The Good Earth by The Feelies

The Good Earth, the Feelies' second album, turned up in 1986, a full six years after Crazy Rhythms, and the New Jersey band that had once sounded like it was running on caffeine and nerves had learned how to breathe. Peter Buck of R.E.M., a band that had cited Crazy Rhythms as an influence, co-produced, a rare outside hand on a Feelies record.

Glenn Mercer and Bill Million lead a lineup filled out by Brenda Sauter on bass and Dave Weckerman, and the songs chime softly and tick along like a pastoral metronome. It's jangle pop with the Velvet Underground's drone in its bloodstream, only sunnier, as if the band had wandered out of the club and into a field. It became one of their most successful records. Even the sleeve was a family job: Mercer designed it, and Sauter took the cover photo of the band.

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