Review:

on 2012-02-02 CharlesMartel Said:

The Feelies were the band Weezer always wanted to be. Weezer even mimicked the cover of "Crazy Rhythms" on their own "Blue Album". Yet the Feelies had something Weezer could never have - a genuine nerd quality. Add to that, they had a unique style which manifested itself most clearly on this, their highly-acclaimed debut album. Back in 1980, this was indeed revolutionary stuff. A true forerunner of the jangle pop of the latter part of the decade, the Feelies infused post-punk and new-wave with their own idiosyncratic personalities. Never since has a band comprised of four apparently uninspiring almost sexless white males hit so hard.

"Crazy Rhythms" starts off as it means to go on. A few apparently random percussive strikes gradually coalesces into "The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness", a song which almost could be autobiographical of any one of the four band members. By the time you get to "Fa Ce-La" you realise that this is no ordinary new wave record from no ordinary new wave band. Their influences are clear  the Beatles and the Velvet Underground stand out, but mix them with the sound of bands like Wire. Television or Magazine and you are getting there. But even though you can pick out the influences, the Feelies are never going to be mere clones or hagiographs of anyone.

"Fa Ce-La" is one of those pop songs which you will recall long after it has stopped playing. I defy anyone having heard it not to be walking cheerfully down a street and singing or whistling F-fa FA fa-fa ce-la. The cover of the Beatles "Everyone's Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey)" is a curious choice and a curious adptation - at times you think the band are just drifting off into their own world. Yet the Feelies were, and played up to the image, of anti-pop-stars. No girls were going to throw themselves at these guys' feet. The band looked more at home in the physics lab than the stage, and they conveyed that sort of cerebral quality which often gives the impression that they are phasing out of everything that is around them and just doing their own thing.

And yet there are times when you wonder how they did it. The songs are almost devoid of catchy hooks and frequently are little more than two or three chord progressions with little melodic flourish. The vocals are often indistinct and Bill Million and Glen Mercer often sang over each other to a degree where their voices merged into a barely coherent mumble. The rhythms were indeed crazy: lower end tom toms and high end high hats mingled to produce a sound which was nothing if not unique. They appealed directly to their own: spotty teenage geeks who found in their jittery, angst-ridden sound just the sort of justification for their own existence that they needed. For the first time, the Feelies made it cool to be the put upon swot at a school of sports jocks and their impossibly Barbie-doll-like girlfriends.

Despite this, there are people who have never heard, nor heard of the Feelies. The band did not really like touring, and claimed they got a headache crossing from New Jersey to New York where they had a stint at CBGBs. "Crazy Rhythms" is indeed an album which influenced many who would follow. And yet, I find myself preferring their third album, "Only Life". The production on "Crazy Rhythms" can sometimes be annoying - fade ins and fade outs are too long - and the sound is too sparse and separates too clearly the instruments. "Only Life" had a fuller sound which made the band sound more like a band and less like a collection of disparate individuals. But despite any criticism, "Crazy Rhythms" is a must-have album for anyone who is a fan of the eighties, and beyond.
Rating: 8/10