The Feelies, Here Before
The Feelies , Here Before [Bar/None Records]
» Last time we heard a Feelies record it was 15 years ago with Time for a Witness, which featured the New Jersey wonders making a gentle and jangly record of the Stooges/VU inspired variety. The past few years has seen the re-releases of 1980’s Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth from 1986, warm up performances at Maxwell’s in Hoboken and now the Feelies’ fifth album Here Before.
“Should Be Gone,” the single from the album celebrates the band’s return to the scene with acknowledgements that it has “been too long” complete with the happiest springtime fresh guitars. “We’re heading out, don’t hesitate, we’re moving on, so don’t be late.”
“Again Today” displays the passage of time while being grounded in today with Glenn singing like 90s Lou Reed. Some of the album’s greatest highlights come from the song suite tracklist pairing of “When You Know” and “Later On,” which goes from the nervous New York guitar sound that the Feelies adore to the “I’m Set Free” uplifting drones on “Later On.” Together the two songs sound like a two piece indie symphony that shows the band’s knack for penning pop songs that work independently on their own merits or as dovetailing compliments to the other when heard in album track order.
Songs of life affirmation and a self-preservationist’s eagerness prevail throughout the album. “Way Down” sounds like a Feelies show at Maxwell’s circa Only Life era in 1988. On “Time is Right” Mercer quips a well assessed road map of contemporary survival singing, “stay out of trouble, take care of your name, playing it forward, stay in the game, find the way, without a plan, take each day, as best you can, something for the world to see, the time is right for us to be.” There are also lots of references to “taking your time,” and “time being right now,” constantly obsessing over the moment and reflecting on the passing time and perhaps explaining the decade and a half lapse from their activities as a band. Even with Feelies’ relaxed approach to making songs, this album finds the group looking forward and obsessed with the progressive direction as reflected in the songs entitled “On and On” and “So Far.” With a history of crafting gems that put them on the map via college rock stations of the 80s and 90s, the Feelies are looking back with their preserved jangle tone but anxious about bringing their music to a new audience of folks who weren’t born yet or lucky enough to discover them back in the day.
The criticism that some will find with Here Before is that the sound echoes the second Feelies lineup, given that this is the second lineup performing together again on the album. For those looking for the no-wave anachronisms of the Crazy Rhythms-era will have to content themselves with the recent reissue. The album marches in the style of a proper follow up to Time for a Witness, picking up the sound they left behind 15 years backs. Here Before is the Feelies here and now with their sound firmly etched from the catalogue of their past with lyrics looking to the future.
Posted on March 30, 2011
More on: feelies, here before, barnone records, crazy rhythms, lou reed, glenn mercer, maxwells
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