I have heard many artists and people I respect talk about Felt. Phrases like 'great' and 'brilliant' crop up with uncommon occurance. My curiosity can no longer hold out. This thread isn't so much should I buy a Felt album, it's more which Felt album do I buy.

So Felt experts (and I know there must be one or two on the board) were do I jump in? Suggest a starting point for my glorious Felt adventure and feel warm with the glow of statisfaction from a good deed done.

My recommendation would be to get Forever Breathes The Lonely Word, since it was out of print for years and has only just become available on Cherry Red in the past year.

Lawrence (who basically was Felt), had this weary-beautiful way of constructing a song that somehow managed to evoke both Dylan and The Smiths, but with gentler vocals. Felt have been favorites for me for years, though I had to make do with old cassettes for a long time.

Here's a hardcore fan's reviews

Oh, and Darrin, "A Wave Crashed On Rocks" alone is worth becoming a fan for.

Felt were kinda like "Blue Dylan Order," I guess.

So, basically, you're looking for a Felt tip?

get absolute classic masterpieces first

That's a good pick, but it has several mumbly early-80's and lo-fi tracks on it. Lawrence's singing is more tentative on the earlier work. Still good though.

There were 10 Felt releases, plus the two volumes of Absolutely Classic Masterpieces. I haven't heard them all, but still like Forever Breathes the best of what I do know. Some of the other work is all instrumental.