Recorded 1984 | ||
B-side "Diana" (Demo) (first release)"The Yearning Loins" (reissue) Released 1984 (first release)1985 (reissue)2007 (acoustic version) Genre Synthpop, Pop rock, new wave Length 3:40 (single edit)4:08 (UK Steve McQueen album version)3:44 (US Two Wheels Good version) | ||
"When Love Breaks Down" is a single released by the English pop band Prefab Sprout in 1984. It was the first single taken from their album of that year, Steve McQueen. On this first release the single did not chart in the UK Singles Chart, but it was reissued in 1985 when it reached #25. The song was also the group's first chart appearance in the United States, peaking at number 42 on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart in October 1985.
Recorded and mixed at RAK Studios, London.
The b-side to the original release is a song called "Diana" which would later be re-recorded and released on the album Protest Songs, which was originally going to be released after Steve McQueen but was shelved until 1989.
The song was re-released in March 2007, this time with an entirely new acoustic arrangement, recorded mid-2006 by Paddy McAloon, to coincide with the 2-disc Legacy Edition of Steve McQueen which came with a disc containing acoustic renditions of eight of the songs from the album.
The song has been covered by many artists including The Zombies, E'voke, Kate Walsh, Lisa Stansfield, Portastatic and Snow Patrol.
The song appears in Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City's fictional radio station Vice City FM.