Review by Marco Sabatini :The Stranglers - Feline

Marco Sabatini

Musicshockworld 

Offagna

13 February 2026

Imagine for a moment that you are The Stranglers at the end of 1982: music critics have always mistreated you, especially in your homeland, leaving aside 'No More Heroes', each of your other five studio albums has always attracted more criticism than acclaim, but you have a solid following who would follow you even into the flames. What would you do?

They put together an album that surprised everyone, called it 'Feline' and, to underline their iron will to scratch the MusicBiz again, they put a black panther on the cover, black on black. No electric guitars, soothing atmospheres, use of drum machines, super-polished arrangements, and with JJ Burnell and Hugh Cornwell alternating on vocals. 

"FELINE" was released in January 1983, a year that saw REM's "Murmur" and the Violent Femmes as the most intriguing newcomers on the alternative rock scene, while Spandau Ballet with "True" and Duran Duran, who only released "Seven and the Ragged Tiger" at the end of November, confirmed their moment of glory.

We can therefore say that the quartet from Guildford had a good nose for the times, moving stylishly between electronic and country folk. In some tracks, such as 'Let's Tango in Paris', they wink at Cabaret, following in the footsteps of The Kinks ten years later, from 'Lola' onwards: if Ray Davis and co. had introduced a powerful horn section, The Stranglers give space to the keyboards of the late Dave Greenfield, who introduces the album with a surprising organ solo in 'Midnight Summer Dream'.

Another similarity with The Kinks, specifically with the album I reviewed a few days ago, is the change of label: The Stranglers moved to Epic Records after their so-so experience with EMI and Tom Visconti's management, while Ray Davis and co. moved to RCA with the intention of breaking into the charts, so a reverse but ultimately similar process.  

“I knew she was a feline 

 She moved with ease and grace 

 Her green eyes, they held mystery

 No emotion on her face.”

The single that reached number 9  in the UK and Ireland in the first week of 1983 was "European Female", supported by a music video  that was appropriate in the days of the advent of MTV USA.

It stayed there for six weeks, perhaps too refined for the masses, and was a partial failure, failing to match the results of "Golden Brown" and "La Folie". 

"It's a Small World" is definitely a track worth revisiting, with just the right amount of electronica and Hugh's minimal but brilliant vocals. 

The second single, "All Roads Lead to Rome", is more pretentious, a rather ineffective rehash.

The album closes with 'Blue Sister', an interesting look back at the sounds of the early albums, and 'Never Say Goodbye', which celebrates this Flamenco-inspired vein and runs through an album in which The Stranglers still manage to stimulate appetising investigations, before the decline that would lead, after two more albums, to the abandonment of the project by the 'poet laureate of the punk era' Hugh Cornwell.