Start To End – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham: Live Review

By Peter Freeth on 29th June 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

Start To End – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham – Wednesday 25th June 2025

Start to End play Prefab Sprout's legendary album, Steve McQueen

Start To End perform Prefab Sprout’s album Steve McQueen at Nottingham Rescue Rooms.

It’s uphill all the way

Visit your local pub on a Saturday night and you’re sure to find a covers band thrashing the living daylights out of The Boys are Back in Town or similar classics. The crowd half-listen or maybe even jiggle a bit when a song comes on that they like. It’s all good fun. Other bands elevate themselves to full tribute status, some even styling their entire lives after their idols.

Start To End are a group of Scottish musicians who have set themselves the task of reproducing not popular bands but their classic albums. Previously, they have performed Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, Cocteau Twins, Radiohead and more.

The band is multi-talented too, comprising Alex Baylis – guitar/vocals, Andrew Cowan – guitar/vocals, Sarah Hayes – keyboard/vocals/flute, Craig McMahon – keyboards/trombone, Martin Johnston – drums, Joe Rattray – bass. This time round, they’ve given themselves a rather large hill to climb – Prefab Sprout’s 1985 release of Steve McQueen (known in the USA as Two Wheels Good).

A truly gifted kid

Prefab Sprout’s songs have been covered before of course. Lisa Stansfield, Seal, Snow Patrol and others have attempted to wrap their vocal chords around Paddy McAloon’s acrobatic lyrics and key shifts.

In the world of superhero movies, they say that if you play the hero long enough, you get to become the villain. The music industry’s motto should be that if you live long enough, you get to become your own tribute band. The 80s revival festivals are a testament to this, where ageing one hit wonders are wheeled out in the name of the band that they used to front. Bands have re-released their own albums, either remastered or featuring all new or stripped back versions.

Sparks did this with Plagiarism – they figured that instead of having everyone else copy them, they would copy themselves. And of course, Paddy McAloon did it himself with an acoustic version of the album packaged with the remastered reissue. Younger brother Martin McAloon has himself been touring, solo, since 2023. What can anyone say that has not already been said?

Start To End’s show is not a tribute act, it’s a homage to a classic, influential album. But is it any good? Or is it as obsolete as warships in the Baltic?

You play the heart strings, play them one by one

Maisy Beth Crunden gently opened the show, sharing a 30 minute set of home grown acoustic numbers, tugging on emotional heart strings in a way that set the scene effectively. She’s playing at a few festivals over the summer, has a solo show later in the year, and is well worth checking out.

Maisy Beth Crunden playing her acoustic support set for Start to End

You’re only as good as the last great thing you did

Firstly, this isn’t a self-indulgent vanity project for these musicians. There is a very strong sense that this is for the fans. Prefab Sprout have not toured since 2000, before Paddy McAloon’s health deteriorated. That’s a 25 year absence but it certainly hasn’t made the heart lose weight. The fans at a packed Nottingham Rescue Rooms reacted like 1985 was only yesterday. 40 years melted away as the band launched into the harsh guitar riffs that open the album with Faron Young.

First impression? This isn’t a band trying to be Prefab Sprout, this is a band showing genuine reverence for an album which deserves to be heard live again. Sure, they lack the raw edge of Paddy’s personal connection with the lyrics. They’re more… modern, slick, polished than the Sprouts were back in the 80s. The smallish venue and narrow stage make the drums rather forward in the acoustic mix, masking the subtlety in the discordant key changes and soft vocals. Each of the six musicians does a remarkable job with challenging source material and the whole thing comes together convincingly. It’s not their version of Steve McQueen, it’s not a reinterpretation – thankfully. It’s as faithful to the original as it’s possible to be. Even if the original band played it today, it would sound different.

Start to End's Joe Rattray on bass guitar does a fine job of stepping into Martin McAloon's shoes

Good intentions don’t survive here

Front man Alex Baylis isn’t really trying to sound like Paddy; sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t. His vocal range is up to the task though sometimes the trademark breathiness is lost in the mix, especially with some of the more unusual harmonies which he balances with Sarah Hayes on backing vocals.

It’s such a peculiar style that it may have been one of the reasons why Prefab Sprout were just never quite as ‘big’ as they should have been, other than Paddy’s disinterest in the limelight. Regular 1980s pop music is easy to understand. Three minutes of a repeating verse and chorus and words that are easy to sing along to. That’s not the case with Steve McQueen. You can listen, you can join in, you can even dance at times, but it’s like a Raymond Chandler novel. Every time you revisit, you get more. Layers upon layers and lyrics richly loaded with metaphor.

Start To End have really worked hard, not just to reproduce Steve McQueen, but to actually understand it.

Start to End's Alex Baylis wrapping his vocal chords around the complexities of Paddy McAloon's deft songwriting

Life’s not complete ’til your heart’s missed a beat

The haunting anguish of Bonny was beautifully captured, the urgency of Appetite, the sorrow of When Love Breaks Down. Each song on the album has its own distinct character yet, together, they tell a painfully identifiable story.

Following the upbeat, driving told-you-so message of Goodbye Lucille #1, Alex Baylis briefly noted that the musical complexity of Steve McQueen created quite a challenge for the band and from this point on, things would become more… interesting. The audience shouted back that they were doing a magnificent job. The band did seem genuinely warmed and encouraged by the regular shouts of approval. Again, an indication that Start To End have crafted this venture for the fans. He also said at one point that the band would be around afterwards to chat to fans. They looked forward to hearing everyone’s stories of why the album was important for them.

Start to End have previously said, “All these albums have a special place in people’s hearts.” That’s certainly true here. Steve McQueen isn’t just a record that people liked, it defined a time in these people’s lives and redefined what popular music could be. Back in 1985 at a time of Band Aid, Dead or Alive, Paul Hardcastle, Sister Sledge, UB40, Jennifer Rush, Wham! and Shakin’ Stevens, adjusting your ears to Steve McQueen was like finding that Monet had produced the artwork for your box of cornflakes.

Start to End's Sarah Hayes on keyboards and flute

Move in Close, Closer Still

Next up, Hallelujah with its offbeat time signature and awkward harmonies was surely ‘interesting’ by anyone’s definition. Moving the River followed with suitably high energy that demanded precision from the six band members. Horsin’ Around shifts gear musically yet again with its laid back jazz club bossa nova rhythm, creating a nice moment of audience participation for the midsection of the song.

Desire As is structured as a round, with different band members contributing to the overflowing levels of the soundscape, trading “I’ve got six things on my mind, you’re no longer one of them” against the opposing “Desire as a sylph figured creature who changes her mind.” A gorgeously haunting rendition of an emotionally challenging song.

Blueberry Pies is a slow waltz with the tonality of a serenade and the lyrics of a painful relationship breakup. The rhythm of the lyrics is all over the place, a tough piece of music to play yet immensely satisfying. Finally, When The Angels brings the promise of playing Steve McQueen, start to end, to fruition. At first, it sounds like an odd song to end an album with but the ever increasing pace and intensity together with Craig McMahon’s spirited and precise trombone make it an absolutely fitting end.

High Kicking Dandy

With the album concluded, the band weren’t finished – the night was still young. Time for four more Sprout classics came in the form of Looking for Atlantis from fifth album Jordan: The Comeback, Don’t Sing from first album Swoon, Cars and Girls and finally The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll from third album From Langley Park to Memphis.

Those last two songs gave the audience a great chance to dance off all of their pent up energy, energy built up from waiting 25 years to hear, live, an album that they fell in love with and to 40 years ago. The finale turned into quite a singalong and, appropriately for a project made in honour of the music and with such respect to the fans, the audience had the last word: “Albuquerque!”