La's

The melody always finds me

Whenever the thought reminds me

Breaking a chain inside my head

The melody chord unwinds me

The rhythm of life unties me

Brushing the sand of time away

Timeless melodies, or the secret that made practically immortal what goes by the name of britpop, a movement that gathered under its wing (among many others) the celebrated Oasis, Blur, Verve, Suede and Pulp, and whose founding influences included Sixties icons like Beatles, Kinks and Small Faces, not only in terms of the sound chosen by many of these bands, but also in everything that mod subculture had represented. It was precisely from the hometown of the legendary Fab Four that, as the Nineties dawned, a major influence on that movement arrived, with the release of the debut - destined to remain a one-off - of a project born in 1983 out of Mike Badger's initiative, left to mature three years later in the hands of singer/guitarist Lee Mavers and bassist John Power: La's.

The band's sound draws freely from the luminous jangle pop tradition studded with harmonies and chiming guitars, from the spirited sixties made in Uk tradition, and above all from skiffle-rooted memories, that is, a folk(-blues) style played on improvised instruments that was popular in the Fifties, in the period preceding the so-called British Invasion. These ingredients, skilfully blended with just the right dose of nostalgia and nimble, sharp lyrics, allowed the quartet to craft an excellent, timeless recipe. "The La's" hit record store shelves in October 1990, after three long years of complicated, obsessive gestation and numerous line-up changes, all down to Mavers' excessive perfectionism. The steady, patient hand of Steve Lillywhite (as well as those of Bob Andrews and Mark Wallis) on production wouldn't be enough to satisfy either him or the other members, who, after having Go! Discs burn through a fortune in recording sessions, would end up disowning the result.

If you want I'll sell you a life story

About a man who’s at loggerheads with his past all the time

He’s alive and living in purgatory

All he’s doing is rooming in hotels and scooping up lots of wine

As simple as it is effective, what immediately enchants the listener with its acoustic guitar riff is the unmistakable intro of "Son Of A Gun", where it's clear right away that the light melodies act as a counterweight to lyrics with far more complex, at times ironic, shades than they first appear. Paranoia and insomnia take centre stage alongside beat airs à-la Kinks in the spirited "I Can't Sleep", while the core concept of what would come to be defined as "britpop" in years to come lies in the title of the following track, "Timeless Melody". Morrissey-esque in intent as much as in style, the track flaunts raw guitar riffs set against passages with a psychedelic flavour, far removed from the madchester mood of Happy Mondays and Stone Roses (other pivotal pieces in shaping the Cool Britannia landscape). The Beatles-esque "Liberty Ship" lives up fully to the word "tuneful", being essential, clean and catchy, almost entirely carried by vocals, acoustic guitar and bassline, and even including hints of the earliest Who, echoes of "My Generation".

The ultimate emblem of the pop song par excellence, as well as the ideal bridge between the past, represented by the decline of the Eighties, and the new decade, belongs to "There She Goes". Inspired by the Velvet Underground's "There She Goes Again" by the Velvet Underground, it would drive Eric Clapton, Benjamin Gibbard, Noel Gallagher (who counts it among his all-time favourite songs) and many others absolutely wild, concealing the theme of drug addiction behind the seeming story of unrequited love. The clever "Doledrum" instead plays on the multiple meanings of its title, a possible nod to a depressive state, an economic crisis, and also a nautical term, riding on a frantic Sixties folk-blues that recalls Bob Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home" and, in part, the Yardbirds.

I get the feeling

I am responding to a call

I am receiving

To give you this meaning

Music as a calling, and songs interpreted as genuine “calls” from above, are the linchpin of the driving riffs poised between bluesy and jangle touches on “Feelin'”, followed by “Way Out”, a remake of the band's very first single released in 1987, which winks at Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, and whose cheap Super 8 video boasted a budget of just 50 pounds. The dynamic guitar lines of the ode to collective responsibility “I.O.U.” fly by in a flash, followed by the grotesque, blues-stomping gait of “Freedom Song”, which at times recalls the Stray Cats, the brooding “People Are Strange” by the Doors, and the harmonica of the frenzied “Failure”, which veers off in a Bo Diddley direction.

The long, grand finale, after a string of blasts almost all clocking in under three minutes, is reserved for the many psychedelic facets reflected in the shattered mirror of the intricate “Looking Glass”, whose enigmatic lyrics, written by Mavers on his twenty-second birthday, sound like a final farewell. The song's protagonist appears disoriented in the wake of a change and is searching for his path, provided he can come to terms with the past: “So the story goes it/ Everybody knows it/ Look into the past/ We can't live without it/ We can't live within it/ Everything must pass/ The change is cast…”. This last word is repeated several times throughout the verses, and another probably coincidental but noteworthy detail is that, within a couple of years, the name of the post-La's project founded by John Power would be none other than Cast.

Mavers and co.'s journey has in fact already reached its end, and the rest is history: the album is a solid success but fails to break through overseas, will be reassessed for its pivotal role in hindsight, and the brief promotional tour culminates with Power's departure in December 1991. From that point on, despite the bassist's return in 2005, all that remains are compilation releases and archival material, plus a handful of live shows up to 2011.

Across its thirty-five minutes, which vanish in the blink of an eye and demand a second listen, then a third, and many more after that, the bittersweet, sixties-tinged melancholy of “The La's” stands as an unmistakable influence on the britpop that followed (even though the band was never part of that movement, which wouldn't emerge until 1992-93): its ideas were quickly absorbed by the likes of Oasis and Charlatans, a legacy carried forward by the indie-rock of Libertines and Courteeners, and which continues to this day with the pop of The 1975 and similar acts.

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25/02/2024