Lawrence of Belgravia

In the latest issue of Analogue I suggest that someone ought to make a film about Lawrence. It turns out someone just has. Lawrence of Belgravia is directed by Paul Kelly and has its premiere on November 4th. You’ll have to travel all the way to London’s South Bank to see it though.

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Felt “Penelope Tree”

Lawrence was the leader of Felt who released ten albums - five for Cherry Red, four for Creation and one for él records - between 1981 and 1989. Lawrence (he tried to keep his surname a secret) hailed from Water Orton on the outskirts of Birmingham. In 1979 he released a single under the Felt moniker (”Index”) which was named Single Of The Week in Sounds. By 1981, Lawrence had relocated to Windsor where he encountered Maurice Deebank and together they made Felt’s debut LP Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty. Felt’s music was elaborate; their early records shot through with Deebank’s classical guitar, Lawrence’s lyrics were full of religious imagery and rich in allusion to Romantic literature. Under Lawrence’s instruction, their drummer was not allowed use cymbals or high-hats. They were influenced by The Velvet Underground, Television and Patti Smith but - Lawrence’s Lou Reed-y voice aside - they had their own distinct sound. Their 1986 album Forever Breathes The Lonely Word is one of the great independent albums of the 1980s. But Lawrence was fond of shooting himself in the foot. Maurice Deebank, his songwriting collaborator quit the band in 1985, shortly after the release of the classic single “Primitive Painters” - a rather astonishing, swirling thing featuring Cocteau Twins Elizabeth Frazer and Robin Guthrie which very nearly made the proper charts. The following year Felt signed to Alan McGee’s Creation and it looked like a commercial breakthrough was on the cards. A single, “Ballad Of The Band” augured well, but Felt failed to capitalise on the momentum and decided to release an 18 minute long album of instrumentals called Let The Snakes Crinkle Their Heads To Death. This became a hallmark of how Felt would operate. In 1988, when everyone else at Creation was embracing acid house, Felt released an album of instrumentals for hammond organ and vibraphone called Train Above The City. Incredibly, Lawrence thought that this was what it took to become a bona-fide pin-up popstar. He strove to be a paragon of art-pop virtue in a world of popstars who - in Lawrence’s eyes at least - continually let their fans down. Lawrence was an oddball and he knew it. He was obssessive about hygiene to the point of not allowing visiting journalists use his toilet. He claimed that he only ate meat. He also boasted that his only hero was George Best, and the he owned a football shirt which Best had signed, but he wouldn’t allow anybody to see it. After a final introspective release in 1989 called Me and A Monkey On The Moon, Felt’s 10th album in 10 years (something Lawrence claimed was all part of some overall plan), Lawrence moved to New York for a rethink.

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Denim “Middle Of The Road”

He finally returned in the autumn of 1992 fronting Denim. A quick comparison of some Felt and Denim lyrics should suffice to show the scale of the artistic u-turn…

Felt:
“I like those deep-down thoughts that leave you stranded way in mid-air/ And I’d like to do something that makes somebody somewhere care” (”Hours Of Darkness Have Changed My Mind” from Forever Breathes The Lonely Word, 1986)

“Haunting the ghost of the noble crusader/ Who recalls the pellucid ice, clutching the aching twigs…” (”The Stagnant Pool” from The Splendour Of Fear, 1984)

“Primitive painters are ships floating on an empty sea, gathering in galleries we’re stallions of imagery”
(”Primitive Painters” from Ignite The Seven Cannons, 1985

Denim:
“Look in the mirror, tell me what you see/ Is it a face of beauty staring back at me or should I face the facts: I’m just an old roadie.” (”Here Is My Song for Europe” from Back In Denim, 1992)

“There’s an auction goin’ down at Christie’s and they’re selling his headband/ They say it’s gonna cost a bomb, don’t know why - the guy’s still alive/ And there’s a beermat from the Hope and Anchor in Islington/ There’s a corner chewed off, they say he ate it in ‘75…” (”The Great Pub Rock Revival” from Denim On Ice, 1996)

“My mate’s got a garage and it’s full of stuffed animals/ I snuck in there once and I stole a cat/ I put it on the windowsill but if fell down the floor, babe/ The ol’ man with the lawnmover, he ran over it.” (”Brumburger” from Denim On Ice, 1996)

“We ain’t been going very long/ We’ve only written one good song/ And here it is, we will play the best song that we’ve got/ It’s called ‘Internet Curtains’.” (”Internet Curtains” from Novelty Rock, 1997)

Denim released the single “Middle Of The Road” and followed it up with the LP Back In Denim. It is 50 minutes of thumping glam rock with shoutalong choruses and a garish lollypop coloured sleeve. Where Felt were fey and heavy, Denim revelled in the downright daft. The album’s opening title track sounds like The Arrows’ (and Joan Jett’s) “I Love Rock and Roll”. Throughout the album the spirit of the early to mid 70s is constantly evoked. “a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JJ8I8Npjbg”>”The Osmonds” is a list song of 70s artifacts, but touchingly dwells on the Birmingham pub bombings of 1974. “I’m Against The Eighties” is a crazed rant against the decade which saw Felt confined to the fringes, obviously to Lawrence’s disgust. At one point he rants “I’ve made a new sound, this ain’t goin’ underground…” which makes it all the more poignant that Denim never had a hit. Three years passed until the release of Denim On Ice, more hit and miss than the debut but it has its moments. Around this time Denim toured in support of Pulp. Novelty Rock, an album of b-sides with some new tracks, was released in 1997 to not-very-much fanfare. However in the summer of 1997 Denim found themselves playlisted on BBC Radio 1 and were poised to finally make the charts with a novelty summer hit called “Summer Smash”. Unfortunately, two weeks before it was supposed to be released Princess Diana’s death made radio station managers think twice about playing the single and once again Lawrence was foiled. Another Denim album was recorded, but remains unreleased.

Since then Lawrence has released two albums as Go-Kart Mozart, both very much in the vein of Denim’s novelty rock and both albums really are quite demented. Lawrence has talked about releasing a solo album (his Berlin, apparently) but it has yet to emerge. Hopefully Lawrence of Belgravia will see Lawrence finally get the attention he’s craved for so long, and which he so thoroughly deserves.