the feelies - classic or dud?

Totally classic. The best New Jersey nerd rock nervous nitwit band ever.

Except for their lousy job of publicising this, it's a great way to keep a back catalog available that might not justify a new printing.

I have the potential of being a total Deadhead when it comes to Feelies live/demos. Someone really ought to initiate a Dicks Picks-esque series.

but OMG classic times a million. i like some of the good earth stuff, but anton fier makes the band for me, and so crazy rhythms is the only one thats really brilliant. nonetheless, that is more than enough to get them such highly classic status in my book.

funny that theres a dB's and feelies c/d resurrected in the same day - by the same person? i got into those two groups in the same month or so...

Both.

WTF? This cut out my entire second sentence. I said: "Weird. One of the guys from Spiral Jetty was a professor at William & Mary when I was there. They had a minireunion show on campus."

The Feelies didn't record this one in the studio, but the Feelies-connected band Yung Wu did, on a terrific record called Shore Leave (speaking of records that need to be reissued as soon as possible...)

so anybody heard the new "debut solo album" from Glenn Mercer? Article here: http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0724,trucks,76911,22.html I didn't even know it was out ...
Interesting stuff, though I have to say I'm absolutely dismayed by the Counting Crows comparison? I mean, really?

Yesterday's reissue of The Bongos' Drums Along The Hudson was very satisfying. I'm ready for Spiral Jetty now. I've been searching for them on slsk for a year with no luck! If anyone has it, I'll trade the 20 mp3s of the Feelies covering the likes of Television and Wire I've assembled.

I bought the T/T CDR of The Good Earth and compared it to the original, and decided it was worth the money. I'll just color copy the old cover art.

I put together a nice

tyler, I ordered it earlier this week (mentioned the release of the album on 'the other feelies-thread'), the tracks on his myspace page sound very good, recapturing the pastoral mood of 'the good earth' if I must give a hint as to what they sound like.

Picked up Glenn Mercer's "Wheels in Motion" yesterday. It's very good - similar sound to the Feelies, but more laid back.
I also got Wild Carnation's "Tricycle," which I also recommend. Anyone heard their recent album?

Their version of 'Sedan Delivery' is an unadulterated classic.

Another Brave New World

"Glenn Mercer's solo debut could be a Feelies reunion. He's just too nice to make it one."

Sorry, same VV link. I wish we could delete posts! I need to buy this. Reckless doesn't have it, so it's either a citywide hunt or order and wait.

"Crazy Rhythms" gets reissued next month. In other honor of that: can we all agree that "Raised Eyebrows" is the greatest thing since the thing that came after sliced bread?

dirty jerz bands

Great news indeed, it was also mentioned on 'the other Feelies-thread'. Too bad there's no bonus material but maybe that'll come sometime as an extra release?? (esp. a good live gig would be greatly appreciated)

and the Mercer album is very great.

is that Yung Wu record ever gonna get put on CD?...my vinyl copy is all melty...

It's available from Twin/Tone (see higher up in this thread).

aha...thx

Yung Wu show from '87 at the Path Station has been re-seeded on D!mead0zen. Video quite good, sound pretty good. Just in case anyone's curious. Probably best for people who already know Yung Wu via the album. It's not like they or the Feelies were visually that amazing in concert...it was a sonic thing.

Actally, at this point I probably listen to the Yung Wu album more often than anything by the Feelies, which isn't to say I necessarily think it's better than Crazy Rhythms/Good Earth. It does seem to hold up really well though.

this dude's got a the earliest live recording i've ever seen by the feelies up for download ...
nargotheborts-deviant-subculture.blogspot.com/search/label/Feelies
sound is pretty good! and it's nuts that they were doing slipping into something close to ten years before the Good Earth ...

ok so seriously people, you should download that show NOW. it is great. you can certainly hear how the feelies fit into the CBGB post Talking Heads, post Television scene, but at the same time, they sound pretty close to fully formed.

does anyone have the trypes demos? i can't figure out how to do bittorrent, and i'm dying to hear them.

Still waiting to see if the trypes will get reposted. Meanwhile, I was really surprised by how relatively good the '77 show I just downloaded sounds...I kind of gave up on Feelies bootlegs at some point because they never sounded remotely as good as the live band, but this one is pretty interesting.

About twenty years ago(eek- can't be??) I used to probably daily dose on The Feelies.

I had forgotten about them until now. Trouble is it's all on vinyl and it's all still in boxes and that includes Crazy Rhythms which I hear is worth something and I got for £1.

I really need to hear The Good Earth right now though. That was the one?

They were a real alternative to all the other hardcore and guitar skree and skronk I was listening to back then. And probably still am now sadly enough

I've been dying to hear the Trypes stuff. I love that EP to death.

i've got the Trypes demos -- pretty rough quality, but worth hearing. The CDR has the demos + a show at Folk City in 1983. I don't really do the uploading/downloading thing, but if anyone wants to contact me off the board for a physical copy, i'd oblige ...

Thanks for the link, tyler - love the recording. Pretty close to fully formed is quite right, though there are some things that would be more streamlined/better tuned later on. Esp. the drums I think. I don't think it's Fier that's playing on this recording, right?

'77 would've been Vinny DeNunzio on drums..

"Crazy Rhythms" gets reissued next month

will this be on 180gram vinyl?

oh boy
www.idolator.com/370364/the-feelies-to-bring-their-crazy-rhythms-back-this-summer

Oh
my
God

I hope they play more than just a few shows. And record.

yeah seriously! i really would like to see them ...

I have a Yung Wu record. I only listened to it once. Should give it another spin, 20 years on from the first.

Wasn’t bowled over by the VU record. I would have loved to have been at that gig (s?) and would probably have lost my mind. But as an album? Eh. Mercer isn’t in top voice (to put it mildly), they mostly he’s to the original arrangements (even the guitar solos!) and there aren’t even many surprises in the song selection. Doesn’t add much to the appreciation of either party, IMO.

I think you will regret ignoring that Yung Wu record all these years. And the Trypes! So good I bought the company (for a few years).

dan knows exactly what he's talking about, btw.

He’s well known as a man of … uh .. sumpin .. and taste!

saw them in woodstock last night... they opened w/ an acoustic set, then there was an intermission, then they played an electric set w/ 4 encores. no opener, even excluding the intermission they played well over 2.5 hours. vocals were a bit of a fight w/in the mix at this age if you know what i mean but otherwise they sounded absolutely fantastic, still completely locked in as a band

srsly your loving the Feelies is like learning that Joe Biden likes Road House. But I know you like strummy-jammy Velvet-y stuff.

Once saw them in Cambridge and they did six encores. The last three were unsolicited.

the guy who was tasked with switching out the guitars for every subsequent encore, who was employed by the venue, was visibly annoyed by encore three

haha a booker friend of mine in the late 80s got so mad at them when she dealt with their fancy rider, "hummus must be home made not store bought" etc, she dubbed them the Unfeelies. the shows were still fantastic tho.

Dammit, if being one of the most influential and also probably perpetually broke bands of the past 50 years can’t get you some homemade hummous, I don’t want to be in that band.

What’s that you say? The invitation still hasn’t arrived?

Once saw them in Cambridge and they did six encores. The last three were unsolicited.

They did 5 or 6 encores last night At Black Cat in DC. They did the opening 50 minutes set as their own opening band, sitting down on chairs and playing acoustic mostly. Then left stage for 20 minutes and came back and did a 55 minutes set standing, and then the 6 encores. Cover songs through the night included Jonathan Richman "Egyptian Reggae" , Buddy Holly "Everyday", Mc5 "Shakin Street", a couple of Beatles songs, Stooges I wanna be Your Dog, Wire's "Mannequin " from Pink Flag, Rolling Stones Painted Black

If the instrumentals were things like the Obedient Atom, Eno, Hendrix etc, that would be the Willies.

Hmmm, maybe not. Here’s how someone listed the setlist for DC

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-feelies/2024/black-cat-washington-dc-3a8bdc7.html

Or maybe yes.