Side Project Belongs With Finest From the Feelies

Nearly three weeks later, I'm still discovering treasures from this year's Record Store Day. I'm not sure how I missed this, but among the scraps at my local shop I just found a reissue of the 1987 album 'Shore Leave' from Yung Wu. If, like me, this sounds vaguely familiar, it's probably because you were into the Feelies and had been patiently waiting for the follow-up to 'The Good Earth' when the band's label at that moment, Coyote and Twin/Tone, gave us this instead.

This is very close to a Feelies album, but instead of Glenn Mercer and Bill Million taking songwriting duties, it's percussionist Dave Weckerman leading the way. Everyone from the Feelies during the era can be found here, including Mercer and Million on production duties. 'Shore Leave' sounds like exactly what it is... a close cousin to the Feelies. It's best described as sweeter and poppier than the manic approach found on '80s-era Feelies albums. Listening to it 31 years later, I find myself wondering why this never progressed beyond cult status. Then again, that's how I feel about everything the Feelies released too. Kudos to Bar/None Records for unearthing this gem.