The Last Protest Singer

Harry Chapin - The Last Protest Singer

The Last Protest Singer
Our Price: $29.55
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.99 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Artist: Harry Chapin
Brand: Dunhill
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Dcc Compact Classics

Music reviews of The Last Protest Singer

Music Review: Song from Harry Chapin's planned movie musical
Rating: 4 Stars

"The Last Protest Singer" was originally a treatment Harry Chapin began developing in 1978 for a motion picture musical. Chapin was working on the songs at the time of his tragic death in 1981. The main character was named Willie Seine and clearly Chapin intended him to be in the mold of great American Troubadours like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Seine is on a journey into the off-kilter world of ordinary people searching for fulfillment of their dreams. Such people inspire songs to be written about them, holding to the ideal that "Everybody's special in their ordinary ways." Eventually Willie Seine dies, singing one of his popular songs, having "never found the music to accompany the truth."

Harry Chapin was working on eighteen songs in the studio for this project and this album, which was released in 1988, contains the eleven that were well enough along to be completed form the original master tracks by Keith Walsh and Steve Hoffman. Brothers Tom and Steve play on the album, as does Big John Wallace, so the result certainly has the sound of a Harry Chapin album. The problem is in getting the big picture. The contexts of the song are unclear and who knows if the order is right in terms of the narrative structure Chapin was developing (think of any listening to two-thirds of the songs in any other musical played in a random order).

Clearly the songs are Harry Chapin in a political state of mind, which makes them different from the story songs that made his reputation and endeared him to his legions of fans. There are love songs about Willie Seine and the young actress who takes him down the back road of truth ("A Quiet Little Love Affair"), but most of the songs reinforce the line in "Basic Protest Song" where our singer warns "But if we can't push for paradise/We'll be setting for hell." In this context it is no wonder that the hero sings "I Don't Want to be President" and attacks the power brokers of the nation in "Sounds Like America to Me." "The Last Protest Singer" is an incomplete work, but is certainly worth a listen, being the one posthumous Harry Chapin album released that has all original songs. Too bad there is not a more comprehensive set of notes or even a libretto, that can give us a better idea of the scope of the what Chapin had in mind.

Track List for "The Last Protest Singer":
1. Last of the Protest Singers (4:41)
2. November Rains (3:46)
3. Basic Protest Song (4:28)
4. Last Stand (4:38)
5. Sounds Like America to Me (4:27)
6. Word Wizard (4:14)
7. Anthem (3:48)
8. A Quiet Little Love Affair (2:48)
9. I Don't Want to Be President (4:00)
10. Silly Little Girl (3:26)
11. You Own the Only Light (4:11)

More The Last Protest Singer free music reviews:
1

Description of The Last Protest Singer

.

Folk CDs

Music Genres
Bestsellers in Folk CDs
Another Place ImageMargie Adam - Another Place
Release date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $16.99
Road of the Heart ImageAnn Reed - Road of the Heart
Release date: 1994-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $29.99
Back & Forth ImageAnn Reed - Back & Forth
Release date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops: $9.98
Rainbow Path ImageKay Gardner - Rainbow Path
Release date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $15.05
Price in other shops: $17.99
Grant Me Eyes ImageJoanne Rand - Grant Me Eyes
Release date: 2001-08-02; Music CD
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops: $14.98
Hello Betty! ImageBetty - Hello Betty!
Release date: 1994-03-21; Music CD
Price in other shops: $11.98
Amazon ImageKay Gardner - Amazon
Release date: 1994-07-26; Music CD
Price in other shops: $9.98
Stage 2: Human Heart ImageStage 2: Human Heart
Release date: 1997-04-11; Music CD
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops: $19.98
Heart Is the Only Nation ImageCyntia Smith, Ruth Barrett - Heart Is the Only Nation
Release date: 1996-07-17; Music CD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $16.98
Giants! A Colossal Collection of Tales and Tunes ImageGiants! A Colossal Collection of Tales and Tunes
Greathall Productions, Inc.; Release date: 2000-04-05; Published: 1996; Music CD
Best price: $8.68
Price in other shops: $14.95
Similar CDs
Living Room Suite ImageHarry Chapin - Living Room Suite
Release date: 1993-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $49.99
Harry Chapin - Remember When: The Anthology ImageHarry Chapin - Remember When: The Anthology
MPI; Release date: 2005-11-22; DVD
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops: $24.98
On the Road to Kingdom Come ImageHarry Chapin - On the Road to Kingdom Come
Release date: 1993-06-29; Music CD
Best price: $48.99
Essentials ImageHarry Chapin - Essentials
Essentials; Release date: 2006-04-10; Music CD
Best price: $3.68
Price in other shops: $11.98
Gold Medal Collection ImageHarry Chapin - Gold Medal Collection
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $9.69
Price in other shops: $18.96
Heads & Tales ImageHarry Chapin - Heads & Tales
Release date: 2010-05-18; Music CD
Best price: $7.70
Price in other shops: $15.98
Short Stories ImageHarry Chapin - Short Stories
Release date: 2003-10-10; Music CD
Best price: $71.99
Verities & Balderdash ImageHarry Chapin - Verities & Balderdash
CHAPIN,HARRY; Release date: 1990-10-12; Music CD
Best price: $6.66
Price in other shops: $13.96
Sequel ImageHarry Chapin - Sequel
Release date: 2011-01-26; Music CD
Best price: $15.99
Portrait Gallery ImageHarry Chapin - Portrait Gallery
Release date: 2010-05-18; Music CD
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops: $15.98
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles