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July 02, 2008
Retrohump: The Feelies
The free tickets for the ultra-patriotic Sonic Youth/Feelies 4th of July show at Battery Park, long thought distributed to the city's well-prepared art-rock denizens via RSVP, have apparently sprouted a few extra sets. Early risers can now slam a shot of espresso and camp out the morning of, to clamor for entry. Here's a handy map. A quick refresher on why you should...
the Feelies - "Crazy Rhythms"
(CBGB's New York, 1979)
Though David Byrne is probably the alpha-nerd of the 70s punk scene, he was never as hopeless looking as New Jersey's the Feelies. The cover of their 1980 debut pre-emptively out Weezered Weezer for its plainclothes awkwardness. It's lead track is a barnburner entitled "The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness." Deliberately ripped shirts and studied sneers were not their bag. But, despite the tuck-ins to khaki pants, there's a manic energy to the clip above that is infectious, rather than affected. Too many bands today herk and jerk around in a studied, tentative manner (looking at you Yeasayer, Cold War Kids) that seems like an afterthought to the music rather than an organic outgrowth of it.
It's also nice to see that the constant "oh the declining state of city concerts" hand wringing is slightly overstated. Check out the arms crossed hipsters (oh, pardon me, punks) in the CBGBs crowd as the Feelies torch three feet from their faces. Half of them are sitting down--on the floor, at CBGBs! (Gross.)
As a bonus, here's my favorite track from that exalted debut. The band's urgent jangle-jams had the momentum to carry them towards the 6 or 7 minute mark, but I think cramming all that tension into a 3 minute box was the more exciting option. The "love" here starts rocky, and ends worse. In fact its tough to find an ounce of romance in here at all. Maybe Glenn Mercer got into a fight with his mom? That would have been his "Original Love," yeah? Or maybe I'm just reinforcing some ugly nerd stereotypes...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at July 2, 2008 09:40 AM
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Comments
This rock band is a legend for me, and the tittle "loveless Love" is one of my favorite... Very Nice
Posted by: gregreg at July 2, 2008 12:18 PM
I saw them at Maxwell's back in the day--totally unassuming band that created a maelstrom of churning guitars. I also own Crazy Rhythms on white vinyl--probably worth 80-100 bucks these days. Too bad I won't be around for the show on the 4th, but this is a welcome return by truly the thinking man's jangle outfit of all time. They do a rip-roaring cover of "What Goes On"--maybe they'll play it.
Posted by: david at July 2, 2008 02:17 PM
