Feather in Your Cap scored 45.3 points from 13 votes so far; for a preliminary score of 3.45 (I’ll take it, I’m just happy it isn’t winning the album )
Today’s song is: I’m a Stranger Here Starting the darker side of the album as we head into the more downbeat second half. Here’s what Neil said in 2019: “I'm a Stranger Here” “I think this is actually the most pertinent song on the record, simply because it's about being adrift on the modern world. It's not so much ‘Oh my God, I have to do banking online,’ it's more 'Where has everybody gone?' It's like everybody's having conversations that I'm not party to. Maybe I'm just a natural hermit, I don't know. I'm very proud of having a bassoon solo here, too, by the way.”
Wow, I caught up! Unless a new song appears in the time it takes to write this post anyway. Feather in Your Cap - I don't really remember this one; I haven't played the album that much and as it's a double there's a lot of songs to compete for your attention. So some are bound to lose out. But listening to it in isolation I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Musically it's ok, the synth bass / electric piano arrangement is fine even if the production seems a bit less polished then it might be. But that's possibly because I associate the electric piano with Steely Dan / Yacht Rock type smoothness I guess. The lyrics are interesting; my assumption was that they were sung by a female character and was a bit surprised to hear others assuming the opposite. But I have to accept that looking at the lyrics written down there's no reason why it couldn't work either away, and it makes me think that my own assumption is partly down to sexual stereotyping (i.e. male predator / female prey) on my part. Always good to be made to question your own thought processes though... Anyway I will say that the decision to put on a voice for this song does suggest to me that Neil was maybe leaning towards the idea of it being sung by a female character, otherwise why not just use his own normal voice? Anyway whyever (is that a word?) he does it, it adds a note of hurt which suits the song. I'm feeling generous so will give it 4/5.
I'm a Stranger Here Everytime I see the title of this track, I wonder to myself "what is that? I can't remember it at all". But when I hear the song itself, I remember that I like it quite well. Instrumentally it sounds a bit like something from Swallows & Amazons, at least up till the orchestral swells and the bassoon come in. Quite menacing in a ponderous way. The mandolin is a nice touch. Is that as hated an instrument as the banjo? 3.8
I don’t know about anyone else, but my enjoyment of this song was improved immeasurably by seeing it live on the 2019 tour, where much of the band huddled together at the front of the stage to provide those wonderful harmony vocals, leaving Neil centre stage in the spotlight with his guitar. Here’s a really good recording of it from German TV: The Divine Comedy – Live Music Hall, Köln 2019: "I'm A Stranger Here"
I'm a Stranger Here Here's where the album starts to wander off into the woods, into darker, more mysterious depths. Simultaneously a lament about modern life and an admission of being an out-of-touch relic from a former age. He's trying to avoid a feel of self-righteousness or judgementalism that some got from Regeneration by presenting this as a sort of supernatural tale à la Rip van Winkle, and distancing himself from the narrator, rather than coming out and saying, "I'm Neil Hannon, I'm in my late forties and things are going to the dogs. In my day it wasn't like this". The keynote is scared and confused rather than grumpy and intolerant. Same vibe as the spoken word bit in "The Certainty of Chance". The music is appropriately ominous and gloomy. 4/5 Some stray unconnected thoughts: 1 This is the third song in a row whose title is a familiar phrase: "life and soul of the party", "feather in your cap"... maybe Neil was using familiar phrases as a starting point for songwriting around this time. "Don't mention the war"; "my happy place"; "funny peculiar"; "opportunity knocks"; "you'll never work in this town again". Then again, it's something lots of songwriters do. 2 I forgot to say regarding "Feather in your Cap": though I don't like the synth voice setting, it does work in contributing to the album concept of a catalogue of different musical styles, and the sub-concept of 1980s styles specifically. 3 Just a thought about sequencing on concept albums: the novel I'm reading now has its scenes in a kind of scrambled order, we jump around in time all over the place from chapter to chapter. It occurs to me that novels and films are often told in this kind of non-linear way these days. So theoretically there's no reason why a concept album should be any different. So if you can construct a story around the songs, it shouldn't be so much of a problem if the songs are arranged in the "wrong" order to tell that story. Think of it as modernity.
This is the only 10cc song I could name. Not by me anyway! As chair of the Banjo-Disapproval Society I can confirm my liking for the mandolin. It had gentler, prettier tone to it, not all harsh and twangy. And we all know how we're supposed to feel about that... I'm A Stranger Here Very nice description and comparison there. The descent into darkness in this part of the album is something I really enjoy and I think this is a beautiful song to listen to. It sounds incredibly stylish and gorgeous (a bit like the feel of Fin de Siecle in a way), and Neil's voice sounds great here, and really suits the old fashioned style. The bassoon solo over gorgeous, swooping strings is definitely a musical highlight of the album along with the tremolo mandolin playing. I hadn't even realised I'd missed the usual orchestrations, and that they turn up on this song is very apt. I love that little twiddly/twangy bit on the guitar or mandolin, which is replicated in the live version (thanks @LivingForever that is lovely and really gave me chills!). It all sounds at once very gentle and carefully-placed, but also a touch menacing somehow, like a walk through smoggy Victorian London. Although this is a song about feeling a bit at sea on the modern world, it feels set in the past, as though the timetraveller from an even earlier time is wandering a kind of steampunk version of Victorian London, feeling lost amid the rapid, unstoppable industrialisation of that time. There is a parallel with the development of computing in this century, so it is apt. It's all a bit bleak I suppose, but then the notion of music being the thing that connects the character to his own time is a nice thought, and one I'm sure most people can identify with. Actually listening to that live version has really brought out the backing vocals, which repeat certain words or phrases then go into 'ahs', then sing half a phrase etc. This is something Neil does a fair bit to great effect, especially on his earlier albums, for example on Bath, and some on Liberation (Bernice, maybe?); a bit like (and I think @Hazey John II may have said about Bath) a Greek chorus underlining the main themes. And actually, like those older songs and unlike much of this album, I think the bvs on this song are all Neil. The eerie ending, which what sounds like a fairground organ or oompah band, fading away into the distance, is very touching, especially as it gets swallowed up by the start of the next track - a rude awakening to the reality of the present day, and perhaps also an echo of the way it is possible to feel swallowed up (both personally and in terms of humanity in general) by some aspects of the modern world. Having said all of that, I do find I'm not quite getting the emotional resonance from this song that I get from some TDC songs, but I think it may simply be down to time and this album as a whole sounding almost too stylish for it's own good. Actually, if we could reconvene in about 15 years' time, that might help . But I can't see myself growing tired of this song, and it feels very representative of Neil somehow. He did say somewhere he's always felt a bit of an outsider, and much of his music to me has always felt as though it exists outside of time somehow. 4.6/5
I’m A Stranger Here On some levels, I’m not sure there’s a big gap between my view on today’s track and my view on yesterday’s. Lyrically, it feels a little redundant. Neil has spent many years portraying himself as a man slightly out of his time, and this album is infused with the themes this song goes into. By this point in the album, I’ve already heard Absolutely Obsolete and Psychological Evaluation, and I’ve still got Dark Days Are Here Again and After The Lord Mayor’s Show to come, so a song that literally revolves around the phrase “I’m a stranger here” feels a bit unnecessarily literal. That said, the couplet of “I went out for a loaf of bread, now everything I love is dead” is enough to make the whole song worthwhile. Musically, another slow song following A Feather In Your Cap isn’t an ideal placement, but I do prefer this one. It has a nice filmic quality to it, and it’s the most ‘could have been in a musical’ song that this album has to offer. The simple piano line does let the vocal line breathe (and the later harmonies are nice), and I agree with Neil about the bassoon solo – a distinctive element that fits the song very nicely. The mandolin part weaves through it nicely (though I’m not 100% convinced it is a mandolin – it sound a bit like a treated guitar being played in the style of a mandolin to me, but I might be wrong). I’m a little unconvinced by the bridge which feels a bit underdeveloped. It does – clearly – fit the themes of the album well (even if it is a bit obvious). Like After The Lord Mayor’s Show, you can interpret it as internal monologue from Neil himself, but it also works as a character piece from someone we’ve encountered throughout the album. Perhaps your appreciation of this song can be linked to how much you’ve embraced the narrative of the album? I’ve been appreciating it more since I worked out my own custom edit, I think. So, I will rate this one higher than yesterday’s track, though it’s a long way off my favourites on this album, and it’s another one I’d be tempted to prune if I was trying to get the album down to a conventional length. 3/5
A couple of other thoughts from me today (in advance of tomorrow’s track). Backing Vocals on Office Politics I’ve been really struck in the last week or so by the backing vocals on this album. They seem much more diverse than on other records – we’re used to hearing a lot of Neil’s voice, or voices that sound similar, but the female gospel-style vocals are a distinctive element of this one, as are the deep male unison voices (I think someone referred to these as the Russian choir further up the thread). It feels to me like these vocal parts are taking the role of a Greek chorus throughout this album, intervening in some tracks, commenting dispassionately on others. No idea if that’s deliberate or not – maybe it’s just the sort of thing your brain puts together when you’ve spent too long thinking about it. Playing with the track order I’m not usually one to fiddle around with track orders on albums – I tend to think that, once an artist has made their decision, that’s the end of it for good or ill. But, I’ve been playing my version of Office Politics on a loop and it’s really made me re-evaluate some of the tracks. Moving Norman and Norma to the near-end (which wasn’t my idea, originally – can’t remember who suggested it) makes a huge difference. It goes from being a non-essential bit of TDC-by numbers which only seems to exist to reassure a nervous listener, to being a genuinely quite emotional reflection back on the life of someone who’s been through the work process and has come out the other end with a lasting relationship and a new lease of life. I wouldn’t want to change my score – if context matters that much, it should be judged on where Neil put it – but it’s fascinating.
I’m A Stranger Here I just find this a bit boring… It actively annoyed me at first (droney, moany etc) and then somewhere I read a review/comment that compared it to ELO’s Time album (which plays around with the theme of a time traveller feeling isolated in the future due to the alienating advance of technology). I know that that’s not quite what Neil’s talking about (his protagonist has travelled in time only by the natural ageing process), but it was the key I needed to become interested in the emotional thrust of the story. So it doesn’t annoy me any more, but if I’m honest it still bores me. I don’t have a fundamental issue with older artists choosing to say that they feel out of step with modern times, but surely it’s only ever going to be an interesting thought if they express it in an interesting way? 2/5 Yes, I certainly agree with this - perhaps I'd think the song were less tedious if it were not part of an album which contains other tracks that express every one one of this song's ideas... but better.
Interesting! I do agree there is redundancy across the album (haha, get the pun...!) but for me this one says it - or rather does it - better than the others (especially After the Lord Mayor's Show, but we'll get there...!). It's real strength for me is it's filmic quality, as pointed out by @jon-senior, which the other songs on the theme don't have. They tell us the person is obsolete, and that they feel the world is 'going to pot', but I'm A Stranger Here actually takes me into this person's world of quiet, understated fear and confusion.
Stranger I also wasn't too sure what this song was before listening to it, but then remembered and went from a progression of score ratings of 'maybe a 4' 'a bit higher', '4.5?', '4.6!' Love the sound of the music and the feel and Neil's voice in this one. And that bassoon. 4.6
I'm a Stranger Here Absolutely! And interestingly enough, the first few times I listened to this song, I heard it from the perspective of someone who lived in quiet, understated fear and confusion thanks to being forced into a new place where they didn't fit in. Perhaps someone who "went out for a loaf of bread, now everything I love is dead" due to their home and livelihood being suddenly destroyed by a war, and who needed to seek refuge in a place where they felt like a "stowaway". Perhaps they would also have songs and clothes from a place far away rather than a time long ago. I realise now that this wasn't the intention, but it does also make an interesting parallel between someone feeling out of place and being viewed with suspicion for a couple of different reasons. Anyway, much like @TheLemmingFace I didn't find this song very interesting to start with. Whilst not actively annoying to me like yesterday's song, it does continue the run of slower and more sombre material that mostly runs to the end of the album from here. However, what changed this for me was the live performance that I witnessed , which puts the focus firmly on those wonderful backing vocals and their almost Eastern-sounding harmonies (which is another reason I thought of refugees...) I'm not often one for something so slow and thoughtful, but this does it for me. 4.5
I’m a stranger here This is one song that sounds a little like it could fit more easily on an earlier album, like ‘Bang goes the knighthood.’ It is very stately though, evokes the character from the old Camel cigarettes ads, lurking in 1950s shadows. Perhaps it’s a sense of Neil being out of step with what else is going on in popular music, taking the alleyway less travelled. I do like the fairground feel underneath it all. 2.5/5
Maybe it was mentioned and I missed it, but did anyone notice that we recently passed the one year anniversary of this thread? Amazing that we've been discussing Neil's work for over a year now. Some of you may have noticed that not all threads here at SHF are as good as this one, so as always, great work by @LivingForever! But I've read great, thoughtful and thought provoking comments from absolutely everyone who posts in this thread, so Cheers to all!
A year?! Goodness! I concur with all @ericthegardener said. It has been a real pleasure to be part of the discussion - thanks @LivingForever and everyone. Cheers!
Thank you both! @Hazey John II pointed it out when it happened, but I think it got a bit lost in people discussing some song or other! (Tsk…)
Stranger Here The album takes a more sombre left turn for the closing few numbers. There are a few good tracks in this closing section (plus one duffer), but this isn’t one of my favourites. At least the cheap synth backing has gone in favour of more traditional TDC sounds. This one is just to long and slow, outstaying it’s welcome in my book. 2.8/5
My apologies to @Hazey John II for missing his original call out! I don't always get to read as closely as I would like.
I'm a Stranger Here - this one has a distinct song-from-a-musical feel to me; it reminds me a bit of one or two of the slower songs in Nightmare Before Xmas for starters. But the style suits the subject matter, which is what matters I guess. Not much else to say about it really, but it's effective so I'll give it 3.5 / 5. There I really did catch up this time!
