02 March 2023

I get the feeling that I am responding to a call

Thursday music corner: Liverpool band The La's formed in 1983, with original band member Mike Badger later indicating that the band name referenced the Scouse phrase for 'lads'. 

After several lineup changes joined the Go! Disc label in 1987 and started the several years of recording that led to their first album, accompanied by a volatile series of band-member changes and disagreements with record producers over the sound of the album. Amidst this upheaval, the band's second single, the now-legendary There She Goes, was first released in 1988 and failed to make an impression. 

Eventually the band leader and songwriter, Lee Mavers, became thoroughly dissatisfied with the recording process, despite ending up with top-flight Simple Minds and U2 producer Steve Lillywhite working on their much-delayed debut. The La's gave up on the Lillywhite recording sessions, at which point the producer created his preferred version of the recordings, which Go! Disc released as the self-titled The La's. The album and the re-issued There She Goes went on to global success, despite the band's disgruntlement with the process by which they were created. 

The La's was the band's only studio album release. It has been accompanied by no fewer than 10 non-studio album releases, the most recent being 2021's The La's Live (1986-1987). Feelin', an insanely tuneful Beatlesque track from the debut album, stands out with an excitingly punchy brevity at a mere 104 seconds in duration.

The La's bassist John Power left The La's in 1991 to form his own group, Cast, which achieved success as a power-pop combo during the Britpop boom of the mid-1990s. There She Goes was also covered by the US Christian band Sixpence None The Richer in 1999, charting higher in the UK than the original La's recording. 

The La's - Feelin' (1990) 

See also:
Music: The La's - Doledrum (1990)
Music: Cast - Back Of My Mind (1995)
Music: Stone Roses - Waterfall (1989)

No comments: