What They Said
How the Feelgoods’ debut was received on its release.
NICK KENT New Musical Express, January 25, 1975 BOYS, BOYS, now what did I tell you about being “too ethnic”? It’s a depressing task, after months of raving, of sorties to pubs and clubs the length and breadth of London and of being party to that buzz which personified the Feelgoods, for every one of us who did all that raving and zipping around, to then turn around and have to say that the first record is just not that hot. Down By The Jetty is not the record we Feelgood fanatics had hoped for, or expected. It doesn’t do the Feelgoods justice. The record hasn’t taken into consideration the pacing, the dynamics at a Feelgood gig, or the way in which, live, the band bounces off from a set of high points. This band can muster a ferocity so devastating it grabs you by the lapels, pins you to the walls with its breath, and screams “This IS rock ‘n’ roll!” The Stones had it, the MC5 had it, and the Feelgoods have it within their grasp to define the full potency of rock’n’roll, to crackle and spark, to push the godforsaken energy that powerhouses the beast to its limits. And it’s not here. Not on this album. But we can wait.
ANDY CHILDS ZigZag, July 1975 ROCK’N’ROLL LOUD, dirty, mean, raw, vicious rock’n’roll. That’s what Dr. Feelgood are all about and they never make any pretensions to the contrary. But records are to be judged as records and not as substitutes for live gigs, and, in this respect, Down By The Jetty is a particularly fine debut. Curiously enough, it doesn’t achieve any level of consistency, but the great moments (eg Wilko’s slashing guitar work on The More I Give) far outnumber the less memorable ones (eg Wilko’s vocals on That Ain’t The Way To Behave). The pace of the album is exhausting, slowing down once or twice, and then only for a few seconds before the sharp, jagged chords, and tough, lean vocals whip the next song along. She Does It Right, The More I Give, I Don’t Mind, Twenty Yards Behind, Keep It Out Of Sight, and Bonie Moronie/Tequila (recorded ‘live’ at Dingwalls), are delivered with the sort of nervous energy that makes you realise how sloppy and untidy most established bands with similar roots really are. Despite that missing ingredient which manifests itself at great gigs but has yet to find its way on any rock ’n’ roll record, Down By The Jetty is tight, disciplined, tense, inspiring, for which you must forget any preconceptions of what it should or could sound like, and be thankful it’s available and awaiting your pleasure.