Tuesday, June 23, 2015

B Sides # 7 The La's

'The rain is falling. The wind is talking. The road is calling. And we're on our way.'

A very good friend of mine, who sadly I fell out with about a year ago, used to bring his singles collection round to my flat here in Newcastle sometimes and we'd sit and listen to music together, playing three choices of his then three of mine while chugging beer. Brian was all late seventies and early eighties punk and new wave. He'd often say 'oh I'll play the b-side', then regret it halfway through. Living proof that the b-side is not always better.


  
Here's a case in point. I can't totally endorse everything I post on here. This for instance! It's a five out of ten at best. Sometimes songs are b-sides with good reason. This is full of the kind of quasi-mystical, spliff inspired, dole sponsored gobbledygook that got several British Northern guitar bands through entire careers in the mid to late nineties. The La's had more talent than most but not as much as some claimed for them as this song ably demonstrates. B-side to Timeless Melody. Timeless Melody rips it apart. I've posted it above too, to demonstrate this point. The opening of Over meanwhile is oddly reminiscent of something from Camberwick Wick, a children's programme for anyone brought up in the UK in the sixties and seventies.

I'll post this for Brian, wherever he is. You can come back round and play your dodgy b-sides whenever you like. I'll get the beers in.


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