By Donzig
The Feelies have had three distinct phases in their career: underground sensations; fertile and productive alt-rockers;, and, in recent years, well-deserved elder statesmen who occasionally tour and release new material.
Formed in the late Seventies, The Feelies were an immediate hit in the New York underground scene. Their debut full-length release, Crazy Rhythms (1980), showed traces of the Modern Lovers and The Velvet Underground, among others, and was itself a highly influential record for other bands. But alas, the album was decidedly non-commercial and only available as a UK import. Like so many others before and since, The Feelies were not destined for immediate attention from the general public. The band went on hiatus for several years, with original drummer Anton Fier going on to join The Lounge Lizards and later form The Golden Palominos, two other Eighties bands admired by musical insiders and knowledgeable fans.
Band leaders and songwriters Glenn Mercer (lead vocals and guitar) and Bill Million (backing vocals and guitar) put together a new rhythm section, creating the enduring and best known Feelies lineup with the recruitment of Brenda Sauter (bass), Stan Demeski (drums), and Dave Weckerman (percussion). Peter Buck, guitarist of R.E.M., paid homage to one of his influences by producing their sophomore effort, 1986's The Good Earth. Released on a stateside label, this album got a bit more attention than the debut, becoming something of a hit on the college music charts (what we now call Alternative Music). Like many people, this was my introduction to The Feelies. We used to play this album regularly at the Record Coop at the University of Maryland, the record store Glenn and I worked at in the late Eighties.
The attention from this album resulted in the band being signed to a major label. A&M released the next two Feelies albums, 1988's Only Life (another staple of in-store play at the Record Co-op), and 1991's Time For A Witness. [Kenixfan: reviews of recent reissues of those A&M albums here.] These albums were both well received, though the band was neither overwhelmed by the major label experience nor persuaded to "sell out" as it were. The second phase of the band's career came to an end at this point and a long hiatus ensued.
Coaxed out of retirement in 2008 to open for Sonic Youth, and featured the next year at a major R.E.M. tribute concert, The Feelies began recording and occasionally performing live shows again. They released Here Before (2011), In Between (2017), and, in 2023, a Velvet Underground covers collection. The band, with a venerable 45-year history behind it, remains active to this day, though at its own pace.
Rewind, the new collection from The Feelies, features vintage recordings from all three phases of this illustrious act's career. The band started off wanting to get their cover of Patti Smith's durable "Dancing Barefoot" out to the public and things snowballed from there.
The first single is indeed "Dancing Barefoot", recorded during the Only Life Sessions, backed with their version of Neil Young's "Barstool Blues", from the Time For A Witness sessions (one of two Young songs on the album).
Other standout tracks include "Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except Me And My Monkey)", their run at the Beatles classic from the legendary debut Feelies album, Crazy Rhythms. That hard-rocking Beatles number gets a New Wave feel, while another Fab Four cover shows up in "She Said, She Said", an energetic rendition by The Feelies captured here from 1986 and The Good Earth sessions. Also of note is "Seven Days", a Bob Dylan song originally recorded by Ron Wood, from the In Between sessions in 2016. This version rocks harder than Dylan ever did. Another gem here is "I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms", a Modern Lovers number recorded in 1990 during the Time For A Witness sessions. This version has a proto-punk sound that's appropriate for a Jonathan Richman song.
This collection gives an overview of The Feelies' musical tastes and styles as they refined them during the recording of their previous studio albums. But this look back over their career encourages us to now look forward: to their next tour, and perhaps someday an album of new material. I hope.
Rewind by The Feelies is out now via Bar/None Records.
[Photo: Feelies Bandcamp]