Prefab Sprout record). As of 2006, McAloon had suffered another setback: his hearing had deteriorated, reportedly due to Ménière's disease. In early 2007 a remastered Steve McQueen was released in a two-CD package, containing new versions of eight of the songs from the original album, in different arrangements performed by McAloon on acoustic guitar.

In June 2013, a leak of ten previously unreleased songs on Soundcloud led to speculation that a new Prefab Sprout album was being recorded. Crimson/Red was subsequently released on 7 October 2013 on vinyl and CD on the Icebreaker records label.

Crimson/Red also confirmed that Prefab Sprout was now in effect a solo project, with Paddy McAloon singing, playing and programming all of the music on the album on his own. In interviews at the time, McAloon explained that his health issues (in particular, the deterioration of his hearing) now dictated the way in which Prefab Sprout music was recorded, making it impractical and even impossible for any other musicians to be involved; but that he remained fond of and grateful to his former bandmates.

On 3 March 2017, McAloon's manager Keith Armstrong, one-time head of Kitchenware Records, posted a short clip on Instagram of McAloon performing a new song America to a camcorder; operated by McAloon himself. A longer version appears on Armstrong's YouTube page[7]. To date, no reason has been disclosed if this points to a new album or as the lyrics suggest, it is a commentary on the incumbent US administration

On 8 November 2018, Rough Trade announced the availability of vinyl LP and CD versions of "I Trawl the Megahertz," including a white vinyl special edition of 1000 copies. On the same day, Sony Music announced the release under their "Legacy" brand.

The Sony Press release notes that although this was originally a solo album, it is now fitting to classify it as a Prefab Sprout record. Paddy McAloon is quoted as saying: “I thought we could do anything. And Megahertz is true to that spirit. The music here is of a piece with everything I’ve ever written. It’s from the heart.

[Then] on 10 December 2018, Paddy McAloon featured in an interview on BBC Radio 4 Today. During the course of this interview, he explained that Sony would be making further re-issues from the back catalogue, and that he was working on a new album, "Femmes Mythologiques", slated for release in September 2019, playing a segment of a song called "Cleopatra".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefab_Sprout

Funny, that, I have precisely the opposite view.  I always thought that Paddy "was" the band.

It's a bit like calling Roger Waters 'Pink Floyd'. Err, no, he was a key part but not all of it.

Anyway, this is a bit of a classic...