But I am not yet in stride with this blog. It needs a kick start. I lost it a while back, the momentum. What can I write that others will even care to read? Well, for a start I can remind everyone of what I (and you certainly) have learned in this life: it does no good to dwell on such questions.

Lee Mavers and the La’s give this blog another kick start with “Feelin’” from a 1990 BBC session. A short testimony of terrified, elated inspiration. From Lee to you.

The La’s: Feelin’ (1990 BBC Radio session)

Photos: Jonathan Perry

Catbirdman’s ultimate hero, Lee Mavers, appears to have poked his head out his door – Open the Door! – this past May, and photographer Jonathan Perry was there to take some pictures. In lieu of new music, then, we have a reminder of what might have been, again…

Last I heard, Lee was still trying to get his guitar in tune. It hasn’t yet reached perfect dogstar velocity, or whatever it is he calls it when he gets the universe in tune. Flying in the face of chaos theory, Lee put out some perfect pop gems in the late ’80s, though if he had his way none of them would have come out. They weren’t perfect enough. As if anyone could pick the bones out of “There She Goes.”

It seems fitting to litter this post with scraps. Here’s a song that Lee left unfinished, called “I Am The Key.” It falls in the tradition of those Mavers songs where a cosmic concern is personified by the transcendent power of a singer in a rock and roll band. “I am the toiler of the old ship-slave.” “I’m in everybody / everybody’s in me.” “I am the key.” “Man, I’m only Human.” And so on. Spoon saw fit to cover this song, and while it doesn’t stray far from the patchy blueprint of the original, it’s a nice rarity.

The La’s: I Am The Key (Tim Grundy Key 103 Session)
Spoon: I Am The Key

Here’s another taste of what a second La’s album might have sounded like: a 1989 rehearsal of a song called “Tears In The Rain.” Contrast it with the 1986 demo version and you can see how Mavers reinvented it almost from scratch. Neither version is up to par sonically, but then nothing is, in the mind of Lee Mavers.

The La’s: Tears In The Rain (1989 Rehearsal)
The La’s: Tears In The Rain (1986 Rehearsal)

Finally, to do Mr. Mavers some justice, here’s a song that actually made it onto the airwaves of the public, into the ears of the masses, all stamped with a barcode and everything. I bought mine over the counter. It’s one of the tracks that producer Steve Lillywhite got right all those years ago, on the La’s self-titled album with the bewildering eyeball on the front. Enjoy now the irresistable shuffle and the inspirational, emancipational lyric of “Liberty Ship.”

The La’s: Liberty Ship

We lost an hour this weekend, but it felt like ten hours. The big black bear was lumbering, lolling out on the mountaintop this weekend, and found time for a catnap, but none for this blog. So, in the interest of quick content, I throw all journalistic integrity (good thing I’m not a journalist) out the window right now as I recycle myself. This little blurb comes from Facebook, so it may be a repeat for some of you. It’s the inevitable top ten. More reliable even than the backlash that follows them is the perpetuity of the simple “top ten” list. Grumble if you must, but I thought they worked rather well in “High Fidelity,” and after all, many of us do order our lives this way, at least subconsciously. So, here are the top ten albums that influenced me as a fan and musician, and along with each choice is an mp3. Please enjoy, and, oh yes, please do share your top ten.

TEN
Pink Floyd The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Simply nuts. The only (semi-)coherent body of work we ever got out of Syd Barrett, and it’s a kaleidoscope of strange characters and bicycle parts. It’s the sheer invention that gets me.
Pink Floyd: Bike (mono version)

NINE
Deerhoof The Runners Four
There have been so many solid albums of the recent ‘Aughts, but this is the only one that I can say without hesitation is a GIANT, and I suspect will remain so for years to come. Again, it’s sheer invention.
Deerhoof: Running Thoughts

EIGHT
Bob Dylan Oh Mercy
I could have easily put Desire, Street Legal, Blonde On Blonde, or 5-6 others on this list, but I chose this reawakening from the ’80s, mainly for its post-Gospel soul searching and reverberation.
Bob Dylan: Ring Them Bells

SEVEN
American Music Club Mercury
Almost single-handedly put me on the wrong track mentally for 15 years, and convinced me that it was all too beautiful for words. Now that’s powerful stuff. Drugs schmugs.
American Music Club: I’ve Been A Mess

SIX
Neil Young Tonight’s the Night
One of the most harrowing and foggiest tributes to departed friends ever put to tape. This is what it sounds like when a caring man tries to stop caring.
Neil Young: Mellow My Mind

FIVE
The Innocence Mission Birds Of My Neighborhood
The most beautiful album I own, and the purest, most humble music it is possible for humans to make. The kind of music that gives me chills even after the 100th listen.
The Innocence Mission: The Lakes Of Canada

FOUR
Tindersticks Tindersticks (second album)
The persona that Stuart Staples brings to this exquisite music — ragged, classy, world-weary, wise in hindsight — soak through the listener’s experiences like scotch through ice.
Tindersticks: Tiny Tears

THREE
My Bloody Valentine Loveless
The aural equivalent to a painting with thick oils that look slightly different at different angles and in different light. The bent sound thrills me every time. “11″ isn’t loud enough for this album.
My Bloody Valentine: Soon

TWO
The Beach Boys SMiLE
This is hands-down the finest and most evocative body of music to come out of the collective pyschedelic dream of 1966. Tells the story of America in visual puns, and ventures into an elemental side-trip like a koan.
The Beach Boys: Cabin Essence

ONE
The La’s The La’s
The official version is good, but when you take the best bits and bobs from the various junked sessions, you’ve really got something. Urgent, desperate, wild-eyed, celebratory, despairing, and bad-ass. All extremes in life are here, like an apocalypse.
The La’s: Son Of A Gun (album version)

This video actually comes from a friend. One of this world’s most enthusiastic souls, and sadly, one of beauty’s most bitter (but undeterred) enthusiasts, happens to be a former roommate of mine. I’m talking about Kurt Matthew Lightner, originally of Des Moines, Iowa. I got lucky that way, to run smack into this man. He is a brilliant artist, the kind that you set apart. He lives in Sweden and has two beautiful children there. Find out all you can, at least about his art, here.

The video above comes sight unseen from him, as a recommendation. There will be more on/for/from Kurt later. I have time tonight only for a superficial dusting. The Elbow video is from him. The La’s are from me. I will always post La’s here and I will never hear a word against it. Cheers Kurt. Back atcha later.

The La’s: Clean Prophet (Jeremy Allom Version; 2008 Remaster)
The La’s: Over (Liz Kershaw BBC Radio version)

Lee Mavers is Sound, la.

Like a framed dollar bill on a business wall, I give you the first mp3 posted here on Subanimal Sounds. Coming to you live from BBC Radio, it’s quite simply the best song ever written, the incomparable, veritable, timeless melody (and wouldn’t you know, that’s actually its very name) from the heart and head of one Lee Antony Mavers, over there in Liverpool, England. Enjoy, and open your mind.

The La’s: Timeless Melody (Bob Harris Radio Session)