Review Summary: It's just a nervous flickering of old flames.
Protest Songs has always gotten a bad rap. Originally conceived by Paddy McAloon as the successor to Prefab Sprout’s successful
Steve McQueen,
Protest Songs was recorded around the same time and following the
Steve McQueen sessions, and was meant to follow said album in December 1985, six months after
Steve McQueen’s June 1985 release on the Kitchenware label. However, thanks in no part to the interference of Kitchenware,
Protest Songs’ planned December 1985 unveiling was nixed due to the fear that the band’s proposed third record would impact sales of
Steve McQueen and cause a loss of profit – greed had its way and caused the shelving of the third Prefab Sprout album, leaving fans without a proper followup for almost three years until the March 14th, 1988 release of the Thomas Dolby produced
From Langley Park to Memphis. Left to gather dust in the archives for four years and with a few copies managing to get into the hands of bootlegger’s throughout the United Kingdom, Kitchenware prodded out the barely-forgotten record out to no fanfare in June 1989, performing rather respectfully for an album seen as a stopgap of demand for the hyped
Jordan: The Comeback that wouldn’t come for another year.
Protest Songs did what
Langley Park couldn’t: offer a proper sequel to
Steve McQueen; and for added bonus, an album that was arguably just as good as the album many consider their finest hour. With Dolby now absent from the producer’s chair, the band self-produced
Protest Songs, which featured a similar framing as its predecessor, yet without the refinery that defined the sound of
Steve McQueen. The opening pair of “The World Awake” and “Life of Surprises” immediately continue where
Steve McQueen left off, offering themes of nostalgia, heartbreak and subtle irony. Cuts such as the desolate “Dublin” couples a bare, acoustic accompaniment with a narrative concerning the IRA (Irish Republic Army) and its convoluted methods of spreading propaganda amongst its supporters; while “Tiffanys”, a song written several years earlier and perhaps meant for inclusion on
Steve McQueen, is reminiscent of the rough jangle pop of 1984’s
Swoon.
“Diana” tells of the titular Princess of Wales, weaving stories of jealousy and betrayal, while commenting on the overt public obsession with Diana herself. “Talking Scarlet” speaks of unrequited love between the narrator and Scarlet, “harbouring thoughts of kissing her neck” and telling himself it’s merely platonic love; while Scarlet, portrayed by vocalist/keyboardist Wendy Smith, knows that “he’s thoroughly miserable for me”. “Pearly Gates”, on the other hand, strips back the slick production Dolby once offered to a husk, leaving a desolately beautiful song in its wake. Featuring themes of mortality, religion and the afterlife, it evokes imagery of the final moments of one’s life and the arrival to the aforementioned “Pearly Gates”. In a way, it’s a perfect precursor to the final section of
Jordan: The Comeback, which also concerned the same themes presented on this one track, most notably “Doo Wop in Harlem”, which also depicted the narrator’s ascent to the afterlife.
Protest Songs unfairly never received the same praise or attention that
Steve McQueen or
Jordan garnered, nor did it merit the following
Swoon did in following years. No singles were released upon its release, with only “Life of Surprises” to represent the album on the 1992 compilation of the same name, and accompanied with a new music video to promote the album. Disregarded for its lack of hits and recognizable traits, it’s an album ignored by all but hardcore Prefab Sprout fans; yet it follows the same template as its preceding albums from the lyrical subjects to its style, with only the stripped-back production being a major difference between it and
Steve McQueen. Like
Steve McQueen and
Jordan before it, it’s only a matter of time before many discover the genius of
Protest Songs, and give it the acclaim it deserved all those years ago, but now can be appraised for a new generation that can appreciate it for what it is.
