Bido Lito!

All aboard the Liberty Ship.

I’m a latecomer to The La’s, me. Being born in 1988 just two years after their debut (and so far only) album was released, it took me a while to finally get on to this oft-referenced colossus of Liverpool music. Some might think such tardiness in musical epiphany a crime but in fairness when you’re working your way through a back catalogue of 80 years of recorded music a band with a discography consisting of just one album shouldn’t be a priority. Well, that’s what I thought anyway.

Giving The La’s a spin for the first time is a genuine time travel moment, not in that random Back to the Future style though, as it specifically avoids anywhere shit. Only 60s-styled Beatle-tinged guitars and the best aspects of 90s Britpop are permitted to provide the supporting cast to Lee Mavers’ trademark timeless Scouse whine. Beautifully folk-esque plucked guitars throughout give you that irrepressible imagery of the tide and is just one of the features perpetuating an incredibly Liverpool feel about the record. More than that it has the unmistakeable signs of brilliantly crafted song writing all over it, all beautiful seamed vocals and homely rhythms – it’s a masterclass in musicianship.

That’s perhaps why it is as regularly referenced as one of the biggest influences in British music. Numerous journalists have cited the La’s debut in reviews and this is because if no band had released an album like it before they’ve certainly been trying since. The level of genius required for a group to release just one album and still go down in history is staggering, but lead singer Lee Maver’s well documented reclusive nature combined with a level of perfectionism which is rumoured to border mental illness don’t bode well for a successor.

So, the problem is when you hit the bottom of this record, you know that’s it, the end of the La’s. No amount of scrolling through Spotify’s plentiful remastered live sessions and half-finished album cut offs can fill that hole. The feeling generated by the La’s break up is as resonant in 2011 as it was in 1991; heartbreaking. One can only hope that Messrs Mavers and Powers can one day reunite to release what would be the most anticipated sophomore album in the history of Liverpool (maybe even British) music. Now that would be sound, la.