The La’s - The La’s (1990)
A week of one-album wonders
One hundred years from now–if we make it that long, I suppose, but I still like our chances–there might well be songs from this era passed down to posterity, and I’d be willing to bet one of those songs will be The La’s There She Goes, if only because it will have been lodged in one or another person’s head that whole time. Commercially, the Sixpence None The Richer version was probably a bigger hit, but either way it’s still one of those songs that nearly everyone has been exposed to.
Even given all that, I was surprised while finally listening through the whole album at how varied and well-executed it is.
The band is from Liverpool, and I imagine you get run out of town on a rail if you don’t try at least a bit to sound like the Beatles. They do, but there’s some Stones, some Kinks, and more modern Britpop mixed in.
Each song is a bit different, but each is a well-honed pop rock gems. If anything, they’re maybe a bit too well-honed. Nearly all of the tracks clock under three minutes, with quite a few closer to two minutes. They end up sounding like snippets rather than songs in places. You could dislike that, or you could compare it to, say, peak-rock-god-era Oasis and think maybe brevity isn’t the worst thing.
That perfectionist-driven brevity was a curse as well as a blessing. The record took roughly four years to record and finish to the band’s satisfaction, and there was never a follow-up.
The point I want to leave you with is that this is a record worthy of listening all the way through, even though you can easily just play the big single and move on.
Tracks I Liked
deep cuts that are just as much worth your time as the single:
I Can’t Sleep - a nervous and wiry rocker
Liberty Ship - acoustic but still rockin
Doledrum - the one that I thought sounded like the Kinks
IOU - a great shuffle beat
