Customer Reviews

Good Earth

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Go to www.twintone.com (the Twin/Tone label owns the rights to the recordings). Select bands. Select Feelies. Select The Good Earth and scroll to the bottom. Marvel at the fact that this is not, in fact, out of print. Then buy the Yung Wu album and the EP No One Knows on CD for the first time. Thank me later. Yes, the Twin/Tone versions sound great. Mine arrived about four days after I ordered them.

In 1986, the Feelies were at their creative peak. After falling into total obscurity after their debut record, "Crazy Rhythms" in 1980, the band roared to life with the release of this record, an EP, a role in the film, "Something Wild" and a spot opening for R.E.M. on its Pageantry tour.

Unlike the spartan, jumpy sound of their first disc, this record is warm and inviting like a cup of hot tea and relies heavily on guitars with a minimum of fuzz. The disc is full of energy and pays homage at times to the Velvet Underground, but is never too loud and overwhelming. "The High Road" comes close at times near the end of the song, but that's it.

I bought this LP as a teenager in 1986 and wore the record out in two years. I purchased the CD in 1988 and still listen to it often. It is perhaps one of my ten favorite discs in a collection that tops 1,000.

I was lucky enough to see these guys many times in college and still cherish each of their CDs. That being said, the Good Earth is the one I reach for first. I can't think of an album that has a better vibe to it. Sure, they liked VU and Neil Young but they definitely had their own thing going on. Hopefully some smart business type will get on the stick and put out a Feelies boxset...

ABSOLUTELY ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS I'VE EVER HEARD. This band should have been HUGE! Their live shows during this period were transcendent. Don't be misled by talk of this album being mellow or folk-oriented. It does have a very intimate and organic feel, but the songs on this album create incredible tension and release. There are quiet moments, but then the energy builds and builds until it reaches a full-on frenzy. And they do it all the hard way without relying on monster fuzz-box distortion. This album really has an incredible feeling of being up close and intimate while at the same time it's expansive and powerful. Genius.

"The Good Earth" is the true first Feelies album, free of the self-conscious "new wave" attributes of the earlier "Crazy Rhythms" record and coming a full seven years afterward with much digesting, maturing (on the parts of chief Feelies Glenn Mercer and Bill Million) and personnel changes, etc. along the way. This record is not as conceptual as the earlier work (the Crazy Rhythms version of the group really didn't play live enough to be considered a full fledged group) and instead has more of an organic, live in the studio "band" feel. Built around fast, nervous tempos and clean strumming guitars (with the periodic sonorous lead line on top) and Mercer's Lou Reed-like half sung-half spoken vocals this approach became the signature Feelies sound. The next two albums "Only Life" and "Time for a Witness" continued to successfully elaborate on the simple 2 and 3 chord tunes with brief haikuish lyrics methodology established by the group on this record. All three albums taken together make an elegant, often sad, sometimes funny, always MUSICAL testament to a really great, much missed band. The question is, why is this seminal, wonderful album out of print?

The Feelies made a minor splash in 1979 with Crazy Rhythms, an album that sounded different than just about anything else being recorded during that era. Six years later, came The Good Earth. Strangely distant, but warm nonetheless, The Good Earth evokes an organic, urban folk mood. A little more low-key and not as hyperactive as Crazy Rhythms, almost (gasp!) warm. However, the Feelies will never be remembered as 'cuddly.' The tension is still there, just not as tightly wound.

This CD catches the band at the height of their creativity. It's probably their best release. I'm surprised that the 'alt-country' crowd hasn't embraced The Good Earth as a touchstone release of the '80s. I hear
Feelies influences in the music of such alt-country acts as Red Star Belgrade and Tandy.

Guitarist Glen Mercer will never be known for his vocal prowess, but he and acoustic guitarist Bill Million create an unmistakable sound with interplay of their instruments.

Back in '86 I got this from Coyote Records while working in a high school radio station. From the moment I played it, I LOVED IT. Yes, some of the guitar work on the harder songs remind one of Velvet Underground, but these guys are so mellow...there's a wonderful simplicity to all of the songs on this album. However, the harmonies /melodies just stay with you and you just keep wanting to hear it over and over again. I don't know how to describe it other than it "just sounds RIGHTEOUS!" It's an excellent album that I still play today. Can't believe it's unavailable now...look for used copies because this is an absolute, must-own. Also if you like the Feelies, check out Galaxie 500 and Luna.

This is what I get for putting off for 15 years the purchase of such an essential indie record. This came out way back in 1986 and managed to get a tiny bit of notice in the music press only because it was produced by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, who at that time was Absolute Godhead in the world of indie rock (not yet signed to Warner Brothers). To my shame, I taped a friend's copy of "The Good Earth," and that tape has served as my copy of this album for all these years. Well, now my tape is all but worn out and I am finally ready to replace it with a fresh CD copy - and now it's out of print. And Napster is dead so I can't even get "The Good Earth" from there. I suppose I deserve this for pirating the thing in the first place. Nonetheless, let me say that this album deserves a full CD re-issue. The Feelies made beautiful, cool acoustic/electric folk pop that never preached, never pandered, never strove to be anything other than what it was (well maybe it strove to be the Velvet Underground, a little). BRING THIS BACK!!!

Behind REM and The Replacements. I was fortunate enough to see them at the 8X10 in Baltimore 3 times. "The Good Earth" is one of the greatest albums of all time. If you have ANY taste, besides what's in your mouth, you'll go to the TwinTone site and get this right now!! Mark T.

The Feelies put out only four albums during their too-short existence, each a distinct turn from its predecessor. Crazy Rhythms was their anxious, arty debut, a post-punk classic before post-punk started. Only Life is perhaps their "indie rock" stab and Time For a Witness their "classic rock" album. That leaves their second record, The Good Earth, as their "pastorale," in the classical sense. Especially after the edgy time keeping and nervy structures of Crazy Rhythms, the Good Earth is a relaxed family outing, hanging out on a warm day with friends you wish you'd see more often. Acoustic guitars seem more omnipresent than on any of their other records, and the generally midtempo songs stroll along as if effortlessly played. The band seemed keenly aware of this as their cover photo has everyone standing in a field. Some have portrayed this as a "boring" album, though I'd argue it's their most incandescent and representative, possibly also their most consistent record.

Nonetheless, the band is still all too capable of raving it up ("Slipping") or tinkering with the odd martial rhythm ("Tomorrow Today"). And the build to an emission of harmony on "When Company Comes" is nothing short of transcendent, one of the holy moments in rock music.

For those of us too young to have made it to any of their legendary Hoboken shows of this and their earlier period, there seem to be plenty of tapes out there to merit an essential box set of their live side, including all the side projects. For those needing more faster, seek out the Yung Wu side project whose sole release appeared around the same time as this winsome record.