SENTIMENTAL INSTITUTION

The other of the two singles taken from the Defector album, but unlike 'The Show', this hasn't got a good non-album track on the B-side. And speaking of the A-sider, especially the idea of having 'Sentimental Institution' in a jukebox is somewhat ridiculous. I can imagine how embarrassing it would have felt in my youth to play this granny song to a casual crowd in a bar. In the album it functions as a parodical closing number; in an eclectic context of prog it isn't necessarily so much out of place to mock any kind of music, e.g. old fashioned vocal music (Dik Cadbury's vocals and the simple arrangement treated to sound like coming straight out of an old gramophone), but why make a single of it as well? At least there's a nice vintage (Art Nouveau) drawing to accompany it.

'The Toast' is in my opinion one of the two loveliest tracks of Defector. Slow, melancholic, and full of the distinctive pastoral atmosphere that's one of Hackett's strengths. Since both tracks are on the main album, this rather unnecessary single falls in the "Collectors/fans only" category.