Ralf Youtz, best known for his work with The Halo Benders, The No-No's, and of course Built to Spill, had an amazing band in the mid-90s known as The Feelings! Their debut CD Especially For You was released by tiny, but amazing, label Pop Secret. The first time I heard it I fell in love. There is a fun, poppiness about this record that is missing from many of his other bands. Its as if this band existed merely to put a smile on everyone's face with strong hooks and funny lyrics. The band really consisted of two different types of singers, one bubble gum, sweet as syrup vocal, and one mush-mouthed, garbled, vocalist who's style is what you might expect from someone with a slight palsey. The instrumentation is pretty spectacular, too. It's as simple as guitar, bass, drums, and the casio keyboard that you had as a kid. The result is pure magic.The opening track "Blowing My Mind Like a Summer Breeze" is an amazing 3 part opus that features lyrics such as "lets roll through the grass like fat little bees." Songs like * L-- (asterisk space L dash dash) are sheer genius. Or, better yet, there's Paculiar Girl which features the spoken word break down, "Darling I don't want to beg, I know I'm something of a bad egg, but quando, quando, quando?" Also, the album has perhaps the best "Born To Run" cover I have ever heard.
The Feelings had a great follow up album in 1997 called Dearling Darling. But after that, they just kinf of disappeared. If you can find a copy of this record or download one, I promise you will have the time of your life.
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