Felt – Primitive Painters

Thanks Churchpope for that tidbit. Did not know that. So to add to that, the original B-side to Primitive Painters was a re-recorded version of Cathedral with none other than John Leckie producing. He did such an amazing job on The Strange Idols Pattern. Unfortunately, this is no great revelation. Leckie is quite interesting. He engineered stuff for three of the Beatles when starting out, working for various producers (or something like that). Then I think Lawrence became familiar with him through his production for Be-Bop Deluxe, Bill Nelson's band, something I've never gotten into. Leckie would produce amazing albums for the Stone Roses (Their first one, the amazing b-sides, and do a lot of the basic tracks for the second album but gave up when he couldn't bring it in on budget because Brown and Squire were wanking around), the first Verve album, The second Radiohead album,The Bends, and from there the list could go on forever. He's an amazing producer, and he did the best production for the first iteration of Felt with Maurice Deebank with the Strange Idols Pattern. (Although John A Rivers did some amazing stuff too.) Just a perfect album. (Be careful and try to get original pressings of all the Felt albums and EP's. Lawrence went and screwed with them and ruined some. He ruined The Pictorial Jackson Review by swapping out two Martin Duffy songs for what are almost demos, and he dropped Crucifix Heaven from one pressing of The Strange Idols Pattern. Did he want to not give the publishing to Duffy and Deebank? Who knows. But although he took great care with his remastered vinyl (Kevin Shields who made a pure fully analog remaster of his first two Creation albums mentions Lawrence as the only other person he has come across also trying to make pure analog remasters in one interview.)

Liz Fraser does appear on a re-recorded version of Fortune that I know of from Gold Mine Trash that blows away the original version from their debut album. John A Rivers produced it and it's one of the best things they ever committed to vinyl. Get a copy of the Gold Mine Trash compilation on vinyl, but make sure it's from 1987. The later copies sound too bright to my ears. No idea when that was actually recorded, John A Rivers makes it into a masterpiece and Liz Fraster is perfect. Gold Mine Trash is the compilation to hear the Cherry Red singles and rarities. Pair that with Creation's Bubblegum Perfume, the ten albums, and the EPs on Creation, along with the singles for Penelope Tree and Primitive Painters from Cherry Red and you're all set. Anything else isn't worth the price and can be downloaded or streamed or whatever. Trust me when I say you will live without the alternate takes of Something Sends Me To Sleep and Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow on the singles. Gold Mine Trash has the singles you need and any alternate takes. And Bubblegum Perfume is awesome, but you should still get the Space Blues EP and The Final Resting of the Ark Eps. The B-sides to the Rain of Crystal Spires EP are on Bubblegum Perfume, but it's nice to have an original pressing. It does sound better. Hope this helped someone else about the confusing Felt catalog. Remember, get the original pressings on vinyl, not the remastered versions. You'll never know how amazing The Pictorial Jackson Review is if you get the second version with that omits The Darkest Ending and Sending Lady Load. The A-Side was perfect and he spread the 8 tracks over two sides and added two random songs, already released under different names (a lame version of Tuesday's Secret that pales in comparison to the version already released on Space Blues and Jewels in the Crown which I think was released as Ape Hangars on a Denim single or comp.) The one exception is the Ignite the Seven Canons. Lawrence stripped off a lot of the nonesense production overkill by Robin Guthrie so you can hear the songs. But it's not some stunning revelation although it is an improvement.

The B side, Cathedral, is a re recording of the track of the same name from the first LP ‘Crumbling The Antiseptic Beauty’. It was originally intended to be part of a four track 12” EP called Cathedral Lights which was advertised in mail order listings around 1984 but which never surfaced. I’m guessing that it was made up of re recordings of four vocal tracks from the first LP as Fortune had earlier come out on the B side of Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow, although I don’t know for sure what the other two tracks were.

No test pressings or artwork have ever come to light so the release might not have got beyond the ideas stage.

New Cherry Red 10inch release needs adding to discogs. Clear vinyl ltd edition includes postcard signed by Lawrence

Felt's greatest moment, by far. Courtesy of Elizabeth and Robin from the Cocteau Twins. A superb track

Cathedral is an alternate version, not the same track from Crumbling.

My version of this release has a French insert and printed in France.