Japanese reissue of the indie pop/ rock outfit's phenomenal1990 album with eight bonus tracks added, 'Knock Me Down', 'Endless', 'Come In Come Out', 'Who Knows', 'Man I'm Only Human', 'All By Myself', 'Clean Prophet' and '... more »There She Goes' (Original Single Version). 20 tracks total. 1998 release.« less
Japanese reissue of the indie pop/ rock outfit's phenomenal1990 album with eight bonus tracks added, 'Knock Me Down', 'Endless', 'Come In Come Out', 'Who Knows', 'Man I'm Only Human', 'All By Myself', 'Clean Prophet' and 'There She Goes' (Original Single Version). 20 tracks total. 1998 release.
K. Hernandez | Chicago, IL United States | 08/09/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Okay I remember hearing "There She Goes" when it came out and being blown away by it. I must have played the song 300 times that day. It's a song that has turned up on many soundtracks and commercials, including "So I Married An Axe Murderer", TV's "The Gilmore Girls", etc. Sixpence None the Richer covered it and committed the crime of getting some of the words wrong-shame!
Lee Mavers is a fractured genius who was hell bent on canning this album by withholding it's release until the band imploded. His aim was perfection but ended up in career suicide. He remains in Liverpool speaking Zen riddles and raising his kids, getting together to record with the old la's but never releasing anything.
One of my favorite tracks is the steady ruminating "Looking Glass". It is characterized by Mavers' singular acoustic guitar sound over a military marching beat. The song eventually samples every other track on the album as it speeds up and careens into bits with the drums toppling over and mics feeding back. Possibly the best ending to an album ever. Also eerily the story of the La's encapsulated into a few minutes. Splurge for this version with extra tracks. Anything by the La's is worth it."
Awesome
Tom | Manhasset, NY United States | 05/16/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Great album. After a few listens the whole thing will be running through your head all day. Great stuff."
Top 3 greatest non-beatle albums in the history of music
Tom | 06/25/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"there's pet sounds. there's big star. and there's this. the guy below who states that the la's are better than the beatles is off his rocker but just about everything else he says is right on. the record is 30 minutes long and i've been at it for 12 years and yet still every song sounds fresh and exciting. you absolutely can not wear it out. it sounds like everything you've ever heard before and it sounds like nothing you've ever heard before. it contains the crispest song ever recorded in "i can't sleep" (for which the strokes owe a huge debt) and it contains the simplest and sweetest love song ever recorded in "there she goes," (which, let's face it, is probably more about heroin than any heroine). 30 bucks is a lot of dough for a cd these days but this is all you're ever getting from the band and it's worth fifty times that. essential."
Special
Bryan Wilson | Lexington, MA United States | 01/24/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"i don't know if everything that's been said about lee mavers is true. all i know lies in this album. he is gifted at this music stuff. his best songs are better than anything the beatles put together, and while that may sound like blasphemy to some, and in many ways the la's owe something to mccartney and co., the fact is that this group simply does it better. the first 12 tracks (the original album) somehow refuse to get old. it's inexplicable, but it's true. the last six (b-sides) don't have the same flavor, but that may be because i'm so used to the original record. plus, "looking glass" is the greatest ending to a musical work, so it seems to ruin that powerful effect to have six more tracks following it. however, nearly each of the 18 songs has a distinct personality and is catchy as hell. and as good as the music is, the lyrics are poetic and (gasp) meaningful. of course "there she goes" is the one people remember, but don't pigeonhole them because of that. it's clear mavers' distaste for the public eye influenced his decision to never record again, and as agonizing as it is to know that i won't hear any of the likely brilliant material he's come up with in the past decade or so, i admire the man's devotion to family life and his integrity. it only adds to the band's legend and the power of this cd."