#this/that/@theother #music #postpunk: Felt/ Lawrence/ JC Brouchard/ Count Basie/ Microdisney
And so it came to pass … at some point in the early ‘80s I saw the band Felt at Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt supported by/ or supporting The Weather Prophets. I was a fan of their music and they were … okay, I think … at one point, the singer Lawrence walked offstage mid-song. The band continued with the set without comment, and after about 15 minutes, Lawrence returned to the stage mid-song. My mate Peter Ord said that Lawrence must have gone for a shite, and he may well have. Of course, since then Lawrence has become a bit of a cult … he has had more than a few tasty musical projects such as Denim, Go Kart Mozart and, currently, Mozart Estate. Indeed, he’s now got a very tasty body of work in his cellar and has had a documentary made about him – Lawrence of Belgravia- and a book by Will Hodgkinson. Anyway, thinking about Lawrence, as I do from time to time, I recalled a clip on You Tube of a group of people in a French Bistro singing a version of Felt’s Ballad Of The Band. I had a mooch about, but I didn’t find it. However, early down that rabbit hole, I found the blog The Beautiful Music and this article about the book Ballad Of the Fan by the French Writer J C Brouchard, which led me to Mr Brouchard’s own blog which introduced me to Count Basie’s splendid version of Green Onions. And for reasons only known to You Tube, the next video up was the marvellous Microdisney on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1985. Which is nice. Anyroads, enjoy:
© Paul D. Brazill.
I saw Felt a few times. Always a shambolic affair, but with incredibly unique and well-crafted songs played by amazing musicians over compelling narrative lyricism sung by a beguiling Lawrence, who, I believe, the NME once described as "Lou Reed on quaaludes." They weren't the same after Maurice left, taking his genius jingle-jangle with him, but Martin's subsequent organ work on Forever Breathes... was, erm, a breath of fresh air.