Sock Free Hideaway

BEATS OF LOVE 

140. Looking Glass by The La's

USED TO go to Liverpool Poly to catch bands occasionally. Getting there early to watch the soundcheck but when The La's played there in 1990 was a different vibe. It was already busy.

Ordinary, expectant people were milling around the bar with thick scouse accents. This was their band and with my deep monotone North Manchester accent, I was wary of speaking. After all, I'd been obsessed with most of their songs for just over a month whilst many of the crowd had lived with them for years. They were an incredible live force with a fiery spark, and the tunes were just dripping out naturally. 

Hearing from folk who'd heard Maver's demos for a follow-up album was a regular part of post-clubbing in the 90s. The stuff of legend, yet when they surfaced online decades later, they actually surpassed the crazy high expectations. Tears in the Rain slowed down, sounds sublime. The band hated their recorded output. However, despite their harsh criticism, it's still much loved. Their only album's closer, this effortlessly poetic epic helps give the band verisimilitude. Making it more resonant with age. It's the music that The Verve strove to eclipse. 

A diversion towards the experimentation and space found on the twelves, it actually states with a wholly arresting conviction that the change is cast. The change being this direct but more soulful form of expression and not the vastly inferior band Power formed in frustration at Mavers overworking the demos. Essentially, keeping him to the same songbook since 1986. The conundrum now is which version to share. Since Mavers hated the final version, other sessions and alternate takes have since surfaced. 

For today, at least, I'm going with the one that has served me longest. The one Mavers hates the most. It's still one of the best songs ever recorded.