Feline by The Stranglers

Feline, the Stranglers' seventh studio album and their first for Epic, finds the old punk brawlers in a velvet jacket. Hugh Cornwell, Jean-Jacques Burnel, Dave Greenfield and Jet Black trade the snarl for continental cool, building the songs mostly from acoustic guitars, electronic drums and synthesizers, a nod to the two big currents running through European music at the time. It's moody, elegant and a little sinister, the sound of a band that had discovered the late-night café.

Early copies came with a free one-sided single, "Aural Sculpture Manifesto", and the American edition slipped in the British hit "Golden Brown". "European Female" reached 9 on the UK Singles Chart, a remixed "Midnight Summer Dream" and then "Paradise" followed, and the album climbed to 4 on the UK Albums Chart, beating La Folie. "All Roads Lead to Rome" is the track radio came back to.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.