Although it contains such bona-fide classics as “There She Goes” and “Timeless Melody”, The La’s maverick genius songwriter Lee Mavers disowned the Liverpool band’s debut — and to date only — album as “s**t” upon its eventual release in 1990. Mavers’ quest for all-back-to-mono ‘60s authenticity in the face of ‘80s production techniques produced some legendary eccentricities in the studio (purchasing “60s dust” to sprinkle on the mixing desk, insisting that concert pitch was wrong and retuning all the band’s instruments), but with him now living as recluse, these versions recorded for BBC radio between 1987 and 1990 might be the closest we ever get to the sound in his head. The plug and play nature of the sessions meant that there was no time for any extra polish and faff and the way these tracks snap, crackle and catapult themselves out of the speakers make their officially released counterparts sound sluggish in comparison. Far from being a self-sabotaging crank, Mavers might have had a point.