The La's "There She Goes"

[recky]

Hi John,

thrilled to see you as a guest mod on Gearslutz! It's strange (or not!) how you're the link between many of my favourite musicians and bands, from your early Abbey Road years (Lennon, Nilsson, etc.) to the La's and the Stone Roses. Unfortunately, I have lost track of most of your productions since I left the UK to return to Germany in the mid-1990s.

I have always been impressed by the individual and overall sounds you have created for the people you have worked with, doing exactly what I believe a good producer should do: transform the strengths of a band into their "larger-than-life" signature.

I could ask a thousand questions, but let me, if i may, ask about the La's 1988 single "There She Goes". As far as I know, the production of this single and the subsequent album must have been a rocky trip for all involved, with many great producers dropped along the way, because Lee Mavers did not get to hear the sound that he'd developed in his head.

I'd like to know how far your involvement in "There She Goes" went and if you might share any technical details, as to me, this song is a production milestone in that it is essentially a low-fi band sound turned to gold. How were the drums and guitars miced and processed during recording? That's what I'd like to know :-)
Did you end up mixing the song? If you did, what did you add at that stage?

Thank you very much, John, for taking part in this Q&A.
Recky

[johnleckie]

Hi Recky
I was hired to produce 4 songs with The La's in 1988. Together we did great versions of Feeling, Come in Come Out, Man I'm Only Human and the new song There She Goes. When I heard it I knew it was classic. We tried it many different ways as it had just been written. We were at Chipping Norton studio in Oxford and we got a take down but we were suspicious about the tempo. The worst thing I did was show Lee the varispeed on the multitrack! From then on no one could decide the speed. We went to Jam in North London and tried re recording it but it wasn't as good. We tried all sorts of guitar for the hook line on intro. Electric sitars were hired and used. The track even had a fade up at one point and unfortunately the release last year of my version was the rough mix with no bass on and the fade up. We went as far as mastering and I still have playback lacquer. I then moved on to other things and they went in with Mike Hedges and then Steve Liliwhite and he finished it a year or so later
Cheers
JL

[JulianBrightnes]

thanks again mr. Leckie for doing this!
"There she goes" is an exeptional record, one of the greatest pop singles ever, in my opinion.
It always reminds me of a 'certain song' but after all these years I haven't been able to find out which song...that's probably the genius of it!

Anyway, thanks again: very special you're here!

Cheers, Julian

[Jules]

It reminds me of something too.. I think it is this one by Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons "Sherry Baby".

The naive 3 chord trick sound + slinky soft "rock a by baby" Rock n Roll grove is similar to me + the yodeling vocal tips a hat to Frankie Valli..