Album Of The Week
Album Of The Week - 10/01/2026 - Track 5
Today I am moving into the extended version of Feline which contained the b-sides from the various singles releases from the album.
For me, this pick of these is the reggae infused track Permission, originally released on the 12 inch version of Paradise and far too good not to have had its own release as a single.
Album Of The Week - 10/01/2026 - Track 4
My penultimate selection from the initial release of Feline is All Roads Lead To Rome.
This song has The Stranglers fully embracing the European electronic influences with this song which has a sad, melancholic feel with Hugh Cornwells vocal delivery about the "big city".
Album Of The Week - 10/01/2026 - Track 3
My lastest selection from Feline is one of my favourite tracks on the album, Ships That Pass In The Night.
The song builds from acoustic bass and guitar opening with the synths easing in to give a deep soundscape for this song about missed chances and opportunities.
Album Of The Week - 10/01/2026 - Track 2
My second selection from Feline is The European Female, the lead single from the album.
The release of this song as a single gave a good impression of what to expect from the album with its gentle, clean, lush tones. Commercially is was very successful reaching number 9 in the UK singles chart.
The song itself, one of the few on the album with lead vocals by Jean Jaques Burnel is about his girlfriend at the time although he said it was also about Europen identity.
Album Of The Week - 10/01/2026
Feline – The Stranglers
This week we mark the 200th album to be selected with a band that made a massive impact me as a 12 year old discovering the joys of punk and alternative music.
Feline is the 7th studio
from The Stranglers and marked a massive move away from their 1977/1978 albums
that saw them become a major name in the punk scene, even though they always
denied being a punk band.
We had seen some impressive
experimentation from the band before Feline, especially with 1981’s The Gospel
According To The MenInBlack, but Feline took the band into a more European,
electronic influenced direction. Gone was the rumbling bass, scratchy guitars
and Hammond organ and instead we have layers of synths, intricate electronic
drums and acoustic guitars.
More than any of their previous 6
albums Feline took The Stranglers well away from the punk / post punk scene and
highlighted their desire to follow their own creative path. This was endorsed by
their new label, Epic Records, who the band signed with following an
acrimonious departure from EMI.
This freedom took the band into a
rich vein of creativity and accompanying commercial success and in a way, took
the Stranglers, into a more soft rock direction as was the original vision of
founding member and drummer Jet Black.
The early 1980’s saw a whole raft
of bands experimenting with electronics and synthesizers and the charts were
dominated with songs from the likes of the Human League, Duran Duran, Depeche
Mode and Gary Numan but the Stranglers take on this was in a more European direction
with electronic art rock influences.
With Feline, we have 9 songs that
flow and ebb nicely, each being very listenable and show a side of the band rarely
seen in the past, a side that dispelled the myth of aggressive rabble rousers
as was portrayed within some of the music papers of the time.
There is a clean, polished
production on the album with producer, Tony Visconti bringing out the multiple layers
of instrumentation to give us a wide, expansive offering where all the elements
have room to breathe. Having a producer of Visconti’s pedigree was evident of
the strides the band had made as he had produced such greats as T-Rex and David
Bowie.
Feline performed very well
commercially, reaching number 4 in the UK album charts and producing 3 singles,
the first of which, The European Female, went to number 7.
In 2001, an extended version of
Feline was released which contained all the b-sides from the singles and their
associated 12 inch releases, and I will touch upon this at the end of the week.
My first selection is the album
opener, Midnight Summer Dream, a 6 minute song which has become very much a
fans favourite and starts Feline beautifully. An edited version was released as
a single but it does not do justice to the album version although the extended,
10 minute version released on a 12 inch single is superb and is well worth
checking out.
Album Of The Week - 03/01/2026 - Track 5
My final selection from Dark Fields is a live recording of the tradional folk songs High Germany / Molly Oxford.
This excellent version is where Show of Hands excel, playing live and this recording is given added depth with the wonderful vocals of folk legend Kate Rusby.
Album Of The Week - 03/01/2026 - Track 4
My penultimate selection from Dark Fields is probably the darkest song on the album (pardon the pun), the harrowing and haunting track, The Bristol Slaver.
The song tells of the association of the slave trade to Bristol and how its ghosts are still heard to this day.
Album Of The Week - 03/01/2026 - Track 3
My third selection from Dark Fields is a traditional folk song that goes back to the early 19th century.
Flora, also known as Flora (Lily of the West) is a song that has been covered by numerous artists and is a typical folk song filled with love, betrayal and murder, all the key components of good folk music especially this excellent West Country themed Show of Hands adaptation.
Album Of The Week - 03/01/2026 - Track 2
My second selection from Dark Fields is one of the livelier songs from the album and highlights Steve Knightley's ability to pen wonderfully witty and ironic folk songs.
The song, Longdog, is about poaching as is named specifically after the poachers dog.
The song became a live favourite and the fan club and online community adopted the name The Longdogs.
Album Of The Week - 03/01/2026
This week’s album, Dark Fields, is
the fourth of my 32 Show of Hands albums to be selected as my album of week and
its an album that has a special memory, as I bought it at a gig we attended at
the Exeter Phoenix soon after Julie & I started following them.
Dark Fields, released in 1997, is
actually the bands 6th album although the first 3 were cassette only
and are now long out of print. Therefore, Dark Fields is the third main release
album and continued the success and acclaim Show of Hands had garnered from their
previous 2 albums.
In 1996, Show of Hands surprisingly
booked the Royal Albert Hall and even more surprisingly sold out the venue well
in advance. The success of the gig promoted the profile of the band along with glowing
reviews of their previous albums which took the band into the Dark Fields album
with a rapidly growing following and attention beyond the folk realm.
Dark Fields, as is commonplace with
the band, has its roots firmly in the West Country with songs about life and
history in the region and there are songs on this release that stayed part of
the bands live set right up to the end when they played their final tour gig at
Exeter Cathedral in May 2024.
There are also some more personal
songs within Dark Fields, along with traditional folk songs and a Bob Dylan
cover but as is the case with Show of Hands, it’s the song writing of Steve Knightley
that drives the album. Lyrically, we have songs about wayward teenagers,
poaching, slavery and the emigration of Cornish miners. As is typical of
Knightley he can inject melancholy, humour and cutting insight into most topics
and we have plenty of that within Dark Fields.
Although a duo, there are contributions
on the album from folk luminaries such as Chris While, Andy Cutting and one of
my folk favourites, Kate Rusby.
For anyone new to Show of Hands,
Dark Fields is certainly a good insight into their earlier offerings.
My first selection is the album
opener, Cousin Jack, probably one of the most famous Show of Hands songs which
is about “Cornish diaspora” that saw thousands of miners leave the county in
the 19th century to seek work abroad.
Incidentally, this was one of the
last songs they played at Exeter Cathedral on their final tour and as I looked
around me that night there were many in tears due to the emotion of the song
and the occasion and it’s a memory that will stay with me as it was a very
moving moment.
Show Of Hands announced an “indefinite
hiatus” in 2024 and although Steve Knightley and Phil Beer are both very active
live, as both are now in their seventies I wonder if we will ever see this iconic
duo on stage together again.
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