  Although the modern shell-model picture of atomic nuclei is built from
single-particle orbits with good total angular momentum $j$, leading to $j$-$j$
coupling, phenomenological models suggested decades ago that for $0p$-shell
nuclides a simpler picture can be realized via coupling of total spin $S$ and
total orbital angular momentum $L$. I revisit this idea with large-basis,
no-core shell model (NCSM) calculations using modern \textit{ab initio}
two-body interactions, and dissect the resulting wavefunctions into their
component $L$- and $S$-components. Remarkably, there is broad agreement with
calculations using the phenomenological Cohen-Kurath forces, despite a gap of
nearly fifty years and six orders of magnitude in basis dimensions. I suggest
$L$-$S$ may be a useful tool for analyzing \textit{ab initio} wavefunctions of
light nuclei, for example in the case of rotational bands.
