picture the scene - casually walking past the office 'wireless' (permanently tuned to radio 2 - "diff'rent ev'ry time") a pained expression of recognition attaches itself, limpet-fashion, to my face.  I pause.  initially, my ears fail to grasp the full severity of the situation I am witness to.  but then, as the normally familiar chorus kicks in, the truly awful horror of cover version hell becomes all too apparent.

now, I don't want you to think that I'm easily distressed when faced with the odd tasteless take on one of music's finer moments.  only the other week I found myself on a quest for loo rolls in the local superstore, only to be greeted by a delightfully tame 'lounge guitar interpretation' of luscious jackson's "naked eye".  this was bad but I could handle it.  I knew what to do.  I just ran!

no... this time it is something worse.  what I am currently enduring is some sweetly bland american girlie band systematically extract all that is good from one of the finest songs ever written.  the culprits?  the hideously named sixpence none the richer.   the poor defenceless wretch of a song quivering for mercy in the corner?  the la's - "there she goes!"  yes, "there she goes!"  I can see you're shocked to the core, too.

so, a few rules, then - rules that my new friends seem to have forgotten.  if you are a band with a girl singer whose saccharine, pre-pubescent vocal delivery suggests she models her lollipop-licking rock n roll attitude more on shirley temple than shirley manson, what style of song would you attempt to cover?  perhaps a delicate folk-stylee ditty about roses or, perhaps, a shoe-gazing epic about how one of the big boys stole her book of confessional poetry.  you do not take a perfectly good, emotionally resilient song written by a guitar toting genius from liverpool and subject it to such foul humiliation.  there are some things that you... just... don't... do!

when I eventually discovered who these young tykes were, it all began to fit.  these were the same outfit who inflicted upon us the delightfully unpleasant "kiss me" - a song I first misheard as being the singer's invitation to "strike at the band...and kick me."  if only they really were the lyrics - an irresistible offer!

stop press - nme share my view shocker.  read about it here.

with only a clutch of singles and an eponymously titled album to remember them by, the la’s were one of the most influential and highly rated bands to come out of liverpool in the late 80’s. led by gifted but difficult songwriter, lee mavers, they made a distinctive brand of harmonious jangle pop that echoed the hollies and the beatles at their best. mavers’ songs were short bursts of pure songwriting genius - perfectly structured gems. such was mavers’ desire to make the perfect record that he frustrated both record company and producer to the extent that the label lost patience and decided to issue the album “unfinished.”  the result? the most finished-sounding “unfinished” record in music.

however, after some pretty serious touring, the band didn’t last too long and disbanded in the early 90’s. mavers returned to liverpool and continues to write perfect two minute pop songs. if the stories are true, his best work remains unrecorded.
other band members went on to new musical pursuits. bassist john powers picked up his acoustic guitar, wrote some songs himself and formed cast; thereby achieving greater commercial success than the la’s ever managed.

local trivia - lewis' home-grown version of the la's, astrid, have expressed strong admiration for mavers' songwriting skills and have even been known to cover the odd la's song in their live set.