Only Life by The Feelies

Only Life, the Feelies' third album, arrived on A&M in 1988, made by the same line-up that cut The Good Earth: Glenn Mercer, Bill Million, Brenda Sauter and Dave Weckerman. The Haledon, New Jersey band, a fixture at Maxwell's in Hoboken all through the decade, stayed true to what they do best: nervy, chiming, tightly strummed guitars locked into a steady, hypnotic drive, with vocals tucked modestly into the mix.

The Velvet Underground was always a touchstone, and here they cover "What Goes On" outright, making its drone sound like their own. "Away" is the single, and Jonathan Demme directed its video. It crept only as high as number 173 on the Billboard 200, which says more about the times than the music. Time for a Witness came next.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.