Animal Collective - Feels

Animal Collective – Feels
Fat Cat, 2005
Acquired: Love Garden, New, 2005
Price: $15ish



This was the first Animal Collective album I was able to get into. Halfway through opener “Did You See The Words” I knew I had to buy this on vinyl when it came out. Listening to it now I can see where Merriweather Post Pavilion came from. I didn’t really latch onto Strawberry Jam at all but Feels seems to set the groundwork for this perfect pop song that Animal Collective has clearly mastered on MPP. However, I think this record got neglected when I bought it because I hate double LPs. I know, I know, it makes for better sound, but sometimes I’m lazy. Sometimes I just wanna put on a record and let it play through and when you have a double LP it breaks up the flow of the album in ways that bug me (the most notable example is Sunset Rubdown’s Random Spirit Lover). But I just loved “Did You See the Words” so much and I listened to that over and over again in my bedroom back in Olathe. I remember distinctly, the turntable was on this ledge above my desk and I’d put that song on and turn the stereo all the way up. Track 1, Side B, “The Purple Bottle” is another one that I listened to a bunch of times, but I never really went to the trouble of putting disc 2 on. Actually, after hearing and falling in love with MPP this record sounds almost amateurish. Maybe not amateurish, but like a band still trying to figure out how to perfect their sound. I keep zoning out for a lot of this, maybe because I know what this leads to and how it has been perfected and I can’t remember how I listened to this record when I was 19. Animal Collective are a band that has constantly grown and changed from album to album and I cannot wait to hear the next one. Will they be able to one-up MPP? Maybe, if you can even think of it that way. Also, his record has one of my favorite album covers in my collection and was a strong influence on my purchase.