One of the most overlooked and underrated albums to emerge from the
Feelies universe,
Yung Wu's
Shore Leave ranks highly in the group's oeuvre, at least the equal of and in some ways superior to the three albums the
Feelies released under their own name between 1985 and 1991.
Yung Wu was led by singer/songwriter Dave Weckerman, who had been the drummer in the
Feelies' first lineup before being replaced by
Anton Fier. Backed by
Glenn Mercer and
Bill Million on guitars (they also produced the album),
John Baumgartner on keyboards, Brenda Sauter on bass, and
Stanley Demeski on drums, Weckerman finds a midway point between the mellow, twangy rootiness of contemporaneous
Feelies records like Only Life and the more tightly wound jangle of 1980's
Crazy Rhythms. Resulting songs like the title track, "Spinning," and the quietly tense "Return to Zion" are archetypal examples of the Hoboken sound that was a mainstay of late-'80s college radio. The album's three covers --
Neil Young's "Powderfinger," the
Rolling Stones' "Child of the Moon," and "Big Day," a
Brian Eno song that originally appeared on
Phil Manzanera's solo album
Diamond Head -- were proudly uncool by 1987 terms, which of course only makes them cooler.
Shore Leave was largely ignored at the time, selling fewer than 5,000 copies all told, but it's a minor classic of '80s jangle pop ripe for rediscovery. Although never released on CD at the time (in 1987, a lot of indies were still sticking exclusively to vinyl and cassettes),
Shore Leave is one of many classic out of print albums on the Twin/Tone and Coyote labels now available on custom-burned CDs through the Twin/Tone website. ~ Stewart Mason