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CD review: Toadies, “Feeler”
Toadies
‘Feeler’
(Kirtland)
Grade: B
“We tried to make it/But it wasn’t enough,” laments inimitable Toadies lead singer Vaden Todd Lewis on “Feeler” opener “Trust Game.” “When did it happen?/We got jaded/You got lost/And I got wasted.”
That sentiment aptly kicks off “Feeler” — nominally the band’s fourth album, but spiritually its second. A brief history lesson for those not in the know: In 1997, the DFW alternative rock quartet returned to the studio to record the follow-up to “Rubberneck,” the 1994 grunge gem that rocketed the band to radio stardom and birthed a bona fide Texas anthem for the ’90s in “Possum Kingdom.” Interscope Records shelved the resulting album, “Feeler,” and the Toadies wouldn’t release a new record until 2001 — “Hell Below/Stars Above,” which contained three re-recorded songs from the “Feeler” sessions. Versions of “Feeler” eventually made their way onto file-sharing networks, as all things must, but the band broke up in 2001.
Now reunited, they’ve rerecorded songs from the “Feeler” era, pruning the track list from 15 down to a more manageable nine — and opening with the thematically appropriate “Trust Game.” For all that necessary reinterpretation, though, “Feeler” does indeed feel like the late ’90s — and like the product of a band developmentally somewhere between the crunchy rock of “Rubberneck” and the more cerebral joys of “Hell Below/Stars Above.”
“Trust Game” is a terse, sinister slow-burner that feels like a natural segue from “Rubberneck” closer “I Burn.” Things really explode on “Waterfall,” a four-minute cascade of guitars that’s vintage hard-rock Toadies. “Waterfall” also establishes the template for later album tracks like “Dead Boy” and “Suck Magic”: towering guitars, just a pinch of fuzz and plenty of Lewis’ tortured-yet-sweet screeching. There’s a certain monotony at work — though instrumental “ATF’ and the bittersweet “Joey Let’s Go” break from form — but at 28 minutes, “Feeler” is a terse, punchy, perfect treat for Toadies fans.
Also out Tuesday, August 10: Black Label Society, “Order of the Black”; the Budos Band, “The Budos Band III”; Kathryn Calder, “Are You My Mother?”; Cam’ron, “The UN: Gunz N’ Butta”; Eli “Paperboy” Reed, “Come And Get It!”; Goo Goo Dolls, “Waiting for the Rest of It”; Lee “Scratch” Perry, “Revelation”; Blake Shelton, “All About Tonight”; Emily West, “Emily West”
Update: This entry has been modified to correct the status of “Trust Game” and clarify the number of tracks recorded for the original “Feeler” sessions.
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By Mark Reznicek
August 10, 2010 2:04 PM | Link to this
Just a couple corrections: Trust Game was not a Hell Below/Stars Above B—side. It was a demo written and recorded sometime in 1998 or ‘99, around the same time as Feeler, but a little bit later. And the original recording sessions for Feeler in early 1998 resulted in fifteen completed tracks, not seventeen. Though often included on bootleg track listings, ATF Theme and Send You To Heaven were not recorded during the Feeler sessions. The versions making the rounds on the internet are demo recordings from ‘97 or ‘98.
By Patrick Caldwell
August 10, 2010 2:31 PM | Link to this
Thanks Mark - I obviously got mixed up in my understanding of these convoluted sessions; the entry has been updated and we’ll get a print correction in.