The Feelies: Here Before

Label: Bar/None

The proud sons and daughter of Haledon, NJ, reconvene 19 years after their last album to deliver a great record that makes it seem as if no time has passed for the Feelies. Here Before is not the best of the band's five albums, yet it casually strums its way into their catalog and stands ably aside The Good Earth, Only Life and the others. "Should Be Gone" is just one of the tellingly titled, thoroughly joyous tunes among the baker's dozen here; the backing "oh, ohh, ahh"s and the searing guitar leads slicing through the full-bodied strumming (two of the Feelies' best weapons) are among rock music's greatest sounds. And Here Before has so much of both. The Feelies can also still pin you to the wall with their potent group energy: Few bands half their age could match the sustained urgency of "Time Is Right." And then, tucked away in penultimate position, we find the staggering "On and On," a gracenote of a Feelies tune that compiles every single thing they do well: that Velvets-borne rhythm, Glenn Mercer's unbearably cool "hey na na na na na na" and a lyric that explains this band as well anything: "All right, oh yeah, come on, all right..."