Absolute Classic Masterpieces [Import]

Felt (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 31, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Cherry Red UK
• ASIN: B0000242OF
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,652 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #60 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Alternative Folk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I Found The Reason, July 28, 2002

By 

William Name (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Absolute Classic Masterpieces (Audio CD)

Felt made 10 albums and 10 singles in the 1980s. "Absolute Classic Masterpieces" contains a selection of 16 songs from the Cherry Red years. The album actually contains 18 tracks. "Index" was Felt's first single - really a solo recording by Lawrence (Felt's founder and frontman) - released on Shanghai Records in September 1979, and "Dance of Deliverance" is taken from guitarist Maurice Deebank's 1984 solo album "Inner Thought Zone." Neither one deserves more than a cursory listening. Of the 16 other recordings, only four are otherwise unavailable on CD: "Something Sends Me To Sleep," "Trails of Colour Dissolve," "Penelope Tree," and "Fortune." The rest of the tracks can be found on the Cherry Red studio albums. But as luck would have it, these are four of Felt's finest songs, all written around the time of the magnificent and ethereal debut album "Crumbling The Antiseptic Beauty" (1982).
"Something Sends Me To Sleep" is a four-track demo recorded for Mike Always's Cherry Red Records in 1981. Its funky off-kilter rhythm, impenetrable lyrics - all half-whispered sub-symbolist gibberish - and archetypal lo-fi production make it a gem of the postpunk, pre-New Romantic period in Britain. Apparently, around this time Mark E. Smith accused Felt of ripping off the Velvet Underground, but Lawrence and the band were more influenced by Wire, Subway Sect, Television, and Smith's own band The Fall. Deebank's classically-trained guitarwork has not yet, for example, degenerated into the frilly arpeggios and excessive soloing that pops up on later Cherry Red recordings.
Recorded the same year as the first album, but presumably while Deebank was on holiday, "Trails Of Colour Dissolve" consists only of Lawrence on guitar and vocals, drummer Gary Ainge on bongos, and producer John Rivers on synth bass. Like The Beatles' "Ballad of John and Yoko" (which featured only John and Paul), the song makes a virtue of artistic simplicity. The maniacal tempo and hallucinatory lyrics more than compensate for the absence of heavy production and endless guitar odysseys.
"Penelope Tree" takes its name from the 1960s fashion model. Recorded in early 1983, before bands like The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, and The Jesus & Mary Chain helped urge the British independent music scene towards a reassessment of the `60s, the song has nothing to do with the period or the model, according to Lawrence. Like the previous single, it's also missing Deebank, and perhaps for that reason, remains one of Felt's most finely executed, if overlooked, songs. (Deebank's shining moment, "Primitive Painters" - the music was entirely written down before Lawrence even touched it - gets trotted out as the acme of Felt's achievement, but their lasting impact will doubtless be the rougher, less-produced tracks).
"Fortune" was originally written and recorded for the band's debut album, but this version is a re-recording done in 1984 as a b-side for "Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow." Gone is the earlier charm of barely audible singing and tinny guitars, but in its place Lawrence puts in one of his most heartfelt vocal performances, and Deebank is back with a finely contained exposition of his skill at producing layered and dense musical atmosphere. If Felt had a capsule philosophy (which of course, they do not) it is to be found here: "and wisdom is your virtue/ I hear them all scream/ led away to their own fate/ believe in your dreams."
The quality and uniqueness of these four tracks - as well as a handful of others - more than make up for some fairly notable weaknesses in track selection and order. It's a pity "Goldmine Trash" has been deleted from the Cherry Red catalogue, as it includes all the best tracks found on "Absolute Classic Masterpieces," while excluding the weaker ones. (The only exception is Stuart Murdoch's beloved "The World Is As Soft As Lace," also available on "The Splendour Of Fear"). It should be noted, by the way, that not all the singles from the Cherry Red label are included on this compilation. "Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow" is the album version, not the hard-to-find single version with Ivor Raymonde-style - albeit cheap - string section. Similarly, neither "Mexican Bandits," the double A-side with "The World Is As Soft As Lace," nor "My Face Is On Fire," the A-side to "Trails Of Colour Dissolve, are included.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Remebering Felt, August 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Absolute Classic Masterpieces (Audio CD)

The beauty of reissues is that one can always go back and catch up on an artist one might have missed the first time around. For those lucky/wise enough to have picked up on Felt when they were one of the better British bands around in the 80's, this 18 song CD is a good one to own and enjoy. To be considered a "classic" band, that band's best material has to stand the test of time and sound as original and timeless as it did when it was released. Throughout most of this CD, that is the case.

By the time Felt left the Cherry Red label, they were just hitting their stride, and subsequent albums done for Creation ("Let the Snakes Crinkle Their Heads to Death," "Pictoral Jackson Review") are my personal favorites. My all-time favorite Felt song, "Primitive Painters," is the first track on this CD and was originally the standout track on their "Ignite the Seven Cannons" album. From there, the CD traces the band in reverse chronological order, the last track being Lawrence's "Index" single, and the first song released under the Felt name. Although historically significant as the acknowledged starting point of the band, it's a raw and relatively inconsequential track compared to what came next (or before when referring to the CD sequence.) All of the Cherry Red singles are included, all of them are interesting, some of them are simply brilliant. Lawrence's deadpan/semi-mumbled (thank goodness lyrics are included) vocals, Maurice Deebank's majestic guitar playing, Martin Duffy's keyboards, and a good dose of assistance from an ever revolving supporting cast render the Felt catalog worthy of repeated listenings. Spacey, spacious, cyptic, enchanting, and hypnotic are the best words I can use to describe the band and this compilation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with value, September 13, 2000

By 

Jay Hagstrom (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Absolute Classic Masterpieces (Audio CD)

Felt seems to have an unusual way of overlapping their offerings. This record is chock full of Felt non-hits. I say "non-hits" because saying "I will die, with my head in flames" is sort of... dramatic. The lyrics are somewhat tongue-in-cheek I would gather. But I always get a chuckle and the music always makes me tap my foot. There is so much music here. When I first bought a Felt release I thought "sheesh, this is sure expensive." But now I know that the hefty price is worth it... If you're into this sort of thing. If you like Belle & Sebastian... Just go buy it.