The Feeling Singles (2006-2011)

Briefly one of the biggest U.K. guitar bands of the mid-2000s, it all seems to have gone a bit wrong for "yacht rock" purveyors the Feeling of late. Their last album, Together We Were Made, was met with both a muted critical response and a chart position 21 places lower than its number one predecessor, while this 14-track compilation screams contractual obligation, suggesting their major-label days may be numbered. Nevertheless, Singles (2006-2011) is a chance to remind the hundreds of thousands of fans who have gone AWOL since their heyday of their occasional "guilty pleasure" brilliance. Unsurprisingly, their 2006 multi-platinum debut, Twelve Stops and Home, makes up the bulk of the collection, with all five Top 40 singles included (plus album track "Strange"), and while "Fill My Little World" and "Love It When You Call" remain irritatingly jaunty, the emotive AOR of "Sewn" and breezy soft rock of "Never Be Lonely" explain while they were touted as the new Supertramp, while a string-soaked reworking of "Rose" (recorded live at Abbey Road for a new Burberry TV ad campaign) transforms the rather wet ballad into a gloriously melancholic epic. The four contributions from 2008's chart-topper Join with Us show the quintet was happy to serve up more of the same, although "I Thought It Was Over," a tale of a relationship during the fall of the Berlin Wall, hinted at a slight electro-rock direction which the group further pursued on its 2011 follow-up. Unfortunately, it was a direction that appeared to alienate most of the Feeling's audience, which is a shame as the shimmering synth pop of "Leave Me Out of It" (a collaboration with bassist Richard Jones' other half, Sophie Ellis-Bextor) and the tribal singalong of "Set My World on Fire" are just as unashamedly infectious as their biggest hits. With two different versions of the same song alongside two album tracks, Singles (2006-2011) is occasionally prone to the odd bit of filler, but it's still a solid collection of melodic pop songs suggesting that the Feeling deserve better than the current position they find themselves in. ~ Jon O'Brien|