Of all the great injustices in the history of pop music, surely one of the greatest is the fact that 99% of people in the world only know the La's for "There She Goes". Of course, if you're only going to be known for one song you could do far worse than that, but it only begins to hint at the depth and quality of the music the La's produced in their relatively short career. Their lone studio album is a cracker from start to finish; all their b-sides were as good as their a-sides and even the complete throwaway tracks that have surfaced since they acrimoniously self-imploded are better than almost anything else you'll hear all year. If you were one of those who dismissed them on the basis of their one radio hit, well, it's your loss.
I also give the La's credit for helping me shake off my stubborn prejudice against band reunions. I'd refused to go to them for years and years, but when the La's came through Dublin in 2005 it took me all of three minutes to realise I would never forgive myself for missing them. So I went and it was so close to perfect, I nearly cried.
Here they are live in London, in 1989.
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