When The Feelies released their debut album, Crazy Rhythms, in 1980, they proved themselves to be one of America's most potent postpunk bands. After a six-year sabbatical, the New Jersey group has finally released a second album, and it's as distinctive as their work habits. The cyclone pace that drove the well-titled Crazy Rhythms came from drummer Anton Fier, now the leader of the Golden Palominos. In his absence, Feelies coleaders Glenn Mercer and Bill Million have stripped their songs to the basics, and the result is a remarkable balance of beauty and dissonance.

The album is initially disconcerting because of what it lacks: Mercer's vocals burrow into the mix and hide there; Brenda Sauter's bass playing is even less audible; and Stan Demeski's strict, functional drumming is augmented by Dave Weckerman's spare percussion. The songs are instead defined by the brilliant compatibility of Mercer and Million's guitars. From lush strum to country picking, ringing tone to surging drone, they draw on the best of the Velvet Underground and the Beatles (two bands whose songs the Feelies have covered) to choreograph layers of guitar harmony. The production by Mercer, Million and R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck is sensitive to this symmetry; Mercer's lyrics – filled with moments of anxiety and collapse and sung by him in a tight monotone – are counterpointed by his guitar solos, which are taut and economical.

For success, the Feelies rely on a delicate alchemy, which occasionally fails them, and more rhythmic variety would have improved the album. But because every moment of sullen despair is accompanied by a glimpse of distant beauty, these discreet songs reward repeated listening with subtle details that seem to change each time. The album's most gripping track, "Slipping (into Something)," builds like a storm and offers a quizzical hook – "Slipping into something, out of something else" – that best describes the undefinable emotional pull of The Good Earth. (RS 483)

ROB TANNENBAUM