The best albums and songs of 2020

bbc.com/culture/article/20201119-the-best-albums-and-songs-of-2020

(Image credit: Beth Garrabrant)

By Nick Levine19th November 2020

In a confounding and overwhelming year, music has allowed us both to reflect on the state
of the world and escape from it with equal brilliance, writes Nick Levine.

This year has been incredibly challenging for the music world. As the Covid-19 pandemic
took hold, artists found themselves unable to tour and – in some cases – unsure whether
to release albums that were completed and ready to drop. Then over the summer, the
Black Lives Matter movement prompted long-overdue conversations about systemic
racial oppression that the music industry had to confront head-on. In June, the Grammys
finally decided to remove the reductive word ‘urban’ from their awards categories.

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Fittingly enough for such a confounding and overwhelming year, there’s no unifying
theme to this year's best albums. Some seem to reflect or comment on these turbulent
times; others serve as a very welcome distraction. Along with five tracks that dominated
radio and streaming platforms, here’s a guide to the best LPs that this testing year had to
offer.

Best albums of 2020:

(Credit: Getty Images)

Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters

The inspired use of Apple’s early single Criminal in last year's hit crime film Hustlers
primed the world for a Fiona Apple comeback, but Fetch the Bolt Cutters would have been
rapturously received anyway. Named after a line delivered by Gillian Anderson in BBC
miniseries The Fall, it’s a thrillingly idiosyncratic art-pop album that Apple mostly
recorded at home; she even uses the bones of her dead dog for percussion. Her beguiling
songwriting explores thorny issues such as depression, sexual violence and bullying, but
Apple never loses her humour. “Kick me under the table all you want,” she sings on Under
the Table, a song about a terrible dinner party. “I will never shut up.” For that, we should
all be thankful.

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(Credit: RCA)

Chloe x Halle – Ungodly Hour

The second album from sisters Chloe and Halle Bailey offers modern R&B at its most
sleek and serene. Executive produced by Beyoncé, who discovered the duo on YouTube
and signed them to her Parkwood Entertainment label, it’s a coolly self-confident affair
that doesn't confuse restraint with monotony: amid the syncopated beats and seamless
vocal harmonies, you’ll find winks to classic blues and UK garage. Most excitingly of all,
Ungodly Hour signposts a stunningly bright future for the Bailey sisters: Chloe especially
shows off serious production chops here, while Hailey has been cast as Ariel in Disney’s
upcoming remake of The Little Mermaid.

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(Credit: Alamy)

Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways

Dylan’s first album of original songs in eight years is a richly poetic meditation on life,
death and his own mythology. Though it includes the 17-minute epic Murder Most Foul,
on which he intricately explores the cultural impact of JFK’s assassination, there are also
moments of levity. On opening salvo I Contain Multitudes, Dylan even compares himself
to Anne Frank, Indiana Jones and “them British bad boys, The Rolling Stones”. He makes
no attempt to disguise the weariness in his 79-year-old voice, which only heightens the
power of his beautifully wrought laments: these songs are sometimes folky, sometimes
bluesy, and often downright transcendent.

(Credit: Alamy)

Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia

Released in March as pandemic panic tightened its grip, this stellar pop album helped
fans to party the pain away – within the socially distanced safety of their own homes, of
course. Where Lipa's 2017 debut was a creditable attempt to cover all the bases, this
follow-up benefited from a strong overarching concept and sharp execution. The title
track’s name-check for modernist architect John Lautner isn’t the only smart touch:
Break My Heart cleverly lifts the guitar riff from INXS's Need You Tonight, while
Physical’s thumping power-pop sounds like the greatest 1980s movie song you've never
heard.

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(Credit: Good Machine PR)

Róisín Murphy – Róisín Machine

One half of eccentric electronic duo Moloko until 2004, Ireland's Róisín Murphy has since
proven herself to be a consistently inventive solo artist. This album is her best and most
accessible since 2007's Overpowered – and possibly ever – because every beat is driven by
Murphy’s deep-rooted love for and innate understanding of club culture. From the lavish
disco of Murphy’s Law to the banging acid house of We Got Together, she and producer
Richard Barratt create an electrifying, sweat-drenched headrush that never lets up. This
year more than ever, it feels desperately needed.

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(Credit: Camille Vivier)

Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

Seattle’s Mike Hadreas says he wanted his fifth album to be “warm, thoughtful and
comforting”; he succeeds by creating music that marries a stark emotional intimacy to
production choices informed by classic rock. Whole Life is a swelling ballad with echoes of
Roy Orbison, while the skittering beats of Your Body Changes Everything recall 1980s
Kate Bush. As on his previous LPs, Hadreas’s queer perspective sparks songwriting that
feels utterly unique: standout track Jason is a devastatingly frank account of a sexual
encounter with a repressed straight man.

(Credit: Alamy)

Run the Jewels – RTJ4

A week after Run the Jewels’ Killer Mike delivered an impassioned speech at a Black Lives
Matter rally in Atlanta, the hip-hop duo dropped this year’s essential protest album.
Featuring well-judged cameos from Pharrell Williams and legendary singer-activist Mavis
Staples, RTJ4 is an incendiary call-to-arms that rails against ingrained racism, police
brutality and America’s rigged class system. To call the results timely and vital feels like
an understatement. When Walking in the Snow references the 2014 killing of Eric Garner,
who was placed in a lethal chokehold by a policeman, it tragically foreshadows the
barbaric murder of George Floyd just nine days before this album came out.

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(Credit: Alamy)

Rina Sawayama – Sawayama

This Japanese-born British musician who studied politics, psychology and sociology at
Cambridge University is responsible for 2020’s most dazzling debut. Equally inspired by
Sawayama’s pop heroines Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and nu-metal bands like
Limp Bizkit, it's a hard-hitting, genre-hopping delight that's teeming with ideas. Whether
she's calling out racial microaggressions on STFU!, celebrating her queer support network
on Chosen Family, or subverting traditional gender roles on Comme des Garçons (Like
the Boys), Sawayama is a uniquely captivating artist who demands (and deserves) your
full attention.

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(Credit: Fraser Taylor)

Nadine Shah – Kitchen Sink

Previous albums from this British singer-songwriter have explored mental health issues
and the Syrian refugee crisis, but Kitchen Sink feels like her most righteous work yet.
Partly inspired by conversations with her female friends, it’s a spiky and insightful
indictment of the reductive assumptions that society imposes on women as they reach
their thirties. “Shave my legs, freeze my eggs, will you want me when I am old?” she sings
savagely on Trad. From the clattering post-punk of Ladies for Babies (Goats for Love) to
the melancholy atmospherics of Prayer Mat, Shah’s music is as compelling as her lyrics.
The result: an uncommonly thought-provoking and rewarding listen.

(Credit: Beth Garrabrant)

Taylor Swift – Folklore

It’s not difficult to tell that Swift wrote and recorded her eighth album in Covid-19
isolation. Where previous LPs from 2012’s Red to 2019’s Lover saw her embrace pop and
grapple with a fluctuating public image, Folklore feels more self-contained and
introspective. Largely produced by Aaron Dessner of popular rock band The National, it’s
a wistful indie-folk record that features some of Swift’s most wrenching melodies and
poignant lyrics. “Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys who broke my heart,”
she sings knowingly on Invisible String. “Now I send their babies presents.” A stunning
album that surely seals her status as an all-time great songwriter.

Best tracks of 2020:

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(Credit: Jora Frantzis)

Cardi B feat. Megan Thee Stallion – WAP

This year’s most talked-about single is an X-rated celebration of female sexual agency.
Half-a-billion streams later, WAP continues to pack a massive punch because rap
superstars Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion outline their desires in a way that’s not just
unapologetic, but also staggeringly graphic. When Cardi B brags “I don’t cook, I don’t
clean, but let me tell you how I got this ring,” it's one of the few printable couplets. WAP’s
naggingly catchy hook already sounds built to last, so let's hope its chart-topping success
creates space for many more female artists to write unselfconsciously about what they
want.

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(Credit: RCA)

Miley Cyrus – Midnight Sky

In the past, Cyrus has recorded everything from party-time R&B to psychedelic rock, but
Midnight Sky ranks among her best reinventions yet. Driven by shimmering synths and
‘80s new wave beats, it’s a brilliantly defiant break-up song that shows off the full
dramatic power of Cyrus’s husky voice. When she sings “I was born to run, I don't belong
to anyone,” you really believe her. Cyrus has since cannily acknowledged the song’s
obvious debt to Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen by releasing an Edge of Midnight Remix
featuring the Fleetwood Mac legend herself. It’s a classy accompaniment to the super-
addictive original.

(Credit: Interscope)

Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande – Rain on Me

Collaborations between A-list artists have become more commonplace in the streaming
era, but Rain on Me still feels like an event record. Described by Lady Gaga as a
“celebration of tears”, its barnstorming house beats are charged with emotion. When Gaga
sings “I'd rather be dry, but at least I'm alive”, she's nodding to a period of her life when
she used alcohol to “numb” herself. Grande’s angelic vocals complement Gaga’s grittier
tones exquisitely, making Rain on Me a perfect pop song about accepting life’s less than
perfect moments.

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(Credit: Alamy)

Arlo Parks – Black Dog

Inspired by a close friend’s experience with depression, Black Dog could be this year's
most tender and affecting song. Accompanied by a gently strummed acoustic guitar, 20-
year-old Parks extends a musical hug that’s both winningly specific – she name-checks
The Cure’s Robert Smith – and universally moving. “Let’s go to the corner store and buy
some fruit,” Parks sings on the twinkly chorus. “I would do anything to get you out your
room.” No wonder it struck a chord during a year when feelings of loneliness and isolation
were increasingly tough to suppress.

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(Credit: Faith Aylward)

RAYE – Natalie Don’t

When you describe your latest track as a “modern-day Jolene”, it’s got to sparkle like one
of Dolly Parton's rhinestones. Thankfully, this deceptively peppy disco-pop song lives up
to its billing. Showing off the songwriting chops that have already been tapped by Beyoncé
and Ellie Goulding, the British rising star makes us root for her over a romantic rival who
“walks in like a model”. In fact, Natalie Don’t is executed with such self-confidence that
Raye even slips in the canny line “like Dolly begged Jolene...” On this evidence, she’s
definitely an artist to bookmark.

(Credit: Alamy)

Harry Styles – Watermelon Sugar

This highlight from Styles’ second album Fine Line shows exactly why he’s managed to
leave One Direction behind. Languid and lightly funky, it’s instantly infectious and
doesn’t really sound like anything else on the radio. Watermelon Sugar’s sultry breeziness
was enormously appealing when the album arrived in December 2019, but became even
more soothing as global stress levels rose throughout 2020. While some of his peers chase
TikTok trends to reaffirm their relevance, Styles is going his own way, making effortless-
sounding bops that really stand out.

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(Credit: Getty Images)

The Weeknd – Blinding Lights

Though it dropped at the end of 2019, Blinding Lights would go on to dominate 2020,
eventually spending a record 33 weeks in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. Co-written
and co-produced with Swedish songwriting genius Max Martin, its synth-pop shimmer
manages to feel retro and contemporary at the same time – a tricky thing to pull off. Still,
the key to its enduring popularity could lie in its ambiguity. Though Blinding Lights’
explosive chorus is one of the year’s most familiar and uplifting, there’s a dash of darkness
baked in that keeps things interesting.

And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter,
called The Essential List. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture,
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(Image credit: Getty Images)

By Shaun Curran17th March 2021

Just over 30 years ago, band The La's released their sole LP – a masterpiece that shaped
guitar music. But its brilliant frontman has been elusive ever since, writes Shaun Curran.

Lee Mavers is the frontman, songwriter, and creative force of The La's, a British band
from the northern city of Liverpool. The La's only made one album, enjoyed just one hit
single and haven't released a note of new music since 1990. Yet the band's legacy and
place in rock history supersedes their slim output. That single, There She Goes, remains
as perfect a slice of guitar pop as anything since their Liverpool forebears The Beatles and
is the crown jewel in a treasured canon that has become a touchstone for generations of

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bands. The La's helped to usher in the 90s Britpop era in British guitar music, led by the
likes of Oasis and Blur – Noel Gallagher once declared that "Oasis want to finish what The
La's started" – while their influence has stretched beyond that to bands from The
Libertines to Arctic Monkeys and Fontaines DC. "It's like The Velvet Underground," says
former La's guitarist Barry Sutton. "Maybe not everyone knows about The La's, but
everyone who did went out and formed a band or was touched by [the music] in a really
deep way".

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It says everything about the scale of Mavers' talent that his reputation as a genius is based
on such little recorded material. But his beautifully succinct songs, covered by artists
ranging from Robbie Williams to Pearl Jam, have placed him in the lineage of classic
songwriters, winning a devoted following and the admiration of music legends. In 1991,
Eric Clapton told Rolling Stone that "the only thing I've really liked (recently) is a guy
called Lee Mavers… he's got a stance and a style that I think is tremendous", while in 2013
The Smiths' former guitarist Johnny Marr told Q magazine that Mavers "is as good as
everyone thinks he is".

The La's (here photographed in Liverpool in 1990) helped to usher in the 90s Britpop era
in British guitar music (Credit: Getty Images)

Yet Mavers is now considered by many to be one of pop's great "lost" figures. Over the last
three decades, he has steadfastly refused to release any of the songs he's written. Since
1991, Mavers has played just 20 official concerts, the last of which was nearly 10 years
ago. His public appearances are so scarce that for some journalists, tracking him down
became a holy grail: Matthew Macefield wrote an entire book, 2003's A Secret Liverpool:

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In Search of The La's, dedicated to his four-year quest to get an audience with Mavers,
which he eventually did at his Liverpool home. His enigmatic nature is one reason why,
with rock music currently lacking truly maverick figures, Mavers still holds the
imagination of not just fans, but the press and industry at large: despite years of
inactivity, his status is such that as recently as 2015, he was rumoured to be working on
music with Liam Gallagher.

Recently celebrating its 30th anniversary, the La's self-titled debut is a cult album in the
truest sense. It only reached number 30 in the charts and sold relatively few copies on
release. Influenced by The Beatles, The Who, Love and Pink Floyd, its acoustic rhythms,
1960s sensibility and pure melodicism were at odds with the era's prevailing scenes of
Madchester, grunge and shoegaze. But it is precisely that ageless quality that has
weathered so well. Songs like Timeless Melody and the epic Looking Glass display a rare
gift for songwriting that continues to endure.

He was a very funny guy, very talented, very cool guy. When
he played guitar I was like 'there's no one like him' – Mike
Badger

Yet the album's legendary status rests not so much on its astounding songs as the bizarre
and tortured nature of its recording, which involved Mavers and a revolving door of band
members and producers. It is a recording that has only become more infamous over time,
with many stories and rumours developing about Mavers' obsessive perfectionism and
chaotic studio behaviour – one urban legend said Mavers would gather authentic 1960s
dust to sprinkle on instruments in order to cultivate the right vibe.

The band's rocky evolution

For The La's fanatics, separating fact from fiction has always been part of the appeal. This
is a band where nothing is ever as it seems. Despite being the main protagonist, Mavers
didn't even form The La's (named after both the musical note and the Liverpudlian
abbreviation of "lad"). That was musician Mike Badger, who started the band on his own
in 1983 in a city of Liverpool that, in the midst of the Thatcher era, was "washed away on a
tide of heroin, despondency and unemployment," according to Badger.

Badger and Mavers had briefly met in 1981, but reconnected after a chance meeting at the
city's Everyman Theatre in 1984. They hit up a rapport, bonding over Captain Beefheart,
and were soon working on each other's songs. "He was a very funny guy, very talented,
very cool guy," Badger tells BBC Culture. "When he played guitar I was like 'there's no one
like him'". After enlisting two other members – John Power on bass and Paul Rhodes on
drums – the quartet started to gain a considerable following and put down demos of many
of the tracks that would make up their debut album. "We'd done all the work, and that's
when all the problems started," Badger says. Over time, Mavers had become less
interested in Badger’s contributions, and increasingly confrontational. A pre-gig fight in

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December 1986 saw Badger leave his own group. "[Mavers] said to me 'your time’s nearly
up in this band'. I was like 'what? It’s not your band mate!' I said 'I'm off', packed my
guitar and got on the bus. I was gutted. Two years' work gone overnight".

After Mike Badger left, Lee Mavers became the sole lead of the band, and set about
capturing his vision with a succession of guitarists and drummers (Credit: Getty Images)

As The La's songwriter and sole lead, Mavers now had complete control of the band. By
1987, they were newly signed to London label Go! Discs, and armed with great songs and
a clear idea: capture the organic sound of their demos for a double album to be named
Callin' All. But nothing, or nobody, could meet Mavers' exacting standards. The purity of
his vision proved impossible to recreate. Producers, including John Leckie (The Stone
Roses, Radiohead) and Mike Hedges (The Cure, Manic Street Preachers) were hired and
fired, guitarists and drummers rotated at will. Sutton joined in 1988, and lasted a year. "I
don't want to make Lee out as a bad guy, because he’s very funny. But the atmosphere he
creates isn't conducive to people doing their best work," he says, reflecting on his short
stint. "There's a lot of attention paid to the exact phrasing of parts, strange guitar tunings,
a lot of pressure. My playing was suffering, I [was] deeply paranoid all the time. When I
was sacked it came as a relief."

When I listen to the album now I’m still happy, it has some
magical moments. But he's the artist: if we didn't get the
sound he wanted, we failed – Steve Lillywhite

In December 1989, Go! Discs turned to producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Simple Minds),
who was initially blown away by Mavers' talent. "Give him an acoustic guitar and pound
for pound he's better than anyone. He was dynamite, an amazingly creative person,"

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Lillywhite tells BBC Culture. But familiar problems reared their head. "It was like a game
of snakes and ladders," says Lillywhite. "At any point in making the album he heard
something he didn't like, it was back to square one".

Go! Discs eventually ran out of patience, and asked Lillywhite to put the album together
from the available tapes. Finally, after 12 studio sessions, 10 band members, seven
producers, and three years of recording at an estimated cost of £1million, the album was
released on 1 October 1990 to widespread critical acclaim. Mavers immediately disowned
it. "I hate it," he told NME's Stuart Maconie at the time. "There is not one good thing I can
find to say about it… it's like a snake with a broken back".

Lillywhite is philosophical about Mavers' criticisms. "When I listen to the album now I'm
still happy, it has some magical moments. But he's the artist: if we didn't get the sound he
wanted, we failed. I'll stand with him on this one".

A retreat from the public eye

The La's limped unhappily on before disintegrating following the departure of Power in
December 1991. Power, who went on to enjoy success during the Britpop boom as the
frontman of another band, Cast, had been a loyal lieutenant and harmonious musical foil.
Without him, The La's as everyone knew them were over. Mavers retreated from the
public eye, intent on re-recording the songs from their one and only album to his
satisfaction. In his absence, the rumour mill in Liverpool – ever the storytelling city –
went into overdrive. As detailed in A Secret Liverpool: In Search of The La's, the stories
ranged from the amusing to the concerning to the ludicrous: he’d become a painter and
decorator; he was a heroin addict; he had actually written Paul Weller's 1995 hit The
Changingman. Perhaps best of all was the story that Mavers was living in a monastery,
where monks had declared him as talented as Mozart.

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Mavers and John Power came together again for a 2005 tour, which included an
appearance at Glastonbury, but the reunion was short-lived (Credit: Getty Images)

These kind of myths are crucial to the cult of Mavers. But the truth is far more prosaic.
Very few of the stories – sadly, not even the fabled 1960s dust – have ever been
corroborated, while Mavers categorically denied the Weller story to Macefield. Even one
that was true – Mavers did succumb to heroin addiction in the 1990s, as he confirmed to
author Daniel Rachel in his 2013 book Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British
Songwriters – sparked off another myth, that There She Goes (with its "there she goes
again/pulsing through my vein" lyric) was about the drug. Badger writes in his own book,
2015's The Rhythm & The Tide: Liverpool, The La's and the Ever After, that Mavers
confirmed to him the rumour was untrue.

All the while, fans have waited expectantly for new music – but it has never arrived.
Mavers has spent the intervening years assembling various short-lived incarnations of
The La's, forever determined to rerecord that lone debut album while also working on his
new songs. In 1999, there was even a secret reunion between Mavers and Badger. "His
new songs are great," Badger says. "I gave it six months – but it was just same stuff,
different year with his obsessive behaviour. I wish Lee well, but I just couldn’t go there."

There She Goes is the best thing that’s happened to Lee but
also the worst – Mike Badger

Not even an improbable 2005 reunion tour, with Power back in the fold, brought about
the mythical second album. Mavers has barely been seen since, save some guest
appearances with Pete Doherty in 2009 – a supposed plan to record with Doherty's band
Babyshambles predictably never materialised – and a short stripped-back tour in 2011
with local Liverpool musician Gary Murphy. More than 30 years on, fans are left to
infamous online bootlegs of La's songs never officially recorded to hear glimpses of a
promised future. The chance of Mavers releasing new music looks more remote than
ever.

I attempted to contact Mavers for this piece but, with no record company or management,
he unsurprisingly proved elusive – one person told me sightings of Mavers were so rare he
was like a "Scouse unicorn". My email to the address on The La’s official Facebook page
bounced back as the inbox was full. I asked interviewees and contacts in the Liverpool
music scene for a lead: some were reluctant to help, others tried to contact Mavers
through third parties. But promising trails led nowhere, which seems like an apt
metaphor.

Separating myth and reality

There are numerous theories as to why he has been so reluctant to continue his musical
career, publicly at least. Badger thinks that the omnipresence of There She Goes, covered
by the US band Sixpence None The Richer, and a go-to track for romantic moments in

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film and TV, has been a curse for Mavers as well as a blessing. "It's the best thing that's
happened to Lee but also the worst," he says. "He wrote this perfect song, but it's meant
he hasn’t had to do anything because he has a constant source of income."

The La's song There She Goes has made many soundtrack appearances, including in 1997
romantic comedy Fever Pitch (starring Ruth Gemmell and Colin Firth, pictured) (Credit:
Alamy)

Rachel – the only person to have a sit-down interview with Mavers in the last 19 years, for
his aforementioned 2013 book – believes Mavers' public inaction is the result of the
extreme artistic integrity of a songwriter unwilling to release material that falls short of
his specific ideals. "If he has a sound in his head and he doesn't hear that when he
records, then that's a great travesty [for him]," says Rachel. "It's extraordinary to hold
[yourself to such unforgiving standards] for this amount of time. There's no precedent for
this at all in rock'n'roll history. But why should he compromise? He's not that type of
artist".

I'm a father now. I haven't done any drugs for decades… I'm
just a fellow that's got four kids and just living and observing
as anyone could – Lee Mavers

Whatever the reasons for Mavers' decision to retreat from the music industry, perhaps it
shouldn't be a surprise. The lyrics on The La's hint at a soul unhappy with his situation.
Throughout the album Mavers sings of being lost, bound, chained, tied, looking for
freedom, needing a melody to unblock the thoughts circling his mind. Some lyrics seem to
predict what was to come: given his reported preoccupation with rerecording the album,
the very opening lines "If you want I'll sell you a life story/about a man who's at
loggerheads with his past all the time" now sound particularly prophetic.

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Yet the image of Mavers as the tortured artist needs reassessing. From Brian Wilson to
Syd Barrett – to whom Mavers is often compared – the myth of the doomed musical
genius suffering for their art pervades popular culture, perpetuating the idea that anguish
equates to greatness. But Mavers has rejected that characterisation of him in the past. He
told Rachel mockingly: "All the Syd Barrett [stuff]… thanks for giving me that card. I'll
play it every time… I couldn't have invented it".

In truth, Mavers is happily living in a suburb of Liverpool, long since clean from drugs
and a committed family man. "I'm a father now," he told Rachel. "I haven't done any of
that [drugs] for decades… I'm just a fellow that's got four kids and just living and
observing as anyone could". Mavers seems content with a quiet life, interested in music
purely for its own sake, free from its commercial shackles and expectations. As much as
the narrative of what might have been keeps fans interested, perhaps this remarkable
talent has given all he wishes to give. "I don't think we’ve lost anything," says Rachel. "He
gave me something that’s stayed with me all of my life."

Even as the concept of the reclusive genius gets closer to extinction in this oversharing,
social media age, it is arguably to Mavers' credit that he remains as unattainable and
unknowable as ever. But for all the myths and legends surrounding him, perhaps it's
worth remembering what Mavers told Macefield: "I'm just a man, la. Just a person".

The La's Callin' All: 1986-1987 LP is available on Mike Badger's Viper Label.

And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter,
called The Essential List. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture,
Worklife and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.

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