The Feelies were masters of the claves, those grade-school music-class instruments used for crisp accents. It’s the first sound on their 1980 debut, and those woody tones pepper the New Jersey band’s first four records, the last two of which are now being re-issued. No one besides The Beach Boys made better use of claves. (The Feelies weren’t shy about bongos or shakers either.) Sometimes, the aggressively strummed folky core of their songs dominated, and at other times, the jittery tempos and singing guitar tones defined the sound. On these two records, the band often sounds like nervous, hopped-up and Velvet Underground-obsessed campers who snuck amps to a campfire strum-along. Working with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck on their second album increased the jangle, but The Feelies split the difference with 1988’s Only Life, coming up with something that synthesized the divergent sounds of their first two records. Ennui comes through with plenty of atmospherics and a twitchy metabolism. A quarter-century has passed since 1991’s A Time for a Witness was released, their last before reconvening in 2008. It’s the least crucial of The Feelies’ first four releases, still it’s as good as mid-‘80s R.E.M. in places. These records highlight a spiritual connection that The Feelies had with bands like the Meat Puppets, linking punk and post-punk energy with older, varied ‘60s rock elements.