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.

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.

[14] 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.

[15] 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".

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".

[4] 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.

[21] 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.

[7] "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.

[32] A regular number in the band's concerts, "Diana" was considered for inclusion on Swoon,[33] and at one time was planned to be released as a non-album single in Autumn 1984.

[22] 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".

[39] 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".

[21] 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".

[46] 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".

The Sunday Tribune's Michael Ross described the lyrics as "daft"[48] while Ferdia MacAnna of Dublin's Evening Herald commented "Coleens?

[49] 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".