WHATEVER happened to Lee Mavers? After the success of “There She Goes” in 1990, the La’s singer disappeared from public view, only occasionally resurfacing: for a full La’s tour in 2005 and most recently as part of an acoustic duo in 2011, tantalisingly performing a few new songs alongside the hallowed cuts from his old band’s sole, self-titled album. In the intervening years, apocryphal tales of Mavers have come to light – that he hunted for “’60s dust” to sprinkle on studio equipment or spent years re-recording The La’s debut while simultaneously amassing piles of amazing new songs that remain, it seems, unrecorded.
The La’s formed in Liverpool in 1983. The band went through a string of members and producers as they attempted to record their debut album, driven by Mavers’ exacting, and exasperating, vision. Eventually, a frustrated record company intervened and in 1990 released a version of the album reclaimed by producer Steve Lillywhite. Although the album arrived to huge acclaim, the band instantly disowned it and Mavers vowed to never release another record.
Whatever the truth or the future, The La’s left behind a wonderful album, rich with sublime songcraft, of which “There She Goes” became the band’s biggest hit. With its guitars like church-bells, the lyrics ache with unspecified or unrequited longing – lines such as “” and “” have led to speculationheroin, something denied by former band members including Mavers.
