ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN SINGLES : #028

aka The Vinyl Villain incorporating Sexy Loser

#028– The Feelies – ‘Fa Ce La’ (Rough Trade Records ’79)

Dear friends,

obviously all the nice comments that come in keep this series alive – so I thought I’d start today with telling you all how very much those are being appreciated: they really are, believe me!

As for the last entry, Fad Gadget, I might not have expressed myself all too well perhaps, so, Flimflamfan: what I was trying to say was that I did not hear that record for the first time when I was 11 (in 1979), I only got to know it when I was old enough to get into those Blackwave/Gothic/Punk clubs in town. And this began in 1985/1986, when I was 16/17. I knew a girl from a nearby village, she was a bit older, had a car, was dead cool and occasionally managed to smuggle me in – although I was too young, obviously. And that’s where I first heard music like this, sometimes quite some years after its release. And yes, Johnny, a Tai Chi studio is a good comparison, everybody was looking down on the bottom when creeping around on the dance floor, moving rather slowly altogether, just as if they were afraid to be struck by lightning if they raised their heads! All dressed in black, of course, me too – but, Robster, believe it or not: I barely danced there, too shy, I suppose.

The only contemporary alternative music I got to know was from mid-1984 onwards, because this was when I started to listen to John Peel’s Music on BFBS each and every week in a more or less religious manner. So at the weekend, at the clubs, I was usually ahead of the game, because I knew all about The Jesus & Mary Chain before ‘Psychocandy’ hit the German shops, ‘Bend Sinister’ or Half Man Half Biscuit being prime examples as well. Although the latter weren’t pretty helpful when bragging with my superior knowledge in front of the Goths, I must admit.

Of course Peel would often play ‘oldies’ as well, and that usually was a history lesson for me, because all this stuff prior to 1984 I never knew about. So all the money I got hold of ended up in the three or four good record shops the town of Aachen had back then – partly for ‘new’ stuff, but mostly for post punk albums from 1979 to 1983, i.e. Joy Division, Bauhaus etc.

And today’s single is no exception: first heard on Peel, but I remember that I wasn’t able to afford the album before 1986, a German reissue on white vinyl on Line Records. The original album was issued on Stiff in 1980, but the below single on Rough Trade preceded the album by one year, which – again – throws us back to 1979 …. a great year for music, I’m sure you agree. I suppose there isn’t all too much I could tell you about The Feelies which you are not already aware of these days: if you have heard their debut album in its entirety, you basically know all you need to know in life! Their sound was so totally unique in 1980 (well, at least I guess it was: I can’t think of something similar from that era), so fresh and so mind-blowing that ‘Crazy Rhythms’ would surely still be one of my desert island discs.

But what you don’t know perhaps is that five (!) more albums were released after the debut. I (still) haven’t heard the last one, but the other four are absolutely worth listening to – so do yourself a favor, folks! But for now it’s this gem:

mp3:  The Feelies – Fa Ce La

Both tracks from the single are from the debut album, again I went for the B-Side. Don’t skip it just because you think you already know it: it’s a different version, not as ‘polished’ as on the album plus it’s 12 seconds longer, although I can’t immediately identify where those 12 seconds hide themselves. Perhaps you can do? Ah, and it’s not me being stupid again, the hyphen is indeed missing on this release, but I assume ‘fa cé la’ still means ‘what’s going on’…?

Either way, as usual, enjoy!

Dirk