HURRAH!/FELT, FURY MURRYS, GLASGOW
Record Mirror (February 1987)
A bit like a football match this one: one half of the crowd — fringes, anoraks, orange juice — along to support the whimsical Felt: the other — DMs, pints of lager, ‘who gives a shit’ — cheering for the gritty Hurrah.
Whatever, a packed Fury Murray’s was testament to the growing popularity of these two, once ignored, groups.
Kicking off the evening, Felt were never more than mediocre. Main-man Lawrence, engagingly eccentric in interviews, proved to be startlingly ordinary in the flesh. As for his group, despite the occasional good tune (usually nicked from the Velvet You-Know-Whos) they rarely raised themselves above the level of indie drone.
High point of the set was the DJ’s attempt to play a Big Audio Dynamite record as Felt started to play an encore. A brave try. Half an hour earlier, and if it had been a New Order record, I’d have bought him a drink, Felt, Strictly Second Division; the Notts County of the pop world.
Thankfully tonight was, as they say in football-ese, ‘a game of two halves’. If you’ll allow me the boast, I first saw Hurrah six years ago. Then they were noisy, tuneful and called the Green Eyed Children.
Since then an awful lot has changed: the tunes are still there — witness the last two singles — but the passage of time has seen them develop a finely honed pop sensibility, as well as a fair degree of professionalism. (Special mention in this department for new drummer Steve Price. Definitely what you would call a groovy f**ker!)
Allying these to an impeccable set of influences — Beatles, Stones, U2(!) — and a commendable (as in, sometimes out of tune) line in harmonies, Hurrah! have developed into quite a group. God, what with their slicked hair and Paul Newman leather jackets, Taffy and Paul are beginning to look like pop stars.
Hurrah!, Like Partick Thistle, promotion certainties.
– Harry Mercer
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