Protest Songs

McAloon felt under pressure after Steve McQueen and decided to record quickly with limited production, as a balance to that album's polish. The album was planned for 2 December 1985 as a limited release for people at the winter tour, and flyers advertised it as a one-week edition. Then When Love Breaks Down became a transatlantic hit in October 1985, and CBS put the album on hold so it would not confuse new fans. It was widely bootlegged in Europe while it waited.

Kitchenware announced the release in March 1989, and it came out on 19 June 1989 with no promotion. It reached number 18 and was certified silver in July 1989. Life of Surprises was added from the 1986 demo sessions for the next album, had been a B-side of Nightingales, and as a single in 1992 reached 24. Dublin is about the Troubles and is just McAloon with an acoustic guitar. Stuart Maconie called the album incredible in NME, and AllMusic's Jason Ankeny gave it four stars. In 1997 McAloon said the main idea was the deconstruction of pop, and that in retrospect he thought the approach was wrong. A remaster was issued by Sony on 25 October 2019.