Felt were the ultimate cult band of the Eighties and Primitive Painters was the finest moment for their cerebral jangle pop.

For a time about 45 years ago, and through much of the ’80s, Felt were going to be massive and Lawrence – just ‘Lawrence’ – was going to be a superstar.

God knows he tried: critics loved his records, ten albums and ten singles in the first ten years with Felt, and they loved his next band, Denim.

Right up to the time they put out a single called Summer Smash in the summer of 1997 – just before Princess Diana died in one of her own, and all copies were destroyed.

Felt’s high point, of which there were many, is probably acknowledged by most fans to be this song, Primitive Painters.

Released in 1984, it captures their signature sound of jangling dual guitars, inspired by Lawrence’s musical idol Tom Verlaine, produced by Robin Guthrie with backing vocals by his Cocteau Twins partner Liz Fraser.

His vocals retain something of Verlaine’s signature yelp, filtered through the phrasing of Lou Reed, and his guitar interplay with Maurice Deebank is reminiscent at times of the interwoven magic of Television’s two guitarists.

Lawrence – still just ‘Lawrence’ – is now the subject of a new biography by Will Hodgkinson, music critic of The Times, painting him as “Britain’s most eccentric cult star.”

Following him for a year as he attempts to escape obscurity and poverty, it depicts him as “the greatest pop star who never made it” (I thought that was ‘Sugar Man’ Rodriguez), due to a combination of bad luck and self-sabotage.

If it generates fresh interest in Felt, then perhaps it will succeed in making Lawrence a little less impoverished and obscure.