On October 13, 2018 in Jersey City, NJ’s White Eagle Hall, guitarists Glenn Mercer and Bill Million, bassist Brenda Sauter, drummer Stanley Demeski and percussionist/ keyboardist Dave Weckerman, a gang collectively known as The Feelies, played a long set of songs by request in connection with the opening of The Velvet Underground Experience exhibition in NYC. Some Kinda Love: Performing the Music of The Velvet Underground documents that show, and on October 13, five years to the day later, it’s released for home consumption on 2LP and CD through Bar/None Records.
Cover songs are an integral part of the whole rock ‘n’ roll shebang, but when it comes to versions of material by The Velvet Underground, I’ll confess to being something a stickler. This is partly because The Velvets are my pick as the greatest (non-jazz) band of all time, and additionally, my favorite band ever (jazz included).
But personal protectiveness is not really the issue with my persnickety nature toward VU covers. It’s just that their stuff is so hard to get right, as far too many attempts get too hung up on replicating the source’s cool factor, while others are just far too reverent in approach, and still more diminish the essence of the originals by structurally altering them too severely or transmogrifying them into an artist or band’s personal style.
Great VU covers are certainly possible (see Big Star’s “Femme Fatale,” Thurston Moore’s “European Son,” and Luna’s “Ride Into the Sun”) and aren’t even necessarily rare, but middling versions are far more common and I’ll make the case that egregious missteps outnumber the gems. To my ear, it took Imaginary Records three tries to put out a various artists tribute compilation (in the label’s Heaven & Hell series) where the good to great outnumbered the duds. It would be even more difficult for a single performer or band to cut an entire album of VU covers that didn’t fumble the task.
Decades back, I once suggested to a room full of friends that I’d trust only three bands to pull off a whole VU covers LP of consistently high-quality: they were Galaxie 500, now long defunct, Yo La Tengo, still active and still capable in my view, and The Feelies, who up and did it live back in 2018. My reasoning relates to the clear impact the VU had on all three, an influence that would only be magnified when the material was the VU songbook.
I should say right off that there are degrees of difficulty in tackling the oeuvre of The Velvets. The highest percentage of the low hanging fruit comes from Loaded, and Some Kinda Love features six of that record’s ten songs, “Sweet Jane” amongst them. It’s one of the easier and more enticing VU numbers to cover, mainly because it registers as a direct byproduct of the VU’s days making a meager living playing shows in clubs and bars.
But it’s quickly obvious The Feelies didn’t choose Loaded’s contents in an attempt to play it safe, even as “Who Loves the Sun” (complete with backing choruses here) is the kind of VU song the band eats for breakfast. Like much of Some Kinda Love, “Head Held High” reverberates with energetic riffing, and “New Age” blossoms as it unwinds.
The Feelies don’t radically alter any of the selections here, though there are some notable differences, particularly to songs from the first VU LP. “There She Goes Again” is harder hitting rhythmically and generally just more robust, which is a smart move as the thin sonics of the original really shouldn’t be mimicked.
“Run Run Run” is a scuzzy pounder that nonetheless keeps a solid handle on the distinctiveness of the guitar soloing in the original, and likewise, “Waiting For My Man” is beefed-up and raw without going overboard. Most interestingly, set opener “Sunday Morning” is reminiscent of The Velvets’ 1969 live performances, a quality that spills over into their take of “What Goes On” here (it was previously recorded by The Feelies for Only Life way back in 1988). I really wish they’d given “What Goes On” the extended Live 1969 treatment, especially as Stanley Demeski is hitting like Moe was that year.
“That’s The Story of My Life” is played close to the original, which is just right, but conversely, “We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together” dials up the urgency of an already vigorous original. And “White Light/White Heat” swaps out the druggy menace of the original for some of the gnawing attack captured on the Boston Tea Party-era tapes. It pairs well with the exquisite squalling thunder gallop of “I Heard Her Call My Name” immediately following.
But it’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties” that delivers one of the record’s true standouts, doubly impressive as it’s a really hard VU song to pull off. However, with Brenda Sauter handling the singing to perfection, they knock it out of the park. Additionally, “Rock & Roll” is maybe the closest The Feelies come to fully channeling the spirit of VU during this set.
Coming late in the record, “I Can’t Stand It” is a scorcher. As part of the encore, “After Hours,” with Sauter back at the mic, nicely avoids the twee, which is the downfall of many (mostly live) versions of the song. And “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” is a suitably exuberant finale. It also underscores that a major factor in Some Kinda Love’s success is a spontaneity. Nothing is overlabored; instead, the music is loose but serious and celebratory. Across this deep dive into the work of one of modern music’s foundational bands, The Feelies are captured at the top of their game.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
