The Features: PA to NYC Floozies

So, let me again reference the Stitches as a way by which to figure my punk education. Yeah, they’re a ‘90s band, but outta that crop of groups who, apart from the Bombs, has the same sort of inarguable taste in older, completely obscure punk singles? Probably no one. That’s not the point here. What is, though, is the fact that on the first Stitches album, 8 x 12, the band covers “Floozie of the Neighborhood.” I don’t believe the version of that album I possess has song credits on it, but pretty quickly after coping that disc when I was fourteen (?) someone hipped me to the fact that the Features originally penned the tune. Where it came from – and I assumed that the band was from SoCal, I was wrong – though, is almost as interesting as the band itself.

There were countless bands doing a punk thing by the latter part of the ‘70s and a great many of ‘em moved to New York to try and make it big as it were. Not too many were successful. And if you look back, most of the groups that got signed – apart from Clevo’s the Dead Boys – were born and bread New Yorkers. Ok, well Richard Hell wasn’t, but some of his band was. But coming out of Pittsburg, which is really nicer than you’d imagine, was a group called the Fingers, who are really of no consequence although they reportedly released a single that’s above boards – good luck finding it, though.

The Fingers, or at least a few of ‘em, moved to the big city, wrangled a few other dudes and changed their name to the Features, penning that now classic, lost track. It was issued on a single with the b-side of “I Wanna Be Your Man,” a classic rendition. Of course, considering the glut of acts doing the punk thing at the time, no one snapped up the group immediately, ostensibly relegating them to the dustbins of punker history.

Thanks to not just the scum bags in the Stitches, but the folks at Rave Up Records outta Italy, the Features have gained a second life, albeit a truncated one. Releasing Floozie of the Neighboorhood back in 2002 afforded the group a short lived renaissance seeing as the disc has already lapsed back into OOP land. Have no fear dear interneters, it’s out there for you to find. And it shouldn’t be too difficult to hunt down digitally.

Once located, though, some might be surprised by the efforts held within that compressed file. Yea, the single the band released is flawless, and a great many of the other offerings here are well beyond what could be expected, but much like the other KBD bands or Nuggets folks, this is kinda inconsistent. And considering the fact that the Features didn’t really record in the studio too much, most of the album is comprised of a live set that the band worked out. They’ re-do their hit and run through a few other tracks – most notably the instrumental “On the Prowl” and “Shake.” So while this group will hitherto be known for the song that the Stitches helped popularize, these guys were deep into the ‘60s rock and soul music. Who knew?