The La's are probably the biggest example of "what could've been" in the world of popular music. Between Lee Mavers' entry into the group in 1984, and their subsequent breakup in 1992, they released a grand total of one album and four singles, not counting a re-release of their most well known song "There She Goes", remixed by Steve Lillywhite in 1990. And yet, they've recorded so much more than what their sole eponymous album suggested, including B-sides.
Looking at the sessions for the twenty songs recorded and re-recorded between July 1987 and February 1990, I've noticed that out of these eight sessions, there were three that had enough material each to be its own album, with producers Bob Andrews (July and August 1988), Mike Hedges (April 1989) and Steve Lillywhite (December 1989 to February 1990). The last of these makes up the album we all recognize today, but for this post, as the title suggests, I'm basing it on what might've happened had they released their debut album about two years earlier, with Bob Andrews taking on the George Martin role, and putting Lee Mavers in his place as opposed to letting his perfectionism get the better of him.
I've retitled this album Callin' All, as was believed to be the original title for the album before it was changed to simply The La's.
Side A (18:02)
1. Son of a Gun - 2:01 [Callin' All, 2-11]
2. I Can't Sleep - 2:25 [Callin' All, 2-10]
3. Callin' All - 3:39 [Callin' All, 2-9]
4. Man I'm Only Human - 4:34 [Callin' All, 1-9]
5. There She Goes - 2:29 [Callin' All, 1-6]
6. Doledrum - 2:54 [Lost Tunes]
Side B (19:20)
7. Feelin' - 1:53 [The La's - Deluxe Edition, 2008]
8. Way Out - 2:53 [Lost Tunes]
9. Clean Prophet - 2:02 [The La's - Deluxe Edition, 2008]
10. Who Knows - 3:30 [Callin' All, 1-7]
11. Come In, Come Out - 2:13 [Callin' All, 1-8]
12. Looking Glass - 6:49 [Callin' All, 2-12]
With Bob Andrews in the producer's seat, fourteen songs were recorded; seven were eventually included on the final album with Steve Lillywhite, while two others ("Freedom Song" and "Failure") are believed to be lost. The remaining five songs - "Come In, Come Out", "Who Knows", "Man I'm Only Human", "Clean Prophet" and "Callin' All" - are therefore brought in to fill the gaps. The official album is 35 minutes long, so it doesn't take much to bring up the album to a similar length.
Out of the replacement tracks, "Callin' All", "Clean Prophet" and "Who Knows" were all debuted during the Bob Andrews sessions. "Timeless Melody" was first tried out back in July 1987 with John Porter, but was never recorded with Andrews, and the oldest recordings of "I.O.U." and "Freedom Song" that we have are with Mike Hedges from April 1989, which are outside the timeframe we want to work with.
"Man I'm Only Human" and "Come In, Come Out" both debuted a little earlier in January 1988 with John Leckie as producer. The former was not re-recorded following Andrews, whereas the latter was with Hedges and Lillywhite, but that didn't make the final track listing either. "Failure" is another song from the John Porter era, and was later recorded with Jeremy Allom and Mike Haas as producers between January and April 1989. "Liberty Ship" seems to be the youngest song recorded for The La's, with the Hedges recording being lost, when it was first tried out.
Is Callin' All really the album Lee Mavers wanted to go for back in 1988? Probably not. He seemed to be his own worst enemy when it came to bringing the songs he envisioned to life, eventually leading to the La's' debut album being released against his own will, and to this day, he's yet to release any new music. However, I'd imagine that if someone had knocked him down a peg, and even told him to restrain both his ego and perfectionism, Callin' All could've come out sooner, and the band wouldn't have to just rely on single releases, and they might have the material ready for a second album, possibly for a 1991 release. Maybe this is the path that could've been this whole time?
As a matter of fact, this is how I feel their discography might have gone:
- "Way Out" b/w "Knock Me Down" and "Endless" - 1987; produced by Gavin MacKillop
- "There She Goes" b/w "Come In, Come Out" - 1988; produced by Bob Andrews
- Callin' All - 1988; produced by Bob Andrews
- "All by Myself" b/w "Failure" - 1989; produced by Jeremy Allom and Mike Haas
- "Timeless Melody" b/w "I.O.U." and "Freedom Song" - 1989; produced by Mike Hedges
- "There She Goes" b/w "Liberty Ship" - 1990; produced by Steve Lillywhite
And yeah, I do have "There She Goes" re-released much like what happened in real life, but the Lillywhite mix is iconic in its own right, so I'd imagine that this is a similar situation to the Beatles' "Love Me Do" and "Let It Be" having different mixes between the single and album versions. Besides, we've already got a different mix of "Way Out" being released in 1987, so why not? And as a bonus, I've even put together a second disc compiling these leftover tracks, along with a track that was only recorded live for the BBC, that I've titled There She Goes:
Side A (18:05)
1. Way Out (Original Single Mix) - 2:43 [Callin' All, 1-1]
2. Knock Me Down - 3:15 [Callin' All, 1-2]
3. Endless - 3:09 [Callin' All, 1-3]
4. All by Myself - 5:53 [Callin' All, 1-16]
5. Failure - 3:05 [Callin' All, 2-13]
Side B (17:55)
6. Over (Live) - 4:47 [BBC in Session]
7. Timeless Melody - 3:07 [The La's - Deluxe Edition, 2008]
8. I.O.U. - 2:05 [The La's - Deluxe Edition, 2008]
9. Freedom Song - 2:43 [Callin' All, 2-16]
10. There She Goes (1990 Lillywhite Remix) - 2:42 [The La's]
11. Liberty Ship - 2:31 [The La's]
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