From left, the Feelers’ Andy Lynch, Hamish Gee, James Reid and Clinton Harris. Photo / Steve Dykes
From left, the Feelers’ Andy Lynch, Hamish Gee, James Reid and Clinton Harris. Photo / Steve Dykes
Despite the indifference and often opprobrium of critics, no one can deny Christchurch’s Feelers their successes: three No 1 albums and the chart-topping Best Of 98-08, two others in the top 10; sold-out tours and awards.
It’s been more than a decade since their Hope Nature Forgives and the jaundicedmight note they return with a summer tour announcement and a “reimagined” album like U2′s recent Songs of Surrender, a kind of self-tribute.
But when archival local albums are given vinyl resurrection (Golden Harvest, Tadpole, Split Enz and the Finns) and groups re-form after lengthy absences (Space Waltz nearly 50 years on, Strawpeople almost 20), then maybe this isn’t quite as cynical as it seems.
With orchestration and string arrangements by keyboard player Steve Small and Andrew Walters, and Greg Haver’s punchy production, Reimagined deserves a fair hearing.
Supersystem has earnest uplift with melodramatic, Middle Eastern-influenced orchestration in the final third, Fishing for Lisa is recast as a melancholic piano ballad with mournful strings and the revised As Good As It Gets is superior to the original.
Singer-songwriter James Reid crafted memorable songs – whether you liked them or not – and in more ragged voice 20 years on, sounds committed to Larger Than Life and Pressure Man (the latter with stabbing and oppressive strings and horns, far removed from the emo-angst of the original).
The new song Dear Anxiety and the re-hit Stand Up sit within contemporary American country.
Certainly, this takes itself very seriously (rendering “don’t play the tortured artist with me” on The Fear a bit ironic), some arrangements are overwrought and others come as déjà-heard (Peter Gabriel and U2 ticked off), which can make it heavy going.
But push aside preconceptions, prejudice and whether former Feelers’ fans want this. Sampled judiciously, Reimagined comes with the headline, or consumer warning if you will: Feelers In “Not Bad Album” Shock!
Reimagined; Greatest Hits is available now on vinyl, CD and digitally.
