Feelies Only Life Poll

Awesome poll idea - remember loving this record when it came out - went with 'Deep Fascination'

yeah, i love this record -- definitely moving in a more "pop" (or at least mainstream) direction, but still pretty genius. At the same time, since they had become a more steady touring band at this point, it also seems more like an ensemble record, like they just plugged in and played for the most part. Might go with the title track! Kind of a perfect little song.

my favorite feelies record. great guitar solos on this one

In high school, I bought this album due to an effusive Rolling Stone review. I played it three times and pretty much hated everything on it except for "It's Only Life". I was a very fickle 16-year-old. (I did something similar that year with Guadalcanal Diary's Flip-Flop.)

xpost yeah, just perfectly planned out solos -- each one is a gem. "Deep Fascination"'s solo is a standout.
do you still hate it?

I don't think I've listened to it in... oh God, 20 years?

i did that a couple times with bands, too. so weird that back then sometimes when you wanted to hear a band you had to actually buy their music instead of listening online

yeah, and then you had to spend a little time listening to an album before you decided it sucked. also worth noting is how hilariously glum the feelies always look on their album covers. "You want to take a picture of us ...? Sigh. OK. How about in front of this house? Are we done yet?"

i specifically remember reading the Spin review of Only Life, and it talked about the solos (and probably REM) and that's what made me get it

listening to snippets of this again on Amazon; I am 100% certain that the singer is what turned me off to them (that and many of the songs sounding like they're in the same key, making them sound more alike than they really are)

like, I think I would dig any of these songs individually but all together with that particular singer pushes them into "not my bag" territory; the oversaturation perception is also probably why "It's Only Life" is the song that stuck out to me

my favorite feelies record. great guitar solos on this one

― that sex version of "blue thunder." (Mr. Que)

My favorite Feelies album as well. One of those albums that when a song pops up in itunes shuffle I turn off the shuffle and listen straight through. I'll have to think a bit to pick a favorite.

Deep Fascination!

i can kinda see why Mercer might not be someone's fave vocalist (though he does sound a lot more confident on this record). I like him though! also ridiculous how much he sounds like Lou Reed on a couple of these tracks -- not just the sound of his voice, but the phrasing.

even though there's something terribly obvious about them covering "What Goes On" at the end of the record, it's still an awesome version.

yeah, it rules. also: the first version of that song i ever heard

one thing i actually wondered about that "what goes on" cover is whether it is actually a studio edit of their live "velvet medley" (which saw them playing "run run run" and "european sun" as well). "what goes on" kinda cuts in abruptly on the record doesn't it? (#feeliesnerdpost)

remove an "actually" from that post plz

can i actually remove them both?

yeah--that medley on the show from your blog KILLS

yeah go ahead, take both of them out. i loooove that medley. they sound pretty much superhuman.

they just kind of steamroll through the songs, it's amazing. i might vote for Too Far Gone, based on the version that they do from that show

I am putting this on in a second. Lovely record.

"Away" for me.

Awaayyy

intro to "Away" is gorgeous

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Great album, unfairly maligned by Feelies purists..."Deep Fascination", with "Away" and the title track in the chase pack...their version of "What Goes On' was also the first time I'd ever heard that song, shame on me...always loved the house on the cover...

voted for the title track, but it was tough. hey has anyone bought the Water reissue of this album that came out last year or maybe the year before? I didn't shell out because Mercer said it was done w/o band's consent ... but I'd be curious to know if the remaster is any good. Amazingly I have this record on CD, vinyl and tape! Not sure if there's any other album I can say that about.

I bought it and it sounds much better than the twenty-year old cassette dub it replaced. Can't compare it to previous issues, unfortunately. The liner notes are great though - it appears to be excerpts from the notes for an upcoming box set, which we all know ain't likely.

hmm, sounds good -- wonder what the status is with Only Life and Time For A Witness? Is Bar/None going to reissue them, or are they still owned by whatever label they were on at the time ... A&M, I guess?

I hope that if A&M was willing to license Only Life to Water than they'd be cool with a band-approved version as well. I would bet it is a matter of "where are the tapes?"; if I recall correctly re:Robyn Hitchcock, A&M told him the Egyptians' masters "were in storage somewhere, and we don't feel like looking." So we may never get the last two in fine form like the first two which would be a crying shame.

Pulled this out for first time in a few years thanks to this thread, and yeah, is a damn good album, much better than I remember actually. "Away" is my pick, but there is indeed great guitar playing throughout.

"away" is my pick as well.

They are, for some unknown reason, playing in the small Connecticut town I live in next month. Go figure.

went with 'Deep Fascination'

^

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

not bad results! should we do Time For A Witness next, or does no one care about that. It's actually a very good album, if a little more predictable, standard "rock" ...

TFAW is my least favorite Feelies album, but still very good. That's Xgau's fav, BTW.

is it really? that guy.
i'll do the poll, what the hell.

Yup:

Crazy Rhythms [Stiff, 1980]
They're suburban lads from New Jersey every bit as normal and unspoiled as, oh, Brian Wilson, only this ain't 1961: why shouldn't they know about Coltrane and "Sister Ray"? Beneficiaries of local privilege note that the magnitude of their rave-ups--and in essence all they do is rave-up--doesn't come fully alive on record, but their freshness and purity of conception does. Exciting in a disturbingly abstract way, or maybe disturbing in an excitingly abstract way, and either way is just the way these so-straight-they're-cool weirdos want it. A-

The Good Earth [Coyote, 1986]
Coproducer Peter Buck is occasioning harrumphs about how suddenly they sound like R.E.M., but if anything R.E.M. sounds like them with excess baggage: aching lyricism, gorgeous hooks, mumbled poetry--in a word, corn. The Feelies, in turn, sound a lot like a classic band called the Velvet Underground. And like themselves, unmistakably, even though six years and Peter Buck have rounded off their gawky corners and filled out their sound. A-

No One Knows [Coyote EP, 1986]
Adds the slightly arcane Beatles song "She Said She Said" to the slightly arcane Neil Young song "Sedan Delivery" before it resorts to two Good Earth cuts that seem doubly otiose after Jonathan Demme has proven them capable of an all-cover EP. Or LP. B

Only Life [A&M, 1988]
With rock and roll--music--as mystico-cerebral as the Feelies', analysis takes you only so far. In the end, you get it or you don't. Me, I find album three their most accomplished and least effective, and suspect that both its accomplishment and its (relative) ineffectiveness reflect the same crisis of growth. After all, this is rock and roll, not music; rock and roll has always had trouble with the mature perspective signalled by a couplet like "Got a ways to go/So much to know." Just because the perpetual nervousness of Crazy Rhythms and the pastoral lyricism of The Good Earth are callower, they fit the musical concept better. Either that or the concept is fading for me. Or for them. B+

Time for a Witness [A&M, 1991]
Though it had precedents in such influences as Brian Eno, Steve Reich, and The Velvet Underground, we know why the rippling quietude of 1986's electro-pastoral The Good Earth got Peter Buck accused of taking the city out of the boys. So when Bill Million describes this de facto will and testament as "taking several giant steps backwards," say amen. The sere minimalism of Crazy Rhythms was always misleading. Only here, on a harder, louder, riffier, humanisticker studio expansion of their original concept, do they capture the exhilaration of the legendary shows they used to mount on national holidays--the one on Flag Day came complete with star-spangled banner. Once again they imbue oddball suburban nerdiness with spare downtown cool. Once again they rock out while shedding their grace on thee. A

those are pretty otm reviews -- think I'd just switch the ratings for Only Life and Time For A Witness ...

Oh man, this album. On the walkman during my first holiday without parents, 17 years old, traveling through Europe by train. This album is Hamburg station, a looong wait for a nighttrain to Munich and a looney guy harrassing and yelling at people on a platform with me looking down on the scene from the overpass. As such it's become something of a soundtrack, hard to pick out a single favourite. Might pull it out of its sleeve tonight and see what else comes back from that summer :)

Listened to this LP a few days ago. The magic isn't there like the first couple albums, but when it's good it's really good. They put on a fun show--not sure if their recent tour was a one-off but I'd definitely recommend going if they reform.

I'm seeing them again in Boston next month!

yeah, it seems like the reunion is a going concern for them -- new songs, regular (if not frequent) shows ...

Love this record. Favorite Feelies for sure. Back when I was a young teen and had no cash I used to save up to buy any LP (cassette, actually) whose reviews name-dropped either The Replacements and/or R.E.M (it was R.E.M in this case, I think Peter Buck was mentioned because of his production duties on its predecessor), generally that meant I was disappointed but then I picked this up. Didn't know anything about them, and was actually initially kinda put-off by its mellowness but it soon crept over and grew on me (loved "What Goes On" and this was before I'd ever even paid any attention to VU). Weirdly enough, it never kicked off any sort of Feelies-fandom. I never sought out any other albums by them and it wasn't until a decade or so later that I picked up Crazy Rhythms, and then later Good Earth (and I still haven't heard Time FAW).
I think I would have a tough time picking a favorite off this.

This record is sounding really mellow fine for a Saturday...

no real details yet, but looks as though there'll be vinyl reissues of only life and time for a witness in march
http://www.bullmoose.com/search?q=feelies&upc=032862023613,032862023712

pr blurb (which hilariously still includes a link to their myspace page)

Bar/None Records is re-releasing the third and fourth albums from New Jersey-based avant-pop pioneers the Feelies, Only Life and Time for a Witness. Both albums are being issued March 11.

Originally released in 1988, Only Life is their third album and the first that received major label promotional support. It was produced by Steve Rinkoff, Bill Million & Glenn Mercer with basic tracking done at the Powerstation in NYC and additional recording done at Mixolydian Studios in Boonton, NJ. The album includes classic originals like "Deep Fascination" and "The Undertow". A cover of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On" made Lou Reed take notice and he chose them as touring partners, sometimes joining them onstage for encores. The re-issue features a bonus download card giving access to a new acoustic version of "It's Only Life" with live tracks from their last show at Maxwell's in Hoboken NJ before the venue was shuttered. It features liner notes by novelist Rick Moody (The Ice Storm, Garden State).

The Feelies' fourth album Time For A Witness (1991) found the band's sound becoming a bit heavier, anticipating the grunge-era that Nirvana would usher in six months after this record was released. Basic tracks were laid down at Long View Farm in North Brookfield, MA and additional work done at Mixolydian; the album was produced by Bill Million and Glenn Mercer with Gary Smith. A cover of the Stooges' "Real Cool Time" and their own excellent alt-radio hit "Doin' It Again" are stand-outs. Michael Azerrad's (This Band Could Be Your Life) liner notes for this re-issue recount the events that would eventually lead to a seventeen-year hiatus for the group. The re-issue also comes with a bonus download card giving access to a new acoustic version of "Find A Way", also with live tracks from that last show at Maxwell's.

Formed in Haledon NJ in 1976, The Feelies released 4 albums- including their critically acclaimed and influential debut Crazy Rhythms, which was voted 49 in the top 100 albums of the 1980s by Rolling Stone magazine and chosen by Spin Magazine as 49 of the best alternative records of all time. Supporting the release of their first four albums the band appeared on the The Late Show With David Letterman and in concerts with The Patti Smith Group, REM, and Bob Dylan as well as touring with Lou Reed. The twin-guitar attack of songwriters and founders Glenn Mercer and Bill Million is the infectious sound of the group. Paired with driving drums and percussion, it has left an indelible mark on the landscape of rock and roll.

In 2008, the Feelies re-united to open for long time admirers Sonic Youth at Battery Park and then resurrected their tradition of playing low key gigs at strategic intervals throughout the year rather than doing lengthy tours. In 2009 Bar/None re-issued Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth, this being the first band-sanctioned CD release of the former. In 2010, they released a new studio album Here Before. They continue to regularly perform live. Their music has been featured in the films Married to the Mob, Something Wild, Prelude to a Kiss, The Truth About Charlie, The Squid & the Whale and Ricki and the Flash.

Geez I've been asking Glenn Morrow to get to these two records for years! Finally. I think Only Life might be their strongest record.

I'm also sitting here in my office in Boonton, NJ at this very moment I ought to see whatever happened to that studio...

looks like they've moved, but it still exists! http://mix-o-lydian.com/

Yeah! Good to know!

my bf & i bought this on cassette recently, neither of us had ever listened to them but they've been recommended to me a bunch. great record! "away" is the one that really knocked me out but it's strong front to back. i was surprised to read that ppl thought this was kinda seen as a step down from the previous two records, which i need to check out. but cool to see some ppl in here saying this is their favorite feelies album, shoutout to mr. que

also this isn't on streaming!! our cassette is not just an artifact...

I bought this after seeing them open for Lou Reed in 1989, definitely the most impressive show I've seen by an unknown (to me) opening act. I guess this is marginally more commercial than the previous album by late-80s alternative standards, but still pretty far from radio-ready. Crazy Rhythms is really a different kind of thing, not so comparable to what they would do afterwards.
My vote would have gone to "For Awhile" partly for the tempo changes, partly for writing a lyric with a little resonance for once.

love this record so much, and yeah they were fantastic live around this time

the Demme-directed "Away" video is great for pure late 80s Maxwell's vibes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI4m0PZF1kw

Think I hadn't quite joined ILX yet when this was posted (or had just barely started). Have the album (a very common delete-bin find soon after it came out), don't know it well, but once included the title track on a college-radio countdown of my 100 favourite songs. So would have voted that.

i love that video xp

yeah i wish demme had filmed an entire Feelies show at Maxwell's, it'd be a total classic.

this is a perfect album. i pulled it out to play today. really no idea what i'd pick