Movie of the Week: Felt live in Scotland, 1987

Source

 Felt live at Subterraneans, Greenock, Scotland, January 1987: Includes "Declaration" and "Riding On The Equator." The video is dark, but if you put some brightness it'll be ok. By Paul Barr & Chris Davidson.

Before and After - Album Art 4

Before - Chelsea Girls (film) by Andy Warhol & Paul Morrissey (1966):

Watch the film over at Dangerous Minds or YouTube.

After - The Splendour of Fear by Felt (Cherry Red Records, 1984):

Sample & buy The Splendour of Fear at Amazon or from Cherry Red Records.

Felt to reunite in London, Feb 3...

...for a book launch. No gig.

Rough Trade East

Friday, Feb. 3 

7:00PM

Kyle's Cassettes: Felt - The Splendor of Fear/Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty

Felt

The Splendor of Fear/Crumbling the Antiseptic Beauty

1984 Cherry Red
 

So if your anything like me your probably just about all stocked up on all these fucking goons being so overly over the top sincere about their love for The Smiths and any other piece of dog shit Morrissey narrowly avoided stepping into on a sidewalk. I mean I really couldn’t give less of a shit about how his lyrics have touched you so deeply and that’s why you’ve been a vegetarian since you were like two years old. Don’t get me wrong I love The Smiths and all; when I’m out with my old lady at some tastefully understated Brooklyn bistro and they come on I don’t complain. I just chew my food and mentally appreciate it without broadcasting 1400 tweets about it or worse, start crying all over my arugula salad.  Seriously kids the well is fucking dry. So that being the case, the question begs to be asked: What formerly over-looked, soft-ass British shit is there left to drool all over? Answer: Felt.

Not only is Felt about a hundred times cooler than the Smiths, but their front man could easily kick the shit out of Morrissey (which probably isn’t saying much, but the Mozzer is fond of ripping his shirt off about 19 times per song in the live show and I have to admit that for an older bloak he does look like he probably still works out (I wonder what he’s maxing out at on the bench?).) Anyhoos, Lawrence (yes they both go by single ambiguous monikers), to my mind at least, always had a better sense of style, taste and understatement. I’ll put it like this: Morrissey is to David Johansen as Lawrence is to Tom Verlaine. On one side you’ve got French symbolist poetry and on the other you’ve got Buster Poindexter, you do the math.

Now if you haven’t heard of Felt don’t worry you’re not alone. I scored this tape from a thrift store in Chelsea for like 50 cents and when I took it to the counter the girl was all, “this looks cool, what is it?” and I sort of mumbled something about it being a sort of obscure eighties British group and she just gave me a blank stare. Then, and this is the best part, I said that it was one of the guys from Belle & Sebastian’s favorite groups of all time and she said, “I’ve never heard of them either.” At which point my jaw probably visibly unhinged it’s self in snobbish aghast and I was like, “I can’t help you,” and just chirped out of there. Whatever though because the point is that there is still time for you to find every demo that Felt ever committed to tape and whatever shite quality videos and live performances you can mine up on youtube and basically pretend that you’ve been into them since you were nine years old and start a band called I Worship The Crystal Balls of Vasco de Gama. Or whatever the fuck it is you kids do today. Just check out the fucking band, alright? Enough already. 

"Mexican Bandits" from The Splendor of Fear:


Visit Kyle at Trustzine.

New films alert: Mott The Hoople, and Lawrence of Belgravia

I'm always up for a decent rockumentary, and here are two to keep an eye out for. I apologize in avance for the lack of links or information on these. First up is The Ballad of Mott The Hoople. Its now available on DVD in the UK:

Secondly, we have Lawrence of Belgravia, about the one & only Lawrence of Felt/Denim/Go Kart Mozart fame. No trailer or website seems to be available, however for readers in London, the film will be showing as part of the BFI London Film Festival in October. Full details here.

Foxtrot Echo Lima Tango spells Felt

About ten days ago, I mentioned the limited publication in the UK of new fan-book about the band Felt. I received my copy over the weekend, and it far surpasses my expectations. Not so much a biography, but a remembrance by fans and (some) obsessives, it works precisely because that's how the band was - mysterious...On some levels very vague, but if you took the time to listen & look, very detailed and utterly fascinating.

Order it here.

It's about $20 (shipping included) for those of us here in the States, and I got it fast. Worth noting is the inclusion of pieces by longtime friends of Stupefaction, Kevin Pearce and Alistair Fitchett (small book image above courtesy of him).

For those who care, here's the first song by Felt that I fell in love with:


And a great track from their last album which was produced by the legendary Adrian Borland:

Ballad of the Band

If there are any Felt fanatics out there, there is a new zine/book available about Lawrence and company called Foxtrot Echo Lima Tango. Limited to 500 copies, it runs 160 pages and has contributions from a lengthy list of prime 80's UK indie movers & shakers: Gary Ainge, Paul Becker, JC Brouchard, Thomas Chatterton, Ben Clancy, Martin Davies, Anh Do & Matt Fishbeck, Dickon Edwards, Lora Findlay, Alistair Fitchett, Tim Gane, Chris Heath, Julian Hyde, Rui Kalda, Paul Kelly, Phil King, Ben Knight, Sybille Lacroix, Lucy McKenzie, Alasdair MacLean, Alan Michael, John Mohan, Kevin Pearce, Scott Portnoy, Brian David Stevens, Marco Thomas and Emily Wardill.

It runs about $20 to US customers, and can be found here. Thanks to Kev for the tip. One of these days I'll have to run a scan of Lawrence's crazy letter to me, and my response, regarding a US issue of one their albums in the mid 90's. Images courtesy of Foxtrot Echo.

Ephemera Friday - UK post punk gigs

Courtesy of our buddy Dave over at Fruitier Than Thou comes this wonderful collection of gig posters & ads for some special shows, circa early 80's. Above - AZTEC CAMERA, THE FARMERS BOYS, THE DAINTEES The Lyceum, London 15th March 1983.

Incredible triple bill - FELT, THE GO-BETWEENS, THE SMITHS The Venue, London 15th September 1983:



SWELL MAPS, PINK MILITARY The University Of London Union, 1st February 1980:



Inappropriate booking of the decade - AZTEC CAMERA supporting KILLING JOKE & UK DECAY Hammersmith Palais 23rd February 1982:



As Dave says - 5th August 1981...When £2 could buy you a whole new world:



U2 supporting the Bunnymen. Imagine that?:



Another amazing bill - THE TEARDROP EXPLODES w/Delta 5, Josef K, Fire Engines, and erm, the Thompson Twins - The Lyceum 16th November 1980

Felt - Penelope Tree

Listen (You may need to click thru if looking at in a reader):


I didn't want the world to know
That sunlight bathed the golden glow
Loneliness is like a disease
Triggers off my sense of unease
I was lonely until I found the reason
the reason was
me...
Oh, Penelope Tree
Why don't you just enter the night
why don't you just do what you like
Loneliness and all that heartache
That's something I just can't take
You've got your head on back to front
that's easy, so easy for me...
Oh that's easy for me...
You know that's easy for me...
Oh, Penelope Tree
Hey tell me why are you so scared
It's like the beginning go there
Gold mine trash seeks brave dark warrior
What are we doing
Why are we here
Why must we die?
Oh no no no, that's easy, so easy for me...

Radio New York Nostalgia

In tribute to New York City metro area radio of the late 70's-mid 80's. Here's to WPIX, WFDU, WNYU (still going strong), WLIR, and many others. These are the first sounds of discovery for me. What a feeling.

Please leave a comment if you download this playlist.

01. Fun Boy Three - The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)
02. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - The Message
03. ESG - Moody (Spaced Out)
04. Maximum Joy - Stretch
05. Tuxedomoon - No Tears
06. Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf
07. The Fall - Lie Dream Of A Casino Soul
08. Positive Noise - Positive Negative
09. Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark - Souvenir
10. A Certain Ratio - Shack Up
11. Department S - I Want
12. Fingerprintz - The Beat Escape
13. The Leisure Process - Love Cascade (Extended)
14. Bananarama - Aie a Mwana
15. Delta 5 - Mind Your Own Business
16. China Crisis - African And White
17. Rip Rig & Panic - Bob Hope Takes Risks
18. Talk Talk - It's My Life (Tropical Rainforest Mix)
19. Blue Rondo a la Turk - Klacto Vee Sedstein
20. Wide Boy Awake - Slang Teacher
21. Bush Tetras - Too Many Creeps
22. Paul Haig - The Only Truth (short)
23. Robyn Hitchcock - I Watch The Cars
24. Felt - Primitive Painters
25. Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding
26. Orange Juice - Felicity
27. Liquid Liquid - Cavern

Felt - Index vinyl

To go along with the artwork for Felt's first single, "Index," here is the vinyl - both sides! Courtesy of Unpopular's pop ephemera set on flickr.





And for those interested in such things, there is a great Felt live set available here. Its supporting the Go-Betweens at the Venue in London on Sept. 15, 1983.

Another copy of Index

Props to Unpopular for noticing the copy of Felt's "Index" that I posted a few days ago. Turns out he has a copy although his doesn't seem to be stapled.

Anyone else? Its a pretty exclusive club. Much smaller than the Blue Monday Owners Club.

Felt - Index

The above image is courtesy of the Post Punk Progressive Pop Party. It's Felt's debut single, "Index," from 1979 and is EXTREMELY rare. I've never even seen a picture of it before. Fantastic...The staples make it even better! And the lettering looks like its been done by hand which I'm sure it was. That was the golden age of DIY indie pop for sure. Here's a good article on them from our friends over at Perfect Sound Forever.

Felt - Index (MP3):

Felt - Primitive Painters

This is one boring video but as a song was definitely Felt's crowning achievement. The Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser really outdid herself in the guest vocal role here. Even if I weren't around when this song was originally out, it would still make me nostalgic. All the best music can do that...