WE were supposed to do this back in October but something cropped up and then there was the "abduction" incident, then Christmas and all the bloody round ups and then something else. In short, back by hysterical popular demand, here's Part Two of our essential, commemorative, cut out and keep guide to Where Are They Now:
. The La's: Any band out there giving up hope, take courage from the fact that The La's had to release There She Goes four times before it breached the charts. The Liverpool quartet signed to the fledgling Go! Discs in 1987 and the early demos put The Stone Roses in the shade. One of the best ever purveyors of the power pop sound, it took them three years to release their eponymously titled debut album and singer/songwriter Lee Mavers (an eccentric type, at the best of times) dismayed his record company and his fans by telling everybody the album was crap and not to buy it (pretty original take on the press promotion angle, you'll agree). The band then disappeared for a few years and bass player John Power went on to form Cast, the million selling, Gallagher approved retro rockers. Mavers struck out as a solo artist but his first live appearance was far from auspicious - supporting Paul Weller (as regards Reef Paul, have you no shame?) his set went so badly awry, he had the plug pulled on him - literally. As late as last year, Mavers told the NIE that "there would be a second LA's album".
. Microdisney: There was always more to this Cork outfit than the deliciously titled 1984 album, We Hate You, White South African Bastards. Based around the twin talents of Cathal Coughlan (vocals, songs) and Scan O'Hagan (guitars, songs) they signed first to Rough Trade records where their debut.
Evervbody Is Fantastic (1984) was a torefaste of the by now classic The Clock Comes Down The Stairs (1985) an album which easily makes it into the "top 10 Irish albums of all time" category. As we saw the last time we did this, the move from indie to major (in this case, Virgin) did the band no favours. Remarkably, one of their first ever Virgin singles (and one of their best ever tracks) was a song called Singer's Hampstead Home, which was a none too thinly disguised attack on Virgin's main seller at the time Boy George. Despite all the acclaim, sales figures rarely amounted to that much and they soon broke up courtesy of "musical differences". Cathal Coughlan went on to form the mighty Fatima Mansions (who played on the Zooropa tour), also formed a band called Bubonique with Sean Hughes and also released a solo album. In this column's opinion, the man should be put in charge of the Arts Council. Sean O'Hagan went on to form the High Llamas, a bloody great band whose Hawaii album last year was something rare and beautiful. Now signed to Branson's V2 label, there'll be a new High Llamas album out soon and O'Hagan has also been asked to produce The Beach Boys' new work. File Microdisney under "Amazingly important and influential".
. XTC: First known as The Helium Kidz, XTC were lumped in with the "new wave" artists on the release of their debut White Music (1978). In truth, their experimental pop rock was shot through with all manner of eclectic styles, ranging from folk to psychedelia. Based around another eccentric type, namely Andy Partridge, they merged critical and commercial success with the release of Drums And Wires (1979) which includes their best known (but not their best) song, Making Plans For Nigel. The following albums (Black Sea and English Settlement) were uniformly great as exemplified by the singles Sgt Rock and the cleverly composed Senses Working Overtime. Subsequent work went straight into the "cult" category while, ironically, the band's alter ego, a group called The Dukes Of Stratosphear, outsold the original XTC. Despite the fact that Andy Partridge was nominated for an Ivor Novello songwriter award in 1993, he remains a largely marginalised figure. A recent re release of their back catalogue, coupled with the fact that the band have now signed to the London Irish label Setanta, could (and should) change this. As a lyricist Partridge lies somewhere between Ray Davies and Morrissey.
. Oh no, we're out of space already and there's still The Sundays, The Replacements, Gang Of Four (I don't care, l liked them) and a few more to do. Part three in about four weeks' time.
