Protest Songs (album)

Protest Songs

Studio album by Prefab Sprout

Released

June 1989

Recorded

1985; Lynx Studios, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Genre

Pop

Label

Kitchenware Records, CBS

Producer

Prefab Sprout

Prefab Sprout chronology

From Langley Park to Memphis
(1988)

Protest Songs
(1989)

Jordan: The Comeback
(1990)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link

Protest Songs is the fourth album by English pop band Prefab Sprout (though the third recorded). It was recorded in 1985, but was not released until 1989; it's not clear whether, at the time of recording, the band had intended it as the main follow-up to their breakthrough album Steve McQueen, released earlier in 1985. The back cover of Protest Songs positions the album as a stage in their musical evolution, offering a middle ground between the sound and songwriting of Steve McQueen and that of From Langley Park to Memphis. The album's promotion was low-key and no singles were released from it at the time (though "Life of Surprises" was issued as a single three years later to promote the group's greatest hits album).

Critic Jason Ankeny wrote of Protest Songs: "It's a wonderful record, but perhaps too close in sound and spirit to Steve McQueen for comfort..." )

Themes

Some of the songs relate lyrically to nostalgia and change in 1980s England, a sphere central to McAloon's songwriting before and since, and often with subdued, ironic twists. "Till The Cows Come Home" appears to contrast old and new English values, while "Diana" looks at the stardom of Diana, Princess of Wales, then at its peak, and makes some pointed near-predictions about the fate of her marriage and about her relationship to the media. Many of the lyrics sketch tales of love, jealousy and betrayal.

The ballad "Dublin" questions the use of old historical myths for violent ends by the IRA and its supporters.

Protest Songs closes with "Pearly Gates", a long song about human mortality--a recurring theme in Paddy McAloon's songwriting.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Paddy McAloon

"The World Awake"
"Life of Surprises"
"Horsechimes"
"Wicked Things"
"Dublin"
"Tiffanys"
"Diana"
"Talkin' Scarlet"
"'Till the Cows Come Home"
"Pearly Gates"

Prefab Sprout

Paddy McAloon Martin McAloon Michael Salmon Wendy Smith Feona Attwood Graham Lant Steve Dolder Neil Conti

Albums	Swoon Steve McQueen From Langley Park to Memphis Protest Songs Jordan: The Comeback Andromeda Heights The Gunman and Other Stories Let's Change the World with Music Crimson/Red

Compilation albums	A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout 38 Carat Collection

Singles	"Lions in My Own Garden (Exit Someone)" "The Devil Has All The Best Tunes" "Don't Sing" "Couldn't Bear to Be Special" "Faron Young" "When Love Breaks Down" "Johnny, Johnny" "Cars and Girls" "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" "Hey Manhattan" "Nightingales" "The Golden Calf" "Looking For Atlantis" "We Let The Stars Go" "Jordan - The EP" "The Sound of Crying" "If You Don't Love Me" "All The World Loves Lovers" "Life of Surprises" "I Remember That" "A Prisoner of The Past" "Electric Guitars" "Where The Heart Is" "Cowboy Dreams"

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