The La's - The Key (1989)

The La's were formed in 1983 by Mike Badger, existing briefly as an arthouse/skiffle-type outfit with a few tracks released on local compilations. Lee Mavers joined in 1984 as rhythm guitarist, eventually gaining songwriting prominence and emerging as the band's enduring figurehead. Bernie Nolan, accomplished musician formerly of The Falcons, The Russian Rockabillys and The Swampmen, was the original bassist, and John Power joined the group in 1986, but not long after that Badger left to form The Onset, and the group carried on as a trio. They attracted the attention of several record labels after a series of performances in their hometown in 1986, and demo tapes copied from a session at the Flying Picket rehearsal studio in Liverpool began circulating. One of these demo tapes found its way to Andy McDonald at Go Discs, and after a short bidding war they chose to sign with Go! Discs. The band's first single 'Way Out' was released in October 1987, and although it broke into the top 100 and was praised by The Smiths' frontman Morrissey in the music magazine Melody Maker, it attracted little notice from the public. The band continued to perform around the UK and gained success as a live act, drawing comparisons to The Beatles due to their origins, their vaguely Merseybeat sound, and Mavers' expressive lyrics. 'There She Goes' was released in 1988 and garnered moderate attention and airplay, but performed poorly in the charts, and a follow-up single 'Timeless Melody' was scrapped after review copies had already been sent out, as Mavers was unhappy with the production. This turned out to be an indicator of things to come, as the band then spent the next two years fruitlessly recording and re-recording their intended debut album, with a constantly changing band line-up, where only the core of Mavers and Power remained the same, and discarding producers at an alarming rate. 

The previously volatile band line-up settled in 1989 with Lee's brother, Neil Mavers on drums, and Peter "Cammy" Cammell as lead guitarist, and the band then entered London's Eden Studios in December 1989 to again record their debut album with Simple Minds and U2 producer Steve Lillywhite, but even using arguably their most stable line-up, Mavers was still not satisfied with the end results. The Eden sessions with Lillywhite would become the band's final attempt at recording the album, as the frustration of not achieving the right sound and mood in their songs, as well as increasing friction with Go! Discs, who had spent a considerable sum of money on recording sessions for the album, led to them simply giving up on the sessions. Lillywhite pieced together the recordings he had made with the group into what became the eventually released album 'The La's', and Mavers has since tried to disown it at every opportunity. However, the public had a different opinion, and when the album was eventually released in 1990 it reached No. 30 in the UK charts and received a Silver certification. It included, among new material, re-recorded versions of all the previous singles, including a remixed version of 'There She Goes', which  was then re-released as a single, and this time it reached number 13 in the UK singles chart, and remains the most visible and enduring of all the band's songs. Despite the trials and tribulations of recording their first album, the band stayed together, and in 1989 Mavers had a bunch of new songs, which he took round to Go! Discs boss Andy MacDonald's home and performed for him in his kitchen. The performance was apparently videoed, with the audio from this appearing online as a CD entitled 'The Kitchen Tapes', and although most of the songs are just Mavers and his guitar, with the occasional addition of some percussion, you can hear that these songs do have something about them, and we can only speculate on what they would have sounded like if Mavers had taken them into the studio with the rest of the band. 

Track listing

01 Robberman
02 Our Time
03 When Will I See You Again? 
04 She Came Down In The Morning  
05 Was It Something I Said?  
06 It's Impossible  
07 Tears In The Rain  
08 Over (BBC radio session 1989)
09 Go Go Daddy  
10 I Am The Key
11 Son Of A Gun (Key 103 Radio session 1989)
12 Way Out
13 I Can't Sleep