Who is Lawrence and why did Will Hodgkinson write a whole book about him?

There’s something romantic about glorious failure and Will nails it perfectly in ‘Street Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence’. Over 40 years plagued by bad luck and self-sabotage with Felt, Denim and Mozart Estate, Lawrence has pursued fame and success while refusing to do what’s required to achieve them. Will spent 12 months wandering the streets of London with him to paint a fond, touching and extremely entertaining portrait of the worst-equipped pop star attempting a comeback, a man on a holy, monastic mission in a book about “sacrifice and the price of a dream”. Among many highlights here, we talk about … … where Lawrence fits in the pantheon of great underachievers like Syd Barrett, Nick Drake and Arthur Lee. … and his similarity to Kevin Shields and Kevin Rowland. … the wisdom of a former girlfriend: “stop trying to be the pop star you don’t want to be and you might get somewhere”. … is lack of success the central dream of the indie world?   … why Denim were Britpop before Britpop happened and why EMI melted down all copies of their last single. … his rules before the book began - “No anecdotes, no interviews with former members of Felt …” … what his stalker planned to get his attention. … fantasy girlfriends and “a fear of cheese”. … why he didn’t go to his mother’s funeral. … and why Truman Capote’s portrait of Marlon Brando, the Duke and His Domain, was a touchstone for this book. Order ‘Street Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence’ here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Level-Superstar-Lawrence-Will-Hodgkinson/dp/1785120220Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Om Podcasten

Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.