I am not connected to the High Llamas...

[brother john]

...but with recent activity in the BW @ RFH thread I thought it might be worth mentioning that the truly superb High Llamas, who I'm sure you all know, are playing at the same venue (more or less) in May. If you love Brian Wilson you'll love the High Llamas.

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/music/gigs-contemporary/tickets/the-high-llamas-57636

[hypehat]

New record of no doubt pleasant but ultimately forgettable lounge pop coming out april 11th, too
http://www.highllamas.com/news.aspx

[shelter]

If you love Brian Wilson you'll love the High Llamas.

I disagree. I love their sound, very Brian-ish indeed. But I love Brian's music mostly for his outstanding songwriting, and the Llamas' songs are, like Hypehat said, forgettable.

[D409]

Correct me if I'm off the mark here, but didn't Bruce play The High Llamas' album Hawaii to Brian who loved it, to the point that chief Llama Sean O'Hagan was seriously considered as a future BB producer and collaborator ? Didn't O'Hagan actually make some onstage appearances with the BB's, but ultimately pulled out of the project as he decided it wasn't for him ?
What's the full story on the BB's/High Llamas connection ?

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Correct me if I'm off the mark here, but didn't Bruce play The High Llamas' album Hawaii to Brian who loved it, to the point that chief Llama Sean O'Hagan was seriously considered as a future BB producer and collaborator ? Didn't O'Hagan actually make some onstage appearances with the BB's, but ultimately pulled out of the project as he decided it wasn't for him ?
What's the full story on the BB's/High Llamas connection ?

That would be awesome! Although, I suppose he has the gen x ears already, in the Wondermints. Which I believe has helped his recent albums quite a bit.

[Jason]

Brian should have hired neither anyone in the Wondermints nor anyone in the High Llamas to work with him. Jellyfish all the way.

[hypehat]

Correct me if I'm off the mark here, but didn't Bruce play The High Llamas' album Hawaii to Brian who loved it, to the point that chief Llama Sean O'Hagan was seriously considered as a future BB producer and collaborator ? Didn't O'Hagan actually make some onstage appearances with the BB's, but ultimately pulled out of the project as he decided it wasn't for him ?
What's the full story on the BB's/High Llamas connection ?

http://uncanny1.blogspot.com/2005/05/brian-wilsonandy-paleysean-ohagan.html

Basically, I think everyone involved was a jack-ass except O'Hagan, who was just incredibly naive. Like, he's actually surprised  that Mike Love is a commercially minded asshole?

A Jellyfish collab would have been insanely awesome (Still might, Falkner did a cracking job with Daniel Johnston recently, so he can get results from 'difficult' artists), but it's not like he was doing anything terrible with Paley. He should have finished up those tracks on his own if the boys weren't going to. Then go AOR....

[SG7]

Brian should have hired neither anyone in the Wondermints nor anyone in the High Llamas to work with him. Jellyfish all the way.

 

[Jason]

The circus is gonna get me for that comment, I know it.

[D409]

Correct me if I'm off the mark here, but didn't Bruce play The High Llamas' album Hawaii to Brian who loved it, to the point that chief Llama Sean O'Hagan was seriously considered as a future BB producer and collaborator ? Didn't O'Hagan actually make some onstage appearances with the BB's, but ultimately pulled out of the project as he decided it wasn't for him ?
What's the full story on the BB's/High Llamas connection ?

http://uncanny1.blogspot.com/2005/05/brian-wilsonandy-paleysean-ohagan.html

Basically, I think everyone involved was a jack-ass except O'Hagan, who was just incredibly naive. Like, he's actually surprised  that Mike Love is a commercially minded butthole?

A Jellyfish collab would have been insanely awesome (Still might, Falkner did a cracking job with Daniel Johnston recently, so he can get results from 'difficult' artists), but it's not like he was doing anything terrible with Paley. He should have finished up those tracks on his own if the boys weren't going to. Then go AOR....

Thanks for the link, I do remember Sean O'Hagan's account of this as related in Uncut (could've sworn it was Mojo, but there you go)...the story of yet another wasted opportunity for Brian and the BB's !

[Pearlfisher David]

I'm with Brother John. The Llamas are great. For me the best records are the ones after the 'New BW hype / Gideon Gaye' period. Snowbug is a wonderful album, Bach Ze my own favourite among a number of memorable tunes. Saw them open for Van Dyke Parks at The Royal Festival Hall some years ago - very excellent. Go see them if you get the chance!

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

If you love Brian Wilson you'll love the High Llamas.

[pancakerecords]

 

Brian should have hired neither anyone in the Wondermints nor anyone in the High Llamas to work with him. Jellyfish all the way.

[brother john]

I don't really understand how anyone could call the High Llamas' music forgettable. Sean O'Hagan is a prodigiously gifted composer and arranger, but he doesn't write songs so much as pieces of music with occasional vocals. He's not much of a singer, which is a shame, but most of the work focuses on very carefully constructed peices of music.

If you enjoy the pop sensibility of the BBs then possibly the Llamas are a bit dry for you. I suppose you either get them or you don't, but I think that musically there is much in common between BW and SO'H.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98aWehsK00E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S1FvDfvBnE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbYawX_NmA8


The soundtrack he did the La Vie D'Artiste with Tim Gane from Stereolab was just sublime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf35t3hp4bQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Tb6KFtxK5s

[The Heartical Don]

I'm with Brother John. The Llamas are great. For me the best records are the ones after the 'New BW hype / Gideon Gaye' period. Snowbug is a wonderful album, Bach Ze my own favourite among a number of memorable tunes. Saw them open for Van Dyke Parks at The Royal Festival Hall some years ago - very excellent. Go see them if you get the chance!

I need to be in the mood for the Llamas. But then, they're just great. And, they wrote the longest outros in the whole history of recorded music.

[Autotune]

Correct me if I'm off the mark here, but didn't Bruce play The High Llamas' album Hawaii to Brian who loved it, to the point that chief Llama Sean O'Hagan was seriously considered as a future BB producer and collaborator ? Didn't O'Hagan actually make some onstage appearances with the BB's, but ultimately pulled out of the project as he decided it wasn't for him ?
What's the full story on the BB's/High Llamas connection ?

http://uncanny1.blogspot.com/2005/05/brian-wilsonandy-paleysean-ohagan.html

Basically, I think everyone involved was a jack-ass except O'Hagan, who was just incredibly naive. Like, he's actually surprised  that Mike Love is a commercially minded butthole?

A Jellyfish collab would have been insanely awesome (Still might, Falkner did a cracking job with Daniel Johnston recently, so he can get results from 'difficult' artists), but it's not like he was doing anything terrible with Paley. He should have finished up those tracks on his own if the boys weren't going to. Then go AOR....

There was a BW - Jellyfish attempt around the Don Was years. Nothing happened. As for O'Hagan's story with the BBs, it's funny how he fails to see, throughout the whole episode how uninterested BW was in working with him

[hypehat]

I want to love the Llamas, I really do, but there are only a handful of tunes that stick for me. As a producer/arranger, his work with Stereolab and SFA is great, but he needs better tunes to work with than his own.
Some review I read of a late period album said something along the lines of that it's 'studied', which is a rather naff complaint to make about highly arranged pop, but is where it fails next to his influences. Bacharach or Wilson had, I don't know, a rather more adventurous streak than O'Hagan possesses.

They do, however, make for surprisingly good travelling music - Hawaii has been my soundtrack for long train journeys of late. And I think if you gave O'Hagan good melodies to work with, he'll kick up the best results. Like this, an inexplicable B-Side
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MglG2KfpKc

[Chris Brown]

I want to love the Llamas, I really do, but there are only a handful of tunes that stick for me. As a producer/arranger, his work with Stereolab and SFA is great, but he needs better tunes to work with than his own.
Some review I read of a late period album said something along the lines of that it's 'studied', which is a rather naff complaint to make about highly arranged pop, but is where it fails next to his influences. Bacharach or Wilson had, I don't know, a rather more adventurous streak than O'Hagan possesses.

They do, however, make for surprisingly good travelling music - Hawaii has been my soundtrack for long train journeys of late. And I think if you gave O'Hagan good melodies to work with, he'll kick up the best results. Like this, an inexplicable B-Side
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MglG2KfpKc

I've always pretty much felt the same way.  "Studied" is an excellent description - I appreciate the skill of his arrangements, but there's nothing in them that moves me like a Brian Wilson production.  Listenting to the Llamas can be enjoyable if I'm in the right mood, but a lot of the time it feels a bit like well-executed musical color-by-numbers.

I do agree that he's probably at his best when working with better material, songs that aren't his own.  Had Brian been interested, and the typically problematic Beach Boys dynamics removed from the equation, I think he and Brian could have done some fantastic work together.

[Dove Nested Towers]

LOVE "Anna Lee, the Healer" on the Caroline Now tribute CD.

[hypehat]

I love this artwork, btw



Oh jesus, that's post #1000? I'll get me coat....

[Les Garçons de la plage]

moved this post to a new thread I started

[puni puni]

They really should release their slower, loungey albums as 'The Low Llamas' and more prudent material as 'The High Llamas'

I'm not a fan of listening to TR-808 loops for an hour

[PaulTMA]

If you love Brian Wilson you'll love the High Llamas.

I am living proof this isn't accurate

O'hagan is a c*ck as well.  Oh well.

Good string arranger though

[tony p]

forget the High Llamas, Jellyfish or anyone else

the one band id LOVE to see contribute to a BW/BBs album is AIR

[hypehat]

What disastrous event happened in 2012 that I suddenly got over 4000 posts in about a year? Oh yeah, a degree and a job....