Once heard, forever smitten. Felt really were one of those bands – a band for life. Ten albums and ten singles in ten years then throw in the towel – why don’t more bands come complete with manifestos these days? A little ambition even? I remember hearing Janice Long playing Primitive Painters back when it was released in the summer of 1985 and marveling at the unstated class of it. Everything around seemed lumpen in comparison, here was a piece of crystalline, haunted perfection coming out of tinny speakers. It fair glistened. Still does too.
As I said, once heard, forever smitten. A few very good friends of ours are still helping Felt maestro Lawrence to carve his own perfectly formed pop music niche over twenty years after the group called it a day. Filmmaker Paul Kelly recently debuted his sublime, hilarious and deeply moving movie, Lawrence of Belgravia, at the London Film Festival. And Caught By The River contributor Lora Findlay has – along with Paul – designed a limited edition book of 140 photos of the band. It’s a beautiful document of a resolutely peculiar career. Another longtime Caught By The River contributor, Bob Stanley, has written the intro and Lawrence has signed the lot of them.
A fitting tribute. Don’t hang around.
Robin