Las Breakloose: Lost La's 1984-1986 CD

This British import collects 14 tracks worth of unrelease La's goodness.

Breakloose is a collection of songs from a time when Lee Mavers shared songwriting responsibilities with Mike Badger. Fans looking for any hints of the majesty of The La's are going to be extremely disappointed with these 14 songs. It's generally a bad sign when an album's first/title track is as weak and poorly recorded as "Breakloose (Live)." A somewhat touching song that doesn't quite succeed in reaching its somber pop destination, "Open Your Heart" is the only track that displays any hint of the greatness that was to come for the band; it actually sounds more like the Clientele than the La's, except the song in no way evokes the timeless charms found on the Clientele's Suburban Light. The remainder of the tracks on Breakloose are a combination of obvious, unfocused throwaways. "Sweet 35," "Trees and Plants," and "Red Deer Stalk" see the band making goofy stabs at finding an original sound. "Trees and Plants" has an ineffective psychedelic rockabilly feel. "Night Walk" suggests the band was attempting a Joy Division sound, but there's no soul to the song and no Martin Hannett in sight. "Get Down Over" almost works, but it's far too monotonous to call for repeat plays. "What Do You Do?" is a bit pretty but not memorable. A fan of The La's isn't going to find much to like on Breakloose. "Open Your Heart," the sole sign of the band's later direction, doesn't merit looking into other early recordings by the La's. Breakloose suggests that the La's didn't reach their glory until Lee Mavers wrestled complete control of the band. That didn't happen until after all of these songs had been recorded. ~ Tim DiGravina

What a tease. Liverpool's The La's released only one LP, 1990's exceptional The La's (with some incredible melodies, such as the undying, beloved, ever-covered, "There She Goes," as well as the equally stunning duo of "I Can't Sleep" and "Timeless Melody"), so the prospect of a whole 'nother 14 songs from unknown vaults, of earliest days, sounds tantalizing. But this turns out to be crude demos, and cruder live recordings, of a group that was barely underway. Before the great (if entirely frustrating) Lee Mavers maliciously forced his songwriting partner-and the band's frontman-Mike Badger out the door (in order to take over the singing duties and triple the tuneful quotient of the songs, both necessary, judging from Lost La's!), the original lineup was a below-average band with merely OK songs, and, most of all, an inconsequential singer about to be replaced by a stupendous one. Matched to less-than-optimal recordings, the results are beyond disappointing, approaching pointless. What story there is here is purely historical. We know the answers, we're merely searching for the questions. A few selections are keepers, despite the low-fi audio, such as "Open Your Heart," "What Do You Do," and "Trees and Plants" (and "Moonlight," with Mavers' finally, clearly discernible on backing vocals). A few others, such as "Red Deer Stalk" and especially, "My Girl Sits Like a Reindeer," were cashed in for later, much better The La's tunes with different words/lyrics, while "Get Down Over" also foreshadows the classic-pop to come. But that's being charitable. With help from new bassist John Power (who is on three songs here, so this might also entice curiosity from fans of the successful post-La's band he leads, Cast), Mavers would soon retool and remodel, jettison the pointless jams, and build on the embryonic stylistic ideas of Lost La's to make something more "timeless." He would then self-destruct in prodigious temper tantrums any time the band was ordered to record in a proper studio, even disowning The La's. He's become a cult of sullen mystery eve

Breakloose is a collection of 14 songs from a time when Lee Mavers shared songwriting responsibilities with Mike Badger. Viper. 2000.

Personnel: Mike Badger (vocals, guitar, percussion); Lee Mavers (guitar, drum