the feelies - classic or dud?

Cute photo goes with this article in the NY Times on the reunion. It never ceases to freak me out when musicians age like normal human beings:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/arts/music/01feel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I'll be at Maxwell's on wed night.

I'm looking forward to Friday afternoon's show with Sonic Youth. I can't believe this reunion is happening. I also can't believe we're asking c/d on The Feelies. They're the Feelies for crying out loud.

And my all-time favorite record from them is "Time for a Witness"!

I'd really like to see them. Twenty years between shows is too long.

It never ceases to freak me out when musicians age like normal human beings:
Bill Million looks like a locksmith.

he looks like a Million bucks.

Dave Weckerman looks like Ruth Buzzi from "Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In."
http://thegolddiggers.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/vlcsnap-12052238.jpg

Glenn Mercer looks like Daniel Clowes, as imagined by Daniel Clowes:
http://www.fantagraphics.com/images/stories/artists/featured/clowes_icon.gif

Damn I wanna live in NYC.

don't we all?

good reason to not live in nyc: 2 tix to the "free" july 4th show going for $185 on ebay.

i get the lotsa like, but not the crazy love

Nice about reunion gigs, but, umm..Crazy Rhythms reissue? PLEASE for fuck's sake?

haha, SO many reasons to not live in nyc! before i visited my old neighborhood a few weeks ago, my friend warned me: 'we will not talk about this tonight. but i want to let you know that there are now a lot of ordinary people around here doing conventional things!' and he was right, alas.

but i'll be going to the july 4 show, and looking forward to seeing the feelies. been almost twenty years since i've seen them, and the same is true for sonic youth, who i'm not sure i'll stick around for.

From the reunion show, Away:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4tkJ1ts9LI

I thought they had reissued Crazy Rhythms? Did it get delayed or something? I already have it so I haven't been paying attention.

the band owns the masters and has been planning on a reissue for a while, i think. it hasn't happened yet.

My hope would be they delayed it because they decided to reissue it properly, as a double disc chock full of early tracks and the awesome covers they did in that era. I doubt it though.

kornrulez, thanks for the video! great stuff.

so jealous

hope this turns into a full-fledged Mission of Burma style reunion, with touring, recording, etc. i kinda doubt it, but I guess the new songs they're playing bodes well for something beyond the shows this week. and hey, maybe Bill Million, after being a security guard at Disney World, has realized that being in one of the best rock bands of the last 30 years is pretty sweet.

I have two tickets to this, but my date for the day doesn't want to go. I'm quite pissed.

>:8

(that was some kind of angry emoticon in solidarity with you)

It's okay. If I were a real man I'd do something manly and forceful. Too bad I'm not...

Feelies rule!

maybe Bill Million, after being a security guard at Disney World

Don't sell him short. He was doing computer stuff...

From the NY Times article
When he abruptly moved to Florida, he worked on security for Disney World, doing computer programming for access systems. But when one of his sons started playing guitar, Mr. Million was drawn back to the instrument. “It sounds odd to me to even call this a reunion,” he said. “It’s just that we’ve gotten together after a long break.”

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/original/mickey%20mouse.jpg

Supposedly, Water's planned reissue was unauthorized, but the first two albums are slated to come out on Bar/None Records later this year. I wrote them to confirm this.

Here's what I wrote about Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth.

yeah i just saw on the other music email update that water was reissuing Only Life, too! seemed weird since they never got around to getting crazy rhythms reissued .... but yeah, if there isn't going to be any extra stuff on the reissues, i probably won't buy them. maybe. i probably will.

IATTOQ

They're kind of a band that only people who are *into music* are into.

AIR?

That Disney World thing was my favorite fact. Why not a whole article on Million's experiences riding a monorail?

also: lol "Mr Million."

so if you are like me and far away from NYC (and Hoboken), you can check out (very good!) recordings of a few of last week's feelies shows at www.nyctaper.com. coupla new songs, "outdoor miner" (!) and good times so far.

Who is playing drums? Demeski?

yep, it's demeski (and weckerman on percussion). basically the lineup who recorded good earth, only life and time for a witness. listening to the july 1 show right now -- sounds great! could easily pass for a 1991 show. in fact, mercer, might be playing guitar better these days ...

Since New Jersey’s favorite nerds played a Fourth of July gig with Sonic Youth in New York’s Battery Park, they’ve reasserted their reputation as one of the best bands of the 1980s, despite a career that never really felt like taking flight (aside from a trip to Florida, where the band worked as security guards for Disneyworld).
http://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4501
I hate music journalists sometimes.

"(aside from a trip to Florida, where the band worked as security guards for Disneyworld)"

lets call it laziness

Any news on whether they're going to record? Wasn't that part of the reunion plans?

isn't there another NY show this fall? at the bowery or somesuch? frankly, i'm not going to hold my breath for frantic feelies activity, as much as I'd love some real touring and a new record ...

when are they going to reissue that goddamn Crazy Rhythms for crying out loud.

I am just anal enough that I emailed Dusted and asked them nicely to double-check their facts on the Security Guards thing, and they've changed it. I feel much better.

Was re-listening to Glenn Mercer's "Wheels in Motion" and parts of it really are pretty good.

Bar/None replied to my emails but ignored my questions about The Feelies. Those albums really need to be in print again.

Someone please translate this for me

I mean, are the French getting a reissued Crazy Rhythms before anyone else?

I knew taking four years of French was going to be a waste.

The author bought a copy of Crazy Rhythms on CD, enticed by the inclusion of "Paint It Black" as a bonus track. He doesn't tell us whether it was a new release, but keep in mind that "Paint It Black" appeared on the (now impossible to find) reissue that came out in the early '90s. Don't get your hopes up.

Damn - but thanks. Think I was thrown by that album art.

Yeah, I have no idea what that came from.

Weirdly, the 2008 Water Records reissue of Only Life seems to be available on Amazon. Water was supposed to reissue Crazy Rhythms as well at the beginning of the year, so I'm not sure why one came out without the other.

yeah i've seen Only Life in shops ... but since there's nothing new on it -- and it was apparently released without the band's input/approval, I haven't bought it. My vinyl still sounds good! But yeah, Crazy Rhythms has gotta be one of the biggest out of print records around right now! with the press they got from the reunion shows, you'd think the time would be right ...

I've quit holding my breath for reissues. But DAMN, this band need the Mondo Box Set With 50 Gazillion Rarities And A Scorching Live Show treatment. What's wrong with the world that this has not happened? Probably something like a lack of ambition on the band's part more than anything.

Can some über-geek fanboy get the ambition to compile this and then either a) present it to the band as requiring only their approval/liner notes and a decent label, or b) torrent the fucker?

Looks like the Feelies are playing a few shows this spring ... www.myspace.com/thefeelies Philly and DC, plus this slightly bizarre bill: http://www.remtribute.com/