Good Morning!
Today we’re listening to “Timeless Melody” by The La’s
The closer you get to perfection the closer you get to imperfection, simple as.
~Lee Mavers
Music has always been full of flawed geniuses who can sometimes spend years obsessing over a chord change, a lyric, or even a simple note. MBV's Kevin Shields is perhaps the best-known example, but it's a club with a decent-sized roster. They have cool jackets.
In 1990, Lee Mavers signed his name into the registry and took a seat near the front. The La's might've been a band formed by Mike Badger, but in reality, it was Mavers' show. And it's a wonder the show was made at all.
"I knew the songs were absolute diamonds, but getting them on tape wasn't so easy. We'd record six songs that were fantastic, but if there was one thing wrong on the seventh, [Mavers] would be convinced that everything else was terrible, and we'd have to start everything all over again."
~Producer Steve Lillywhite
Before the self-titled debut—and to date, only record— would hit the shelves, there'd be multiple studio sessions, at least seven producers, a few re-recordings, and enough drummers to make Nigel Tufnel wince.
Even before that, “Timeless Melody” was set for release as a single. Test pressings were made and sent to reviewers, with Melody Maker even giving it the nod as a single for the week… only to have it all scrapped after Mavers decided he was unhappy with the production.
All of that to have Mavers say he hated it. At stops on the promo tour, the band would tell their fans not to buy it.
Where Mavers might've seen only flaws, fans heard something else- the beginnings of Britpop. The band might be relegated to the one-hit wonder bin and Mavers to the roster of misunderstood musicians, but their legacy can be heard in the jangle of countless other bands that came after them.
That’s down to “Timeless Melody” than perhaps anywhere else on the record.
In 1966, Brian Wilson lamented that he "just wasn't made for these times."
In 1990, Lee Mavers could've said the same.
On Repeat is entirely funded by readers and made possible by paid subscribers. To support this work, click the button below and get a world of music right to your inbox three times a week.
More:
“Timeless Melody” begins in a swirl of guitar and percussion, not quite psychedelic, but enough to provoke the imagery. The song’s clutter drops to reveal the standard four-piece pop band, complete with a chorus harkening the Byrds’ Fifth Dimension era. A rocking pop song without calling on the production clichés of the day, “Timeless Melody” could have very well been as monumental a track as “There She Goes”.
Click here to read the full retrospective.
Listen:
“Timeless Melody” by The La’s | S/T, 1990
Click the record to listen on the platform of your choice.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this track!
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
P.S. Lively up your inbox! Every day The Sample forwards you a newsletter to discover. The more you use it, the better it gets at delivering what you want.
Thanks for highlighting this song - I remember hearing "There She Goes" way back then and enjoying it. I wonder if The Las made other music in the interim and simply didn't release it. It raises an interesting and tough question: at what point, as an artist, do you accept what you're hearing from other people (in this case, "that is really good, run with it") as opposed to relying solely on your own instincts? And how many other people are enough to trigger that override?
I didn’t actually know the band or the song but my jaw dropped when you mentioned, if I read correctly, that this was released in 1990.
I mean, Oasis, Blur, The Verve, and so many others owe them a A LOT. It is so timeless (if you’ll pardon the pun), that if you had shown me this and told me it was released in the late seventies, or even a couple of years ago, I would have believed you. Crazy how some tunes manage to defy time.