Whilst their reputation has remained a critically-lauded spoke in the Post-Punk wheel for yonks, THE FEELIES' back catalogue has long been in need of re-issue for a new generation to discover on their own terms.
Having already treated us to deluxe editions of key back catalogue items from the likes of Josef K, Sebadoh, Liquid Liquid and The Triffids, Domino are fast becoming the kings of timely re-releases and with 'Crazy Rhythms' they've again struck archival gold.Originally released at the tail end of 1979, the New Jersey band's debut album would later bizarrely be heralded as one of Rolling Stone's Top 100 Albums of the '80s (rather like The Clash's 'London Calling' which was also technically released during 1979) and kick-started a career with would produce a further three albums as well as concert appearances with the likes of Lou Reed, Patti Smith and REM, who would often cite them as an influence themselves.
Built around the kinetic interplay of twin guitarists/ vocalists Glenn Mercer and Bill Million and insistent rhythm section Dave Weckerman and Brenda Sauter, The Feelies certainly made a distinctive fist of subverting the traditional Rock'n'Roll line-up and their efforts are especially well documented on 'Crazy Rhythms'. Tracks like 'The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness' and 'Fa Ce-La' initially seem absurdly basic and stripped back, evoking the likes of the Velvets' self-titled third album or even the likes of The Raincoats. The primitive drumming recalls Mo Tucker, while the guitars wobble all over the shop before being drawn back, magnet-like, to the main riff.
The more you listen, though, the more you realise just how subtle and addictive the Feelies can be. Tracks like 'Loveless Love' and the fascinating 'Forces At Work' (which goes from obtuse Sonic Youth drone to heroic Television cut and thrust) are both six or seven minute workouts which are superficially familiar but drag us to strange sonic spaces all of their own before they're finished. Defector's anthem 'Moscow Nights', meanwhile, has a storyline where loss is writ large, while the supposedly more familiar cover of The Beatles' 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except Me & My Monkey)' is re-invented as such a frantic, breakneck sprint you'd hardly recognise it.
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There's the occasional moment of sheer abstraction to deal with ('Raised Eyebrows' is so stunted and oddball, you wonder if they're taking the piss) but mostly it's sublime stuff all the way. They save arguably the best for last and the title track where they declare "I don't talk much 'cos it gets in the way" and proceed to prove it with a magnificently stripped-back rhythmic ride which seems to burrow and groove forever before it finally regains its' original pop-punk shape and heads triumphantly for the finish line. Remarkably, it's actually been alive and kicking for six minutes by that time, but it seems like only a few seconds such is its' lithe, sinewy abandon.
The Feelies' nerdy appearance suggests a record where the cerebral will automatically hold sway, but there's sweat, guts and humanity battling away with angularity here and - even three decades on - these 'Crazy Rhythms' are still so infectious, you can't help but start scratching. All credit to Domino for once again helping to restore an essential Post-Punk reputation.
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