Lawrence is the ultimate purveyor of alterity, a true eccentric. While other bands toured rigorously, Felt played very few live performances. The music of Felt disregarded all of the influences of the decade and went down its own path, making them stand out like a shining beacon amidst a vast horde of musical doppelgangers, and unfortunately leaving them in limbo, unable to surpass the cult-status they had acquired for themselves. While Felt was tender, beautiful, and reflective, Denim is the most refined form of jocular pastiche, perhaps more so than Momus even. What's more is that a good handful of the upbeat, synth-oriented, 70's inspired songs on these albums could have been radio hits in some other alternate dimension where brilliancy and genius were recognized and respected. "Summer Smash" is a better pop song than anything I've ever heard played on the radio. Always intellectually self-aware, Lawrence facetiously offers social commentary on everything from the consumption of force-fed popular music by the public, to class and social issues, to the tumultuous tidal shifts of shaky relationships, to drugs, to sex, to punk and rock 'n roll in general, and a wide variety of playful or serious off the wall topics. For Lawrence, no stone is left unturned.
Here's what this collection includes. I believe it's everything (including a rare, unreleased not quite up to par record featuring a few songs that would later appear on a Go-Kart Mozart album)
Back in Denim (1992)
Denim on Ice (1996)
Novelty Rock (1997)
Summer Smash EP (1997)
Denim Take Over (Unreleased 1998)
DOWNLOAD
Denim's video for "Middle of the Road":
