FELT (Go Kart Mozart, Denim)... Lawrence is amazing!

I have Back In Denim, which is ace ("in the seventies there were Osmonds, there were lots of little Osmonds..."), but I got pissed off with the singles from 'On Ice' and never bought it.

Also have the Go-Kart Mozart album, which is patchy (but I forgive it everything for name-checking Poing by the Rotterdam Termination Source).

Jane Suck died in 77....

I wish that were the case in the states -- I finally had to have someone burn me a copy (thanks fernando!).

He surfaced on a St. Ettiene track "Paper" which he co-wrote. I don't know which album or single this track was originally on, but it's on the Smash the System comp.

I prefer Deebank-era Felt to Duffy-era Felt, although I'm not fond of MD's florid classical-style playing. They sound best when he's kept on a tight leash e.g Penelope Tree or Mexican Bandits. "Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty", the debut, is a classic, and it's downhill from there IMHO.

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0043,seward,18841,22.html

grr.

i always kept meaning to pick it up .. but never plumped up the hard earned for it ..

i suspect a lifetime of regret to follow on now ..

One of my my fav moment was when Select interviewed a bunch of people about the Exciting New Oasis album and Lawrence Hayward was like, "Oh god I hate it when musicians start singing about their kids.... They should be singing about fucking in the bushes, not their stupid families."

Obviously a new Denim album would perhaps be even more glorious, Denim Takes Over has been on the cards since, um, about 1997 maybe? I love the idea that in Lawrence's mind there is zero overlap between Denim and GKM and that they serve entirely different purposes and appeal to totally different audiences, and songs are specifically written either for one or the other.

This is great news! I was just ranting to someone this weekend that Lawrence has never even received half of the recognition that he deserves.

Mooro, can you link to that ETA song again?

Please and thank you.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00097HDW2/ref=cm_mp_wli_/202-7893692-0081442

is being released the same day as this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00093UQUC/ref=cm_mp_wli_/202-7893692-0081442

Wich I think it's a very happy coincidence.

I've only just got hold of the St Etienne! Overdosing on Most Antipated Records For Several Years, today. I should probably listen to it now.

If you can't appreciate the towering majesty of songs like "Drinkin' Um Bongo" then I feel sorry for you.

It is less psychotic than the last one. It is not dissimilar to Novelty Rock, perhaps. At first I thought it was just an album of "Summer Smash"seses... I don't want to say that it has more 'depth' than that, because, that would be pretty wanky. But. They are "real" songs, yes.

Also, as last time: recommended listening, lyrics to track from next album, bandname suggestions (Shoes & Socks! Salamanda Palaganda!), 'new records to look out for' etc etc. The whole package is a beautiful thing, there is certainly no question at all of this being some kind of sub-Denim pissabout (not that I thought the last album was either, but I gather that others kind of did).

On $|$|< the other day I located a guy who was sharing an unreleased 1998-era-ish version of Denim Takes Over. This was quite surprising. "Trangressions", "City Centre" and "Delta Echo" from the new GKM are also on this, and "At The DDU" apparently previously existed as "Lorra Laughs, Cilla". I need to lavish more time on the rest of it, but, fantastic.

The (Bob Stanley) review of Go-Kart Mozart in the current Uncut includes teensy interview wherein Lawrence claims that a third album will be out later this year, I can't remember if he was referring to Denim or GKM. But the prospect of either is pretty glorious.

The thing is, for 40 years visitors to his flat have been given The Toilet Chat

I still need to watch Lawrence of Arabia and wonder what else people watch on BFI Player.

i feel as if i have read a version of this article every few years for the last two decades. as a Lawrence agnostic it's still always interesting to read but i do wish they would get over the 'should have been / could have been famous' schtick, every single time.

― stirmonster

Yeah, this is the same theme for every interview I've read of his for the last 20 years now. There's no doubt he's some bad luck in the industry, but some of it has to be his own doing too. I remember him being on Mark Riley's show in 2012 and he was complaining about how he couldn't play live because nobody wanted to book him. As the interview went on, Mark mentioned how a number of people had called in from music venues saying they'd love to have him and to get in touch. He just kinda brushed it off and nothing came of it. The guy who made the documentary also says how he used to disappear all the time and he must be like that too when planning his career.

I'm not sure how much more mileage he can get from the Summer Smash/Diana story too. I seem to remember seeing an advert at the time for Summer Smash in the NME or Melody Maker that said it was coming out August 24th, a week before Diana died. I'm sure I cut it out and put it on my wall (along with all my Mansun and Boo Radleys pics). Maybe it got put back last minute as singles did at that time. As great as the song is, I'm not convinced it was going to be the breakthrough hit he was expecting. I don't remember hearing it on radio at all and I was desperate to hear it. I heard It Fell Off The Back Of A Lorry a number of times the previous year.

As I mentioned up thread, jeez, more than a decade ago, if Summer Smash had actually been released it would have been his worst single.

I was a teenage Felt fan in the 80s, and even then I found him an awkward sod. Every new release or gig was a costly gamble. And the thing that always made me doubt the toilet story is that it was commonly told about Kenneth Williams bitd.

There could be various reasons for the toilet obsession. My guess is that 50% of it is that he is embarrassed about the state of his bathroom (because he can’t afford a refurb and the council/landlord won’t do it ) and 50% hates people using his toilet.

Well, that make two people who etc.

Check your bathroom privilege ! Before my bathroom refurb last autumn (probably 15% more expensive now at least) , I dreaded visitors saying “can I just use the bathroom”.

Also, 3 people at least … I remember an Andy Warhol story about how Gala Dali (Dali’s wife) refused to let him use their toilet in their New York hotel suite when he was visiting.

Arabia
Belgravia obv

why take interviewers back to your home at all if it's such an issue?

It’s difficult to bullshit the journalist in a coffee shop! Some eavesdropping ilm reader might say “you really to drop this ‘could have been famous’ line - and Summer Smash wasn’t ever going to be the hit you thought it’d be…and a few live appearances would be good - you lazy so and so”.

He is playing in Glasgow a week on Saturday tbf.

I've written pretty much that same profile of Lawrence - as has seemingly everyone who's ever interviewed him - and yeah, the toilet stuff is both very played out but it is the genuine first thing he says to you. And even before then you're warned by the PR that he'll only do the interview in his flat.

He's friendly but not the easiest person to interview, which would maybe so go some way to explaining why the resulting pieces are so similar.

A few years after I was working in the Waitrose by his flat and he was kind enough to pretend to remember having met me as he paid for his can of Coke. I blurted out something about how I'd spent the bulk of lockdown listening to Felt and he seemed genuinely pleased to hear it.

Seeing him in Hebden Bridge next week and have no idea what to expect. Presumably absolutely zero Felt/Denim stuff?

Correct.

Plenty of musicians out there would kill to be as 'successful' as Lawrence is these days

I for one can't wait to see this plaster bust. Seems a bit rum criticising the snaps as he's clearly made an effort: three costume changes! (he's been raiding the famous cellophane archive) and a new baseball cap (thank god...). Intrigued to hear he's a Nick Cave fan. Yeah, it would be nice if articles could take a different angle to the great lost pop eccentric, but mostly just glad he still garners some attention and makes records. And I like the tramp line.

He knows what it’s like to be disappointed by your idols – “I couldn’t get over it in the 1980s when Lou Reed had a mullet”

Lawrence otm

i feel as if i have read a version of this article every few years for the last two decades.

It doesn't help that he tends to announce the title of the next album right after the last album has come out, and then it takes years before it's actually released. So you get multiple articles over several years that are like, "yeah, we're working on the next album now, it's called Mozart's Mini-Mart!"

Things I'd be genuinely interested to learn from a Lawrence interview in 2022: (i) dude wtf do you do all day? and (b) what do you make a month? like srsly, putting aside all the dismantled king shit, where does the money come from?

God, The Stagnant Pool fucking tears

x-post

Both questions feel a bit too intrusive though? Not sure I’d like to be asked to justify what I do all day or account for my finances.

Lawrence is obviously very mentally ill

yeah that does cross my mind from time to time, he has the behaviour and mannerisms of a friend of mine who is a diagnosed schizophrenic (and also a musician), however have to remember that it isn't great to do armchair diagnoses, and it's ultimately none of our business

It is certainly not obvious that he is "very mentally ill".

Sorry that was worded really badly

The Hebden Bridge gig was fun enough. Lawrence remains a not particularly engaging stage presence but he's got a good, young, excitable new band with him and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Not sure he needed to do "Relative Poverty" twice though.

Finally watched Lawrence of Belgravia last night and thought it was a nice portrait of the man - glad there's no toilet/Summer Smash stuff in there. I'm still not sure if he really believes the "I should have been really, really famous" stuff.

I see Cherry Red has reissued all ten albums on CD with new cover art for a tenner each... assume it's the same mastering job as the 2018 deluxe editions, but do they sound good?

"I'm Gonna Wiggle" - tune of the year.

I see Cherry Red has reissued all ten albums on CD with new cover art for a tenner each... assume it's the same mastering job as the 2018 deluxe editions, but do they sound good?

― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Sunday, August 21, 2022 9:39 PM (eleven months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Also curious about this. I have copies of most of these album but they are at this point not in great shape

Felt Share Brand New ‘Primitive Painters’ Video

Lawrence has commissioned Douglas Hart to direct a new video, a powerful meditation on the group – and the coterie who surrounded them – at the time. It draws on Super 8 footage, featuring a plethora of characters from the Felt and Creation Records milieu, including a youthful Alan McGee.

Oh wonderful what a treat!

young Lawrence was so dreamy

lol what is this?

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2ilBjWM7w-/

oh the dash has broken the url, please copy n paste

it's video from this thing btw:

https://www.fitzroviachapel.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/fc_Lawence-in-Fitzrovia-hero.jpg

Just heard about this book today:

Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THZXxBA2SFM

FELT (Go Kart Mozart, Denim)... Lawrence is amazing!

^ Deebank was here

Really interesting watch, and keen to read the book now.

I don't think nearly enough is made of the way Lawrence has always played with the most critically unfashionable sounds he can find, that refusal to accept that as a boundary, and a lot of that does kind of prefigure aspects of PC Music - like you play Novelty Rock and GFOTY's Secret Mix next to each other and tell me there's no connection there. Though of course I would expect him to disagree with all of that. A good point is made towards the end of the interview, that there's not a single masterpiece album you can point to that explains what he's about - but you could do an incredible let's say 2CD career-spanning compilation (and I might have a try)

Haven't watched the video yet but I pre-ordered the book from Rough Trade when it was first announced and can't wait to read it.

Thanks for posting, will read. I admire how Lawrence is not so keen on the usual boring rock thing of artistic refinement and progression and sophistication, and he seems determined not to have ossified ideas and to be open minded aesthetically… but it’s still a pure expression of himself, he’s not just pretending to be hip with whatever the new thing is whatever, but he seems determined not to get stale… that’s the sense I get, anyway, even if I don’t tend to like the results much post-denim.

Are not the two "Absolute Classic Masterpieces" compilations sufficient to show his brilliance? I suppose you could trim them down and then add highlights from his post-Felt career.

My imaginary 2CD compilation would only have Felt on CD1, not on CD2.

^^^ totally

Oooh he wouldn't like that

My own Felt "greatest hits" consists of the first three albums, "Me And A Monkey On The Moon" (complete album) and "Ballad Of The Band"

Somebody left a synthesiser out on the curb yesterday and it was raining, and I took a photo of it while humming to myself

The audiobook of Street Level Superstar has appeared on Sp*tify

I listened to that...a bit of a grind at times but by the end he'd kinda won me over...just

I thought the book was excellent -- much more of a straight biography than I expected from the subtitle ("A Year with Lawrence").