Don’t stop believing… Lawrence of Belgravia (2011), BFI Blu-ray, out now

 

I am completely obsessed with being famous, you know, forget these Big Brother people, I am an original I crave it more than anything else…

 

Released on Blu-ray for the first time, and previously unavailable on home media, one on the extras on this set includes the Q&A after the film’s screening at the London Film Festival in 2011 and shows Lawrence being more moved than he expected by Paul Kelly’s documentary of his life at that point. Kelly was sincere and treats his subject with the upmost respect whilst also highlighting a personality and approach that might well have contributed to his long wait for commercial success. All this said, Lawrence is a one off and someone we should celebrate, a man with a vision and who really means it (man) in a world of phoneys, sell outs and sycophants.

 

Only Lawrence could write to John Peel to ask him to return two copies of Felt’s Index single which the Liverpool-supporting legend was less than impressed with. Years later Peel told Pete Astor (ex-Weather Prophet) that he still remembered Lawrence’s response, “I’ve never had a letter as vitriolic and nasty….”  JP returned one of the singles but couldn’t find the other and so offered to cover the cost… Lawrence still has the note. He maintains that Peel’s not liking Felt was a major part in their downfall… although he kept the returned single and note. You feel the two should have got on very well given the chance but Peelie described their first album as having one of the worst titles in history and Lawrence never forgets.

 

In the indie eighties though, any listener to Peel or reader of the NME was well aware of Felt and their string of highly distinctive releases that laid the path for the post-post-punk style that wore its influence on velvet sleeves dominating the domestic underground through the C86 era. That NME compilation tape featured acts that went on to success such as Primal Scream, Wedding Present and We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It and others who were talented but stayed below the line, Bogshed, Stump and Glasgow’s legendary, The Pastels. Many still play but like most musicians, have relied on portfolio careers, often as “civilians,” to make ends meet but what is remarkable about Lawrence is that he’s still hanging in there expecting to be like his pal Bobby Gillespie who, he notes, has always avoided introducing him to Kate Moss…

Go-Kart Mozart on stage

Artistically I think we achieved what we wanted to achieve but commercially it was a disaster…

Like me, Paul Kelly first heard Felt on another classic compilation, Cherry Red’s Pillows and Prayers from 1983 which included Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt (Everything but the Girl), Thomas Leer and The Monochrome Set. Felt were quirky and atmospheric, standing out for Lawrence’s lyrics and plaintive delivery along with superb guitar from classically trained Maurice Deebank to which they added keyboards from Martin Duffy (now with Primal Scream). The band split in 1989 and Lawrence’s next project, Denim, should have been his commercial breakthrough with the excellent debut, Back in Denim a celebration of Glam Rock featuring contributions from The Glitter Band’s Pete Phipps and Gerry Shephard, and filled with wit, great hooks and a sampling of Chirpy Cheep Cheep. The critics loved them but they were swept away by far less worthy and ironic competitors of the Brit Pop explosion… many of whom also loved Felt and Denim.

This film is all about the life that Lawrence was leading though and not a history of Felt and Denim which Kelly neatly summarises with a compilation of cuttings showing gigs and reviews. It’s also something of a meditation on the craft of documentary with filming taking place over eight years to follow the debut album of Lawrence’s new project, Go-Kart Mozart (now Mozart Estate), and its launch. During that period Lawrence gets evicted from his flat in Belgravia and moves into a tower block overlooking tremendous views from Old Street across London and indeed to Paul Kelly’s flat in Shoreditch (?). There were various court cases and Lawrence was constantly harassed by the police during the period, with a single shot of medication hinting at the issue BUT the glory of this film is in the resilience, focus and ambition of its central character who would just love to be the first pensioner pop star.

The view from Old Street

I want people to like a group that you can put on the back of your jacket with pride…

Lawrence designs Go-kart Mozart to be the first B-Side band in the World but can’t help himself in producing a set of potential A-sides covering his eternal concern with bringing the past and future together. But he’s very principled and won’t use his old music, he refuses to play any Denim songs at a warm-up gig for Go-Kart in Paris and, no matter how much money might be offered, he’s adamant that You’ll never, ever, see a Felt reunion.

In Paris Lawrence was expecting a series of press interviews, Nick Kent was mentioned, but in the end it was mainly students and bloggers (bless us!) but, as Kelly says on the commentary, these  came out better for it as he was more relaxed and gives fulsome, honest, answers giving out more to help structure the discussions than he would have done under Kent’s more probing questioning.

Lawrence is asked about his relationship with Nick Gilbert who left Felt as he thought it would spoil their friendship, Lawrence doesn’t get that, and success is more important to him than friends even though, he was the only best friend I’ve ever had in my life, so it was quite a big deal… but he would do the same thing now, my friend is the band.

It’s possibly the same with romantic relationships with Lawrence saying that whilst men fall in love in a second, it’s all downhill after the opening amazement, as the everyday reality dissipates the desire. Lawrence is very self-contained and maybe choses to be the island just as he dipped in and out of Kelly’s film; he reaches out when he needs to. There’s a dignity in his discipline and a feeling that he’s being true to himself, a success on his own terms which may not have the chart placings and wealth but is still some achievement for any of us.

What we get is a series of vignettes all of which help to build up this bigger picture. Lawrence buying a new hat, giving very specific instructions to his cover designer and recording elements of the album in painstaking almost Martin Rushent style (“that’ll be one drum beat at a time, Stephen…”) – he knows what he wants which is also a triumph. We also see him in the old Haggle Records in Essex Road and there was a yelp of recognition when he points out the irony that you could never haggle on any of the stock!

No haggling vinyl paradise

When I play a record, I sit there transfixed, mesmerised… and if it’s got a lyric sheet, I’m in heaven… it’s another world you’re entering into.

We see Lawrence presenting a radio show with his list of favourites very telling, supporting St Etienne – Bob and Sarah only briefly glimpsed - and then discussing The Felt Book – a Felt fanzine Foxtrot Echo Lima Tango. Lawrence talks about the introduction from Kevin Pearce, who was helping Lawrence to do a book on the band but decided that didn’t want to delve too deep and loose the myths, or as the singer says spoil the beauty of things… Pearce remembered the band’s gig with The Smiths and Go-Betweens at the Venue, where he was impressed with their wonderful short set played in atmospheric darkness, Lawrence told him it was down to a problem with the lighting and not design. Still, that’s the band rising through adversity, impressive even if not perfect… maybe it’s hard to collaborate when someone only insists on perfection or complete control?

 

The closing long-lens shots showing Lawrence looking out across from his balcony across London from Paul’s flat reflect his singularity, and that, even amongst the endless and confusing city he still has a vision that may yet make Lawrence a “pensioner popstar”!

 

The set comes with excellent special features:

·         Feature-length audio commentary with director Paul Kelly

·         A Q&A with Paul Kelly and Lawrence after a screening at the 55th London Film Festival in 2011

·         The original trailer, alternative title sequence, deleted scenes and poetry readings: Cat Meat on Slum Street (2009) and The Tortoise (2011)

 

There’s also an Illustrated booklet with new writing by Siân Pattenden, Michael Hayden and Tim Murray, poetry by Lawrence and song lyrics, notes on the special features and credits.

 

This is with the first pressing only, so you better be quick and order from the BFI Shop and you’ll also get a limited-edition postcard signed by Lawrence himself while stocks last!

There’s also a launch screening, Q&A and signing at Rough Trade East, London E1 on Wednesday 15 June with Lawrence and director Paul Kelly, hosted by Siân Pattenden. Still some tickets available…

 

If I’d have been born in the Sixteenth Century, I’d have been fine because I would have had a patron…

 

I hear you, Lawrence!

Lawrence with Vic Goddard