Even 28 years later, this combination of Weckerman and kit drummer Stan Demeski continues to distinguish the Feelies from the jingle-jangle velvet rockers they'd influenced via R.E.M.. Stripping extraneous cymbal crashes and replacing them with any number of other colorations, sometimes not immediately obvious, the two make inventive frames for chief songwriter Glenn Mercer's increasingly monosyllabic rumination and fat-toned lead guitar. The band's obsessive percussive roots can be heard most clearly on *Only Life'*s "The Undertow": Beginning with a drum/woodblock polyrhythm and a slow guitar fade-in, the insistent layers turn together like jittering clockwork, a meticulously arranged through-line to the band's pepped-up Crazy Rhythms-era minimalism featuring former Pere Ubu drummer Anton Fier. The effect is cathartic, neuroses drowned in motion.
The Feelies Time For A Witness Rar
"I don't talk much 'cause it gets in the way, don't let it get in the way," Mercer sang quite articulately on "Crazy Rhythms," an early signature song. By the time of Time For A Witness, Mercer's songwriting persona spoke less and less, too, chiseling his lyrics down to phrases that traded between terse, profound, and nearly generic recombinations drawn from rock's lingua franca. Sometimes, it serves the band well, as on "Doin' It Again," perhaps the closest they ever veered to pop. With only one couplet about a party on a lawn, Mercer transforms the otherwise-vague lyrics of "Invitation" into a specific memory of a long-ago evening. But in many other places, the songs feel less like individual expressions and more like convenient platform for the Feelies to lock into their now-signature groove.
OK, I stumbled into this a year after you wrote it, but I feel the need to add a few recent Feelies facts:* After a 20-year hiatus, they released their fifth album, "Here Before" in 2011.* Their sixth album ("In Between") comes out tomorrow!* One of the commenters mentioned that Bill Million moved to Florida... he did, and I don't know where he's living now, but he's back with the band.* They still play live, a few times a year, on the East Coast, but have stopped touring because a few of them have hearing issues. Tour dates can be found at thefeeliesweb.com .Also they've been one of my favorite recorded bands for years, and have been at the top of my "Want to see Live!" list for awhile. Last year I got to see them three times. Some of the best shows I've ever been to. If anyone has to chance to see them live, don't miss it!
Miracle Legion, like Polaris after them, spun sugar-sweet melodies tinged with reckless, youthful abandon and married them with lyrics of deep wonder and longing--the sonic equivalent of a last, wistful summer with a partner or a fun if emotionally panged, idle flip through an old yearbook. With Mulcahy gamely playing the role of mystic frontman--punctuating his lyrics with unpredictable onstage jigs or blasts of harmonica while singing in a clear tone that time has not aged--and co-pilot Neal precisely picking his way through the gorgeous melodies he often co-wrote, I've found Miracle Legion shows to be a transformative experience, and will mourn their end (though not without the enjoyment of a live album, Annulment, culled in part from the Bell House show I was lucky to witness).
The early '90s were a one-step-forward, one-step-back time for Miracle Legion. They added a rhythm section (McCaffrey and Boutier) but lost a label (Rough Trade declared bankruptcy in 1991), then gained a label (Morgan Creek Records, offshoot of the burgeoning film production company behind the hit Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) which endured its own financial issues that kept the band in considerable limbo (a limbo buoyed by the Polaris project for Nickelodeon). It's a shame that Drenched, produced by John Porter, didn't get a wider audience, with "So Good," "Out to Play" and the peppy "Snacks and Candy" highlights on an album full of them. Extra tracks abound, too, including covers of David Bowie and Mission of Burma plus an early version of "Homer," from the group's final studio album, heard here on the soundtrack to the college comedy A Matter of Degrees.
Yeah, saw these guys like a billion times at the Grotto and surrounding New Haven area clubs in the 80's...no big deal...I watched the Meat Puppets blow them off the stage at CBGB's ... they appeal to narcissistic, cooler-than-though types...I liked them for like 5 minutes when I was 20, and then I grew up.
Notable Nugget: The song is possibly the shortest Farrar track of all time, coming in at just one minute and 42 seconds (it gets a slightly longer arrangement on live album Stone, Steel & Bright Lights, clocking in at 2:30).
Can only echo what Scott said. Impossible job.They were such a key part of my poly life, saw them live so many times. Boat to Bolivia remains one of my fav lps but also think the boys heart a bit of a lost classic. Agree beyond the leap is the best of the collaborations. Also love the first solo lp especially Solomon
Back To The Top 1998 10- PJ Harvey - Is This Desire? (Island) Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (Merge) Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children (Matador) Boredoms - Super Ae (Birdman) Godspeed You Black Emperor! - f#a# (Kranky) Arto Lindsay - Noon Chill (Bar/None) Tom Zé - Fabrication Defect (Luaka Bop) Queens Of the Stone Age (Loosegroove) 9+ Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs (V2) Turbonegro - Apcocalypse Dudes (Epitaph/Burning Heart)Motorpsycho - Trust Us (Stickman) Massive Attack - Mezzanine (Virgin) Mark Hollis (Universal) Cornelius - Fantasma (Matador) Asian Dub Foundation - Rafi's Revenge (London) Refused - The Shape Of Punk To Come (Epitaph) Afghan Whigs - 1965 (Columbia) Long Fin Killie - Amelia (Too Pure) Royal Trux - Accelerator (Drag City) Outkast - Aquemini (LaFace) Beck - Mutations (Geffen) Spiritual Beggars - Mantra III (Music For Nations) The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Acme (Matador/Capitol) Cat Power - Moon Pix (Matador) Air - Moon Safari (Source/Caroline) Pram - North Pole Radio Station (Merge) Amon Tobin - Permutation (Ninja Tune) Elliott Smith - XO (Dreamworks) Otto - Samba Pra Burro (Trama) Belle & Sebastion - The Boy With the Arab Strap (Matador) Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (Ruffhouse) Tortoise - TNT (Thrill Jockey) Pulp - This Is Hardcore (Island) Rancid - Life Won't Wait (Epitaph) Spoon - A Series Of Sneaks (Elektra) The Eels - Electro-Shock Blues (Dreamworks) The Black Heart Procession - 1 (Cargo) Smashing Pumpkins - Adore (Virgin) Schneider TM - Moist (City Slang/Mute) Autechre - LP5 (Nothing/Warp) Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Mercury) Leila - Like Weather (Rephlex) Tricky - Angels With Dirty Faces (Island) Mudhoney - Tomorrow Hit Today (Reprise)Tied + Tickled Trio (Bingo) Marc Ribot Y Los Cubanos Postizos - The Prosthetic Cubans (Atlantic) Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels To Be Something On (Sub Pop) Mundo Livre S.A. - Carnaval Na Obra (Abril) Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli (Rawkus) Eleni Mandell - Wishbone (Mr. Charles) Squarepusher - Music Is Rotted One Note (Warp) The Notwist - Shrink (Zero Hour) Cheb Mami - Meli Meli (Ark 21/Virgin) Gastr Del Sol - Camoufleur (Drag City) Jets To Brazil - Orange Rhyming Dictionary (Jade Tree) The Grassy Knoll - III (Antilles) Lhasa - La Llorona (Atlantic) Ernest Ranglin - In Search Of The Lost Riddim (Palm Pictures-Rykodisc) Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue (Elektra) David Grubbs - The Thicket (Drag City) Maryam Mursal - The Journey (Real World) At The Drive-In - in/CASINO/OUT (Fearless) Yungchen Lhamo - Coming Home (Real World) Lenine - O dia em que faremos contato (BMG Brasil) Radio Tarifa - Temporal (World Circuit) Transglobal Underground - Rejoice Rejoice (MCA) Talvin Singh - OK (Island) Sierra Maestra - Tibiri Tabera (World Circuit) Conjunto Cespedes - Flores (Xenophile) Rocket From the Crypt - RFTC (Interscope) Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty (Grand Royal/Capitol) Stereolab - Aluminum Tunes (Switched On Vol. 3) (Drag City) Swervedriver - 99th Dream (Zero Hour) Rufus Wainright (Dreamworks) Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle-Earth (Import) Manu Chao - Clandestino (Ark 21) Madonna - Ray Of Light (Maverick) Electric Company - Studio City (Polygram) Walt Mink - Goodnite (Deep Elm) Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse (Century Media) Death - Sound Of Perseverence (Nuclear Blast) Monster Magnet - Powertrip (A&M) Cadallaca - Introducing Cadallaca (K) Rhythm & Sound with Tikiman - Showcase (Burial Mix) Chico Science & Nação Zumbi - CSNZ (Sony International) Fugazi - End Hits (Dischord) Pinetop Seven - Rigging The Toplights (Truckstop/Atavistic) Calexico - The Black Light (Quarterstick) 9 Colour Haze - Seven (Selfburn) Os Paralamas do Sucesso - Hey Hey Na Na (EMI Brazil) Mark Lanegan - Scraps At Midnight (Sub Pop) Terra Firma (Music Cartel) Orange Goblin - Time Travelling Blues (The Music Cartel/Rise Above) Boris - Amplifier Worship (Mangrove/Southern Lord) Isis - Mosquito Control EP (Escape Artist) Morbid Angel - Formulas Fatal to the Flesh (Earache) R.E.M. - Up (WB) Death Cab For Cutie - Something About Airplanes (Barsuk) Quasi - Featuring "Birds" (Up) Cinerama - Va Va Voom (SpinArt) Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (Relapse) The Jesus And Mary Chain - Munki (Sub Pop) Sheavy - The Electric Sleep (Music Cartel) The Delgados - Peloton (Mantra/Chemical Underground) Willard Grant Conspiracy - Flying Low (Slow River) The Haunted (Earache) Meshuggah - Chaosphere (Nuclear Blast) The Spinanes - Arches And Aisles (Sub Pop) Jessamine - Don't Stay Too Long (Kranky) Richard Davies - Telegraph (Flydaddy) Plush - More You Becomes You (Drag City) The Cows - Sorry In Pig Minor (Amphetamine Reptile) Sloan - Navy Blues (murderrecords) Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With A Blown Mind (Skint/Columbia) Lambchop - What Another Man Spills (Merge) Busta Rhymes - Extinction Level Event (Elektra) Money Mark - Push The Button (Mo Wax) Lee Fields - Let's Get A Groove On (Desco) Whale - All Disco Dancing Must End in Broken Bones (Virgin) Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves (Geffen) African Head Charge VS. Professor Stretch - Drums Of Defiance (On-U Sound) Sue Garner - To Run More Smoothly (Thrill Jockey) Pere Ubu - Pennsylvania (Cooking Vinyl) Fun-Da-Mental - Erotic Terrorism (Beggars Banquet) Mary Lou Lord - Got No Shadow (Sony Work Group) Kahimi Karie (Minty Fresh) Pernice Brothers - Overcome By Happiness (Sub Pop) Ozomatli (Almo Sounds) Clutch - The Elephant Riders (Columbia) Bloque (Luaka Bop) Pole - CD1 (Kiff/Matador) moodyMANN - silentintroduction (planet e) Fatboy Slim - You've Come A Long Way, Baby (Astralw%rks) P.W. Long - Push Me Again (Touch & Go) Ani DiFranco - Little Plastic Castle (Righteous Babe) Firewater - The Ponzi Scheme (Jetset) Rachid Taha - Diwan (Island) Baaba Maal - Nomad Soul (Island) Seam - The Pace Is Glacial (Touch & Go) Gang Starr - Moment of Truth (Noo Trybe/Virgin) Goodie Mob - Still Standing (Laface/Arista) Barry Adamson - As Above So Below (Mute) Los De Abajo (Luaka Bop) Bobby Conn - Rise Up! (Truckstop/Atavistic) Freakwater - Springtime (Thrill Jockey) The Aluminum Group - Plano (Minty Fresh) Chicago Underground Duo - 12 Degrees Of Freedom (Thrill Jockey) Diamanda Galas - Malediction And Prayer (Mute) Saint Etienne - Good Humor (Sub Pop) Bharat Shah - Dil Se (Venus) Alabama Thunder Pussy - Rise Again (Man's Ruin) Souled American - Frozen (Checkered Past) Ui - Lifelike (Southern) Various - Great Jewish Music: Marc Bolan (Tzadik) Trans Am - The Surveillance (Thrill Jockey) Boukman Eksperyans - Revolution (Tuff Gong) DeeJay Punk-Roc - ChickenEye (Independente/Epic) Richard Buckner - Since (MCA) June of 44 - Four Great Points (Quarterstick) Silkworm - Blueblood (Touch & Go) King Sunny Ade - Odu (Mesa) Dirty Three - Ocean Songs (Touch & Go) Grooverider - Mysteries Of Funk (Columbia) Uilab - Fires EP (Bingo/Duophonic) Jonathon Richman - I'm So Confused (WB) Canibus - Can-I-Bus (Universal) Orange Goblin - Time Travelling Blues (The Music Cartel/Rise Above) Shellac - Terraform (Touch & Go) The Detroit Cobras - Mink Rat Or Rabbit (Sympathy For The Record Industry) Nebula - Let It Burn (Relapse) Hole - Celebrity Skin (Geffen) Donnas - American Teenage Rock 'N' Roll Machine (Lookout!) Min Xiao-Fen - Spring River Flower Moon Night (Asphodel) New Bomb Turks - At Rope's End (Epitaph) Nashville Pussy - Let Them Eat Pussy (Amphetamine Reptile) Hector Zazou & Katie McMahon - Lights in the Dark (Erato/Detour/Atlantic) Sam Mangwana - Galo Negro (Putumayo) Mike Nicolai - The Balloon Race EP (Tramp Art) The Black Crowes - By Your Side (American/Columbia) Gaunt - Bricks And Blackouts (WB) Aterciopelados - Caribe Atomico (BMG Latin) Plastilina Mosh - Aquamosh (Capitol) Propellerheads - Decksanddrumsandrockandroll (Wall) Dub Pistols - Point Blank (Concrete) Boxhead Ensemble - Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks Its Back (Atavistic) Anoushka Shankar - Anoushka (Angel The Adjusters - The Politics Of Style (Jump Up Soul) Boxhead Ensemble - The Last Place To Go: Recordings form the Dutch Harbor European Film Screening Tour (Atavistic) Cows - Sorry In Pig Minor (Amphetamine Reptile) 9- Unwound - Challenge For A Civilized Society (Kill Rock Stars) Son Volt - Wide Swing Tremolo (WB) System Of A Down (American) Public Enemy - He Got Game (Def Jam) Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns (Touch & Go) Daniel Taubkin - Brazsil (Blue Jackel) High Llamas - Cold And Bouncy (V2/Alpaca) Six Finger Satellite - Law Of Ruins (Sub Pop) Snowpony - The Slow-Motion World (Radioactive) Starball - Holstein Park (Pussy Cat) Soilent Green - Sewn Mouth Secrets (Relapse) Girls Against Boys - Freak*On*Ica (Geffen) Spiritualized - Live At Albert Hall (BMG) Garbage - Version 2.0 (Almo Sounds) Buffalo Tom - Smitten (Polydor) Add N To X - On The Wires Of Our Nerves (Mute) Versus - Two Cents Plus Tax (Caroline) Tori Amos - From The Choirgirl Hotel (Atlantic) Heather Nova - Siren (Big Cat/Work) Stereo Total (Bobsled) U.N.K.L.E. - Psyence Fiction (PGD) Howe Gelb - Hisser (V2) Gomez - Bring It On (Virgin) 8+ Don Byron - An Existential Dred: Nu Blaxploitation (Blue Note) Cash Money - Halos Of Smoke And Fire (Touch & Go) Maxwell - Embrya (Columbia) Los Amigos Invisibles - The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera (Luaka Bop) Chocolate Genius - Black Music (V2) The Jesus Lizard - Blue (Capitol) Bad Religion - No Substance (Elektra) Goldie - Saturnz Return (ffrr) Soul Coughing - El Oso (WEA) Manic Street Preachers - This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours (Epic) Catatonia - International Velvet (Blanco Y Negro) Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals (Nothing/Interscope) Liz Phair - whitechocolatespaceegg (Matador/Capitol) 8 Bob Mould - The Last Dog and Pony Show (Rykodisc) These Are Alphabetical Because I Have Not Yet Heard Them 2ff7e9595c
Comments