Protest Songs (album)

After the critical and commercial success of Prefab Sprout's Thomas Dolby-produced second album, 1985's Steve McQueen, Paddy McAloon felt under pressure to deliver a worthy follow-up. McAloon resolved to quickly record a new album using limited production values and to release it in late 1985, diffusing fans' expectations for a follow-up.{{cite journal |last1=Flowers |first1=Paul |title=Prefab Comeback |journal=Brum Beat |date=October 1990 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/paul-flower-brum-beat-october-1990/ |accessdate=28 December 2019}}{{cite journal |last1=Eccleston |first1=Danny |title=Exaltation, renunciation, sickness and silence – the legend of Prefab Sprout is a confounding one, yet their main man abides. Is he the sanest mad genius in pop? |journal=Mojo |date=February 2019 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/danny-eccleston-mojo-2019/ |accessdate=3 April 2020}} McAloon liked the idea of a sparsely produced album to act as a balance to the polished production of Steve McQueen.{{cite journal |last1=Fanning |first1=Dave |title=Chief Sprout Paddy McAloon talks to Dave Fanning |journal=Fresh Magazine |date=1988 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/dave-fanning-fresh-magazine-1988/ |accessdate=14 March 2020}} Described by McAloon as "very down-to-earth" and a "black and white picture", the album was titled Protest Songs.

Protest Songs was self-produced, and recorded over 12 days in September at Lynx Studios, Newcastle upon Tyne.{{cite journal |last1=Nono |first1=Serena |title=Prefab Sprout |journal=Rockerilla |date=November 1985 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/rockerilla-translation-serena-nono-martin-november-1985/ |accessdate=4 April 2020}} The sessions were relaxed, with drummer Neil Conti later recalling "we just basically had fun messing around with Paddy’s wonderful songs. Old school".{{cite web |last1=Findlay |first1=Graham |title=Neil Conti Interview - November 2015 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/graham-findlay-neil-conti-interview-november-2015/ |website=Sproutology |accessdate=9 April 2020}} Protest Songs was initially intended to have a limited release for concert-goers during the band's Winter 1985 UK tour.{{cite journal |last1=Sutcliffe |first1=Phil |title=Prefab Sprout: Protest Songs |journal=Q |date=July 1989 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/prefab-sprout--protest-songs?fbclid=IwAR3QcddzMDYewQhcVPSDTHVUIAoT8ihLDOPHNC1wIAvZ2WOgKvTXqnB18bc |accessdate=9 April 2020}} During the tour in October and November, flyers were distributed advertising the upcoming release, reading "Strictly LTD edition / For one week only / release date December 2nd 1985".{{cite web |title=Protest Songs – A Pictorial History |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/collecting-2/protest-songs-a-pictorial-history/ |website=Sproutology |date=22 June 2014 |accessdate=5 April 2020}} The album's planned 1985 tracklisting, as rendered on promotional copies, was:

{{Col-begin}}

{{Col-1-of-2}}

SIDE A

• "World Awake"
• "Wicked Things"
• "Horse Chimes"
• "Dublin"

{{Col-2-of-2}}

SIDE B

• "Tiffanys"
• "Diana"
• "Talking Scarlet"
• "Till The Cows Come Home"
• "Pearly Gates"

{{Col-end}}

"When Love Breaks Down", a single from Steve McQueen, became a transatlantic hit in October 1985. This caused the release of Protest Songs to be put on indefinite hold by CBS, who felt a new album would confuse new fans and stunt sales of Steve McQueen.{{cite journal |last1=Tanako |first1=Yuko |title=From Langley Park to Memphis |journal=Pop Gear |date=April 1988 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/yuko-takano-pop-gear-april-1988/ |accessdate=1 September 2019}}{{cite magazine |last1=Dave |first1=DiMartino |title=Prefab Sprout Takes Root |magazine=Billboard |date=20 August 1988 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/dave-dimartino-billboard-20th-august-1988/ |accessdate=18 October 2019}} As the album stayed in limbo, McAloon felt fans expectations for it heightened. The album was being extensively bootlegged across Europe at this time, a box of white label pressings of the original version having gone missing from CBS.{{cite news |last1=Kinghorn |first1=Peter |title=Album Out - 3 1/2 Years Too Late |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000726/19890610/083/0013 |accessdate=7 April 2020 |work=Newcastle Evening Chronicle |date=10 June 1989}} By September 1986,{{cite journal |last1=Takamimi |first1=Kenji |title=Prefab Sprout |journal=Fool's Mate |date=September 1986 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/kenji-takamimi-fools-mate-september-1986/}} Prefab Sprout had resolved to start anew on a fully-produced follow-up to Steve McQueen; the band considered rerecording songs from Protest Songs, but decided to leave the album untouched. The resultant album, From Langley Park to Memphis, was released in March 1988.{{cite book|first=Martin C.|last=Strong|year=2000|title=The Great Rock Discography|edition=5th|publisher=Mojo Books|location=Edinburgh|page=760|isbn=1-84195-017-3}}

In a February 1988 interview, Paddy McAloon provided an update on Protest Songs, indicating it was still due for release: "CBS know they're on to a good thing, they know they've got a record that's been made for next to nothing that a lot of people are going to be interested in, even if they are the real diehard fans. It's not an embarrassment - OK, it’s not a CD-ish career move-type album, but they could still make a buck out of it".{{cite journal |last1=Jackson |first1=Alan |title=The King of Rock 'n'Roll |journal=New Musical Express |date=6 February 1988 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/alan-jackson-nme-february-6th-1988/ |accessdate=13 March 2020}}

The album features a stripped down approach in contrast to Prefab Sprout's other work, leading to one reviewer to dub it the band's "own Basement Tapes".{{cite journal |last1=Karcher |first1=Isabelle |title=Fab Songs |journal=Best |date=August 1990 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/isabelle-karcher-best-magazine-august-1989/ |access-date=13 February 2022}} According to Q reviewer Phil Sutcliffe, the songs are "pretty, warm, user-friendly". McAloon felt the album was difficult to define as it was not recorded as a 4-track demo album like Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, describing it as instead "mid-way between what we’ve always done and something slightly rougher".{{cite journal |last1=Byrne |first1=Paul |title=Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout |journal=Hot Press |date=20 September 1990 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/paul-byrne-hot-press-september-20th-1990/ |accessdate=7 June 2019}} The album was named Protest Songs because the songs, though not overtly political, generally relate to daily existence more than most of Prefab Sprout's work. McAloon commented ahead of the album's release; "they’re not strictly protest songs as Bob Dylan or Billy Bragg would recognise them but somewhere in that field".

Several of the album's songs ("Dublin" "Wicked Things" "Pearly Gates") contain references to God and religious imagery, which was to become common in Prefab Sprout's work. McAloon is from a Catholic background,{{cite journal |last1=Breen |first1=Joe |title=Style of a Sprout |journal=Irish Times |date=25 May 1984 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/joe-breen-irish-times-may-25th-1984/ |accessdate=9 April 2020}} but describes himself as an agnostic "with a healthy interest in the mystical".{{cite journal |last1=Thomson |first1=Graeme |title='Stardom? It's a waste of time' |journal=Glasgow Herald |date=September 2009 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/graeme-thomson-glasgow-herald-september-2009/ |accessdate=9 April 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Staunton |first1=Terry |title=Paddy McAloon interview |journal=Record Collector |date=2009 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/terry-staunton-record-collector-2009/ |accessdate=9 April 2020}} He has said he considers religion a great subject for songwriting because it comes with a unique but widely-understood vocabulary and a poetic resonance.{{cite web |last1=Campbell |first1=Torquil |title=Prefab's Paddy McAloon |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/torquil-campbell-october-26th-2010/ |website=Sproutology |accessdate=9 April 2020}}

File:Diana, Princess of Wales.jpg is the subject of "Diana"]]According to Stuart Maconie's NME review of Protest Songs, the opening track "The World Awake" "cartwheels across your living room, the kind of tune that makes you want to jump for joy and buy the world a drink, its chords dangling in the air like a string of pearls".{{cite journal |last1=Maconie |first1=Stuart |title=Prefab Sprout: Protest Songs (Kitchenware LP/Cassette/CD) |journal=New Musical Express |date=24 June 1989 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/prefab-sprout-iprotest-songsi-kitchenware-lpcassettecd?fbclid=IwAR36yJnGmz9YRPEJBBI7u1sXHsdP13YBqmhqXdq5LmQdjRo9yzttMUxu7ow |accessdate=9 April 2020}} Both "The World Awake" and the album's second track "Life of Surprises" were described as being in a "philosophical vein behind the up-and-running light soul sounds" by Q reviewer Phil Sutcliffe. "Life of Surprises" was not part of the original 1985 running order of Protest Songs; it dates from the demo sessions in Lynx Studios for From Langley Park to Memphis in late 1986.{{cite journal |last1=Maconie |first1=Stuart |title=Fop on the tyne |journal=New Musical Express |date=20 June 1992 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/stuart-maconie-nme-june-20th-1992/ |accessdate=6 June 2019}} This recording was first released as a B-side on the single of "Nightingales" before its inclusion on Protest Songs. In his review of Protest Songs, Stuart Maconie considered the song to be a potential hit single. Maconie was proven right in 1992 when the song gave its name to Prefab Sprout's first best of collection, A Life of Surprises: The Best of Prefab Sprout and was released as a single to promote it. "Life of Surprises" became one of the band's greatest successes on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 24.{{cite web |title=Prefab Sprout |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/21343/prefab-sprout/ |website=Official Charts |accessdate=3 April 2020}} "Wicked Things" was one of the ten tracks listed in NME's "Alternative Best of Prefab Sprout" in 1992. "Dublin", which features only McAloon accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, is about the Troubles.{{cite web |last1=W. |first1=Aaron |title=Prefab Sprout Protest Songs |url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/75528/Prefab-Sprout-Protest-Songs/ |website=Sputnikmusic |accessdate=10 April 2020}} McAloon maintained in several interviews that Steve McQueen would have been improved had "Dublin" been included on it,{{cite journal |last1=Diederichsen |first1=Detlef |title=Chordal Rhetoric |journal=Spex Magazine |date=May 1988 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/detlef-diederichsen-spex-magazine-may-1988/ |accessdate=8 April 2020}} saying; "We could have had the ultimate killer album, a record beyond all other records".{{cite journal |last1=Perrone |first1=Pierre |title=Prefab Sprout |journal=Club Pour Hommes |date=1988 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/je-ne-lis-club-pour-hommes-que-pour-les-articles-pierre-perrone-1988/|accessdate=23 June 2019}}

"Tiffanys" is among the earliest-written Prefab Sprout songs, dating to the band's formation in 1977.{{cite web |title=Bury it deep… Avalon at the Bay Hotel, Cullercoats, 19770 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/concerts/bury-it-deep-avalon-at-the-bay-hotel-cullercoats-1977/ |website=Sproutology |date=27 July 2015 |accessdate=8 April 2020}} It is about Newcastle nightclub Tiffany's, described by McAloon as "very seedy".{{cite web |last1=Oldfield |first1=Lesley |title=Newcastle nightclub Tiffany's in the 1980s |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/gallery/tiffanys-9524825 |website=ChronicleLive |date=25 June 2015 |accessdate=8 April 2020}}{{cite web |title=EXO-7, Rouen: December 6th, 1985 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/exo-7-rouen-december-6th-1985/ |website=Sproutology |accessdate=8 April 2020}} The band performed in the venue's function room in 1983.{{cite web |title=El Hacienda, Tiffany's Newcastle: June 29th, 1983 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/el-hacienda-tiffanys-newcastle-june-29th-1983/ |website=Sproutology |accessdate=9 April 2020}} "Tiffanys" was frequently included in the band's setlists in the years leading up to its 1985 recording.{{cite web |title=El Hacienda, Tiffany's Newcastle: June 29th, 1983 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/el-hacienda-tiffanys-newcastle-june-29th-1983/ |website=Sproutology |accessdate=8 April 2020}} "Diana" was written in 1982.{{cite journal |last1=Heath |first1=Chris |title=Protest Songs & Old Confetti |journal=Jamming Magazine |date=January 1986 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/jamming-magazine-chris-heath-january-1986/ |accessdate=2 April 2020}} A regular number in the band's concerts, "Diana" was considered for inclusion on Swoon,{{cite web |last1=McAloon |first1=Martin |title=Martin on Swoon – October 2019 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/martin-on-swoon-october-2019/ |website=Sproutology |accessdate=2 April 2020}} and at one time was planned to be released as a non-album single in Autumn 1984.{{cite journal |last1=Nichols |first1=Kathryn |title=A Prefabricated Style |journal=Debut |date=1984 |issue=3 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/kathryn-nichols-debut-magazine-1984/ |accessdate=2 April 2020}} It is the second of two tracks on Protest Songs that had previously been released; an earlier recording (produced by Hal Remingto) was the B-side of "When Love Breaks Down" in 1984. "Diana" is about the deification of Diana, Princess of Wales. McAloon elaborated in a 1984 interview "It’s really about the Daily Mail, the way they wrote about her. The burden she had".{{cite journal |last1=McCullough |first1=Dave |title=From Brussels with LOVE |journal=Sounds |date=16 April 1983 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/dave-mccullough-sounds-april-16th-1983/ |accessdate=2 April 2020}} "Talking Scarlet", which concerns forbidden lust, lent its name to the band's official fan club newsletters.{{cite web |title=Some more "Talking Scarlet" issues |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/sproutbait/some-more-talking-scarlet-issues/ |website=Sproutology |date=25 April 2015 |accessdate=8 April 2020}} "Till the Cows Come Home" is about a provincial place, and McAloon considered it one of the album's best songs. Like "Dublin", McAloon felt the song would've elevated Steve McQueen had it been included. Stuart Maconie's Protest Songs review said the song "reflects darkly on the impoverished North East". The album's closer "Pearly Gates" was among the ten tracks listed in NME's "Alternative Best of Prefab Sprout" in 1992. Maconie felt the song "goes to places most pop records have never heard of; quaint and strangely moving with all the emotive power of a half-remembered hymn from schooldays". The song has been described as a precursor to the final tracks on the band's next album, Jordan: The Comeback, which contains themes of mortality, religion and the afterlife.

The eventual release of Protest Songs was announced by Kitchenware in March 1989, originally provisionally set for a May date.{{cite news |last1=Halton |first1=Wayne |title=Digging Up Old Sprouts |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19890317/128/0012 |accessdate=7 April 2020 |work=Newcastle Journal |date=17 March 1989}} The album was finally issued on 19 June 1989, 15 months after From Langley Park to Memphis and nearly four years on from its original intended release date. Prefab Sprout undertook no promotion for Protest Songs; the album's press release noted "the band are currently in the studio recording their brand new album, Jordan: The Comeback".{{cite news |last1=Massey |first1=Paul |title=Prefab Protest |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000445/19890706/445/0017 |accessdate=7 April 2020 |work=Aberdeen Evening Express |date=6 July 1989}} Despite the lack of publicity, the album reached number 18 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry in July 1989.{{cite web |title=Prefab Sprout |url=https://www.bpi.co.uk/brit-certified/ |website=BPI |access-date=2 March 2023}}

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/protest-songs-mw0000375275|title=Protest Songs - Prefab Sprout|work=AllMusic|first=Jason|last=Ankeny|accessdate=22 March 2018}}

| rev2 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=1997 |publisher=Virgin Books |location=UK |page=967|isbn=9781852278328 |edition=Concise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YzC_QgAACAAJ |accessdate=10 April 2020}}

| rev3 = Hi-Fi News & Record Review

| rev3Score = B:2{{cite news|last=Clark|first=Pete|authorlink=|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Hi-Fi-News/80s/Hi-Fi-News-1989-08.pdf|title=Review: Prefab Sprout — Protest Songs|work=Hi-Fi News & Record Review|type=magazine|date=August 1989|volume=34|issue=8|access-date=2 September 2021|page=110|location=Croydon|publisher=Link House Magazines Ltd|via=World Radio History|issn=0142-6230|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902075515/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Hi-Fi-News/80s/Hi-Fi-News-1989-08.pdf|archive-date=2 September 2021}}

| rev4 = NME

| rev4score = {{Rating|9|10}}

| rev5 = Record Mirror

| rev5Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Strickland|first=Andy|authorlink=|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/80s/89/Record-Mirror-1989-06-24-PDF.pdf|title=Review: Prefab Sprout — Protest Songs|magazine=Record Mirror|date=24 June 1989|access-date=19 February 2022|page=32|location=London|publisher=Spotlight Publications Ltd.|via=World Radio History|issn=0144-5804|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309033324/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/80s/89/Record-Mirror-1989-03-11.pdf|archive-date=9 March 2021}}

| rev6 = Sputnikmusic

| rev6score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}

| rev7 = Select

| rev7score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite web |first=Stuart |last=Maconie |title=Prefab Spout: Protest Songs > Review |url=http://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2013/03/albums4.jpg}}

}}

Among contemporary reviews, Stuart Maconie of the NME considered the album "incredible", adding "Ten songs, by turns sparkling and opaque, carefree and weighty, that confirm the Sprouts as a band, and Paddy as a writer, as amongst the handful of treasures we have". Phil Sutcliffe of Q described Protest Songs as "their most durable collection to date" but also considered it "an odd combination of modesty and overweaning ambition – extremes successfully moderated on Langley Park". Writing in Spin, Robin Reinhardt declared Protest Songs "a record only the most intellectual or most delirious can understand. Lush, airy harmonies that whisper erratic, ambiguous lyrics make the music seem like an afterthought".{{cite journal |last1=Reinhardt |first1=Robin |title=Heavy Rotation |journal=Spin |date=October 1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O5KWH9rNuE4C&q=prefab%20sprout%20protest%20songs&pg=PA16 |accessdate=10 April 2020}} Nick Robinson, reviewer of British music newspaper Music Week, considered that "college book poetry and passive pop songs have a distinct charm".{{cite magazine|last=Robinson|first=Nick|authorlink=|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1989/MW-1989-06-24.pdf|title=Review: Prefab Sprout – Protest Songs|magazine=Music Week|date=24 June 1989|access-date=18 February 2022|page=24|location=London|publisher=Spotlight Publications Ltd.|via=World Radio History|issn=0265-1548|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029184833/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1989/MW-1989-06-24.pdf|archive-date=29 October 2021}} The Irish Independent opined "McAloon's songwriting skill is enhanced by the sparseness of the surrounding soundscapes", and recommended the album to anyone who may have previously found the band too convoluted or "clever".{{cite news |title=Album Reviews |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001715/19890705/088/0007 |accessdate=5 April 2020 |work=Irish Independent |date=5 July 1989}} The chorus of "Dublin" ("Dublin Dublin, home of pretty Coleens/Dublin Dublin, nurse of such bitter dreams") was derided in some Irish reviews. The Sunday Tribune's Michael Ross described the lyrics as "daft"{{cite news |last1=Ross |first1=Michael |title=Prefab Sprout - Protest Songs (Kitchenware) |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002321/19890702/268/0023 |accessdate=5 April 2020 |work=Sunday Tribune |date=2 July 1989}} while Ferdia MacAnna of Dublin's Evening Herald commented "Coleens? Begorragh, Paddy, you're a bit of a cute hoor".{{cite news |last1=Ferdia |first1=MacAnna |title=No Protest at Sprout Release |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001730/19890706/122/0018 |accessdate=5 April 2020 |work=Evening Herald |date=6 July 1989}}

Among retrospective reviews, AllMusic critic Jason Ankeny gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying: "It's a wonderful record, but perhaps too close in sound and spirit to Steve McQueen for comfort". He added: "By no means a lost masterpiece, it's still an essential piece of the puzzle." Sputnikmusic's Aaron W. considered the album undervalued, describing it as a "proper sequel" to Steve McQueen and "arguably just as good".

Reflecting on Protest Songs in 1997, Paddy McAloon commented; "The main idea behind Protest Songs was the deconstruction of pop in its entirety. It had to be an album gaunt, humble, essential. An approach that, in retrospect, I think was wrong. By working a bit on songs like "Horsechimes" you could pull off a lot more."{{cite journal |last1=Adami |first1=Alex |title=After seven silent years, the star of Prefab Sprout, Paddy McAloon returns |journal=Rockstar Magazine |date=May 1997 |url=https://www.sproutology.co.uk/interviews/alexi-adami-rockstar-magazine-1997/ |accessdate=4 April 2020}} Neil Conti considered his drumming performances on the album some of his best, saying in 2014: "I will stand by that record for as long as I live. It’s one of the few records I have done where I can bear to listen without flinching from hearing that bit that I could’ve done better". A remastered edition of the album, overseen by Paddy and Martin McAloon, was issued by Sony Music on 25 October 2019.{{cite web |title=Protest Songs (2019 Reissue) |url=http://www.resident-music.com/productdetails&product_id=65387 |website=Resident Music |accessdate=6 April 2020}}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Paddy McAloon

| title1 = The World Awake

| length1 = 4:26

| title2 = Life of Surprises

| length2 = 4:08

| title3 = Horsechimes

| length3 = 4:24

| title4 = Wicked Things

| length4 = 3:11

| title5 = Dublin

| length5 = 3:42

| title6 = Tiffanys

| length6 = 3:50

| title7 = Diana

| length7 = 4:10

| title8 = Talking Scarlet

| length8 = 4:34

| title9 = {{-'}}Til the Cows Come Home

| length9 = 4:12

| title10 = Pearly Gates

| length10 = 5:28

}}

Note: The back covers of the original vinyl, CD and cassette releases list track 8 as "Talking Scarlet", but the labels list it as "Talkin Scarlet". The back covers also list track 9 as "'Til the Cows Come Home" whereas the labels list it as "'Till the Cows Come Home", with an extra L.

Credits adapted from liner notes.

• Prefab Sprout – production
• Richard Digby Smith – recording, mixing
• Lance Phillips – mixing (on "Life of Surprises")
• Michael H. Brauer – remixing (on "Dublin" and "Pearly Gates")
• Lawrence J. Bogle – photography

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs master|25804|Protest Songs}}
• {{MusicBrainz release group|mbid=1662659f-21e7-3c04-becc-cea367fdf4f8|name=Protest Songs}}

{{Prefab Sprout}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1989 albums

Category:Prefab Sprout albums

Category:Kitchenware Records albums

Category:Columbia Records albums