Well, i guess i'm a relatively new Features fan. i am now the proud owner of the beginning EP, the 'the way its meant to be' single, and the Thursday 10". other than those, the only way i've heard other songs is on the website's jukebox.

So my question is, what does a girl have to do to get hold of the Mahaffey Sessions? anyone up for a B&P? i could do a trade, but the only boots i've got are White Stripes shows.

Help!

I don't have the Mahaffey Sessions but I love a copy, too. I've got a bunch of Features shows for trade, you can check out my list at The Features Union, which I swear will be updated soon.

ah, thanks for that link.

surely somebody here has the mahaffey sessions!

What are you willing to do?

I can hook you up, buddy.

just wondering, but what songs were done as a part of the mahaffey sessions? i've got a cd with several tracks on it, maybe i've got it without my knowing....

Serious, Darkroom, Exorcising Demons, Kari-Ann, Armani Suede, See You Through, Oh My Love, Jurley, Paid to Think, and 33 1/3.

Personally my favorite Features session I've ever heard, by far. They're all amazingly good tracks, and I like the production. Sure, there's a lot of stuff they just can't do live, but you can hear those versions in person...I'd rather hear a more jazzed up, orchestrated version at home. The vocal harmonies are really what make these songs though, it's sad that they don't put much effort into reproducing them live.

You'll change your tune come this Fall.

Ok, I'm assuming you've heard the new album then. Did you really like the new version of Exorcising Demons better than the Mahaffey version? Don't get me wrong, I am VERY pleased with the new recordings, but I did like the mahaffey version of demons much better. That said, it would be tough to ruin ANY of the feature's songs

Personally, I don't like the Mahaffey version of Demons better than the new one, but I do think Demons fits better on the Mahaffey album than on this one. I've said it a million times already, but I'll say it again. I think Mahaffey's a genius, I like quite a bit of Self stuff, but I really dislike his production on The Features' stuff. It works much better for Smashmouth.

I haven't heard it, but I'll just say that if they messed up (or omitted) the harmonies on the "It sounds good and everything..." part, they ruined it for me.

EDIT: Whoa, let's not diss Matt for producing Smashmouth again. Bad move, but the man has to pay his bills; Self hasn't exactly taken off. And what with their contractual tangle with Universal (who bought their label, Dreamworks), it doesn't seem likely that they'll be breaking through anytime soon. I'm banking on the Features and Fluid Ounces, now...but Self is probably my favorite band of the old Spongebath collective.

Sorry, tangent.

(Edited by Jakob Dorof at 5:51 pm on Jul. 20, 2004)

I'm banking on the Features. Fluid Ounces have so far to go.

As for the Mahaffey sessions, I enjoy them for what they are. I don't think they're better than the stuff with Dortch or with Craig Krampf, but I don't think they're the worst. It's just...different.

Believe in the Ounces. They shall deliver.

I agree about the lack of vocal harmonies. I have more to say about the new album, but I don't want to be a spoiler. Basically the songs sound a lot closer to the way they sound live. The album has a real no-frills raw feeling, which I really like, but the Mahaffey harmonies on "Demons" will be missed.

That's a shame. As evidenced by these Mahaffey Sessions, they once had some great vocal harmonies, that, like I said, really made the songs. And as evidenced by the bootlegs I've heard, they don't put much effort into doing the harmonies, if at all. At least on the newer shows. Come to think of it, does anyone have any relatively old Features bootlegs? I guess anything pre-2002 that has some Mahaffey songs or maybe even older songs on it...I know there aren't many (no D-Con ) but I'm hoping there are some out there. Anything at all? I've never seen anything before '02, so I'm very interested...

It's no secret that I like them better than the Features, but in terms of momentum, the Ounces are where the Features were in about '00, except with an album (but no scheduled live shows).


Very few recordings before 2002 exist. That was when blightman started recording almost all of the local shows. The following year, richarddawson started as well.

Damn...oh well. There's gotta be some crappy little bootleg of them out there, somewhere. Maybe someday someone will unearth it.

Yeah, actually I may have a REALLY crappy earlier bootleg, but it would probably only be 2001. I can look...

I have a really good sounding bootleg from 2000 (August I think...the Glossary release show). Once I find my DAT machine, I'll try to make it available to the internet.

Would this have been a show at 12th & Porter when Lifeboy opened?

Indeed (and I have that set as well, but surely no one is interested).

(Edited by Keith at 12:46 am on Jul. 22, 2004)

That was that really psychedelic Lifeboy show, wasn't it?

Yeah. Good memory.

That was the only time I saw Lifeboy and the first time I saw The Features.

It was not a very accurate representation of what Lifeboy was.

I love it when bands do something new live. I'm sure it's exhilirating to hear note-for-note performances of your favorite songs, but I'm much more interested in hearing radically different versions of the songs I love. In fact, that's why I'm so psyched about the new De Novo Dahl album - you get just that with the second disc. Very cool (though obviously not for every band).

Do you know something that I don't? (I don't really know much anymore; I need to start hanging out with Keith more often)

Or you can just go to nashvillezine.com

They're putting out a record with Theory 8. It's going to be 2 CDs: 16 original tracks, then the same 16 done completely "remixed," but with different sections, chord progressions, tempos, everything. Sounds very cool to me. When a song is as good as "Lovers," I'm ecstatic to hear more than one studio version of it.

Damn straight. Maybe I'll get invited out to that lakehouse one of these days!

Hmmm... Seems I only have the first six of those. Could someone send me Oh My Love, Jurley, Paid to Think and 33 and 1/3?