The Smiley Smile Message Board

... by saying that if I enjoyed Brian's mid-to-late 60's music I'd love these guys.

I'm listening to it now. I think they need to do more drugs.  :P

Who have people recommended to you through the Beach Boys?

The song "Nightingales" by Prefab Sprout, and of course the Dukes of Stratosphear incarnation of XTC. "D.W.Suite" by Lindsey Buckingham (Album: Go Insane). :o

There were little pieces of that High Llamas album that I liked, but overall I just couldn't see what the fuss was about.

I'm with you on the High Llamas. Here are some songs that I found through people telling me it sounded like the Beach Boys that I actually liked:

Panda Bear - "Bros"
Fleet Foxes - "White Winter Hymnal"
Harry Nilsson - "Everything's Got 'Em"
Van Dyke Parks - "Donovan's Colours"

I remember getting a High Llamas album on the same recommendation (I think it was "Hawaii") and listening to it on the road.  I tossed the cassette out the window somewhere on I-5 between Medford, Oregon and Yreka, California.  I was really insulted....I was like, "Carl Wilson already did this in 1971!"  There was one song where they weren't trying to sound like anybody else, and it was really excellent.  The rest just pissed me off.

I am rather fond of the Llamas. But for anyone here being dissappointed:

try their 'Lollo Rosso' remix CD, with stuff worked over by Cornelius, Mouse On Mars, etc. I promise you: totally addictive, even if you didn't like the rest.

And try the Snowbug album too. Bach Ze and Cookie Bay featuring members of Stereolab is  my fave tracks on there.

I don't mind some High Llamas: Gideon Gaye and Beet Corn and Maize in particular. But overall, they got bits and pieces of a certain Beach Boys feel ... just never any songs. 2-chord, lazy vamps ad infinitum.

Overall I don't like bands that are recommended as similar/soundalikes. You'll never out-Beatles the Beatles, out-Beach Boys the Beach Boys, etc. It seems like a guaranteed failure, maybe worth some nearly empty enjoyment but not a lot else.

This is very true and it's why I like Animal Collective. They sound like the Beach Boys but at the time they're creating relevant new sounding music so it's the best of both worlds. The High Llamas I do find too pastichey, although I quite like Beet Maize and Corn too.

Ive only just got into listening 'Hawaii' based on this and the other High Llamas thread

Sure, its a BB rip off, but when it sounds this good, im not going to complain.

I wish there were more Beach Boy albums that were produced during the 60's after PS/Smile that had this sound. Just my opinion. (nothing beat the real thing)

Current fav song: The Hot Revivalist

Just realised this was in the general thread

probably needs to go into the other music thread

I initially liked the Hawaii album but after 4 snippets I was over it. I prefer fully formed songs. Good production though.

The angle I preferred exploring was pop jazz harmony. 

I'm not sure if it's the same thing but my BB obsession put me onto Randy Newman's Sail Away and I'm totally hooked.

One of my favourite albums.....

I've bought a bunch of High Llamas albums and, while none are all-time faves or anything, Hawaii is the one I enjoy most. It is very derivative, but that doesn't bug me too much as it does some others. "Literature is Fluff," "Nomads," "Dressing Up the Old Dakota," and "Theatreland" are all fine songs in my book.

Same goes for the Explorers Club and their Freedom Wind album: derivative to the extreme (more of an All Summer Long-Summer Days vibe), but with a handful of songs I really enjoy.

I posted this awhile back:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15328.0.html

I think they're great. If you like Hawaii so much, the album closest in sound to that one is Cold and Bouncy. That album still has plenty of synths, but it's better integrated into the songs than on Hawaii. After that album The High Llamas dropped so much focus on electronics. Snowbug, Can Cladders, Beet Maize and Corn, and Talahomi Way are all excellent.

If in doubt you might consult this double set:

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MRlOyn08L.jpg)

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510hwyLARjL.jpg)

That is one excellent set. It was my introduction to the Llamas and I saw no reason to look any further.

well "Hawaii" is one of those albums where the first part of the album is great but then after awhile all the songs just sound the same as the first songs and by the end of the album it sounded as if I was listening to the same song over and over again like they found a couple chords, basslines and instruments that sounded like the Beach Boys and reused them over and over,However, There's no doubt (in my mind) that "Leaf and Lime" sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of it.

I like Hawaii, I especially enjoy it when I have the ipod on shuffle and a wonderful little musical interlude from Hawaii happens. To put Hawaii into perspective it came out a time in the folklore/opinion/theory around the unreleased SMiLE that Brian was working on a melodic theme which would work as a link between tracks and that link could be repeated throughout the record - the favoured theme at the time was the Bicycle Rider/H&V/Worms riff - O'Hagan took that folklore/opinion/theory and created Hawaii - technology helped  :)

Hi Luther  :rock


This is my take as well. I've never been able to get into most pastiche for the reasons you describe. Inevitably most of the heavily Beach Boys influenced "new" artists I've heard tend to only scratch the surface. I don't think the comparisons are necessarily their fault, so much as that of the press who generally labels anything with minor seventh chords or multi-part harmonies as "Beach Boys influenced", but if Brian is indeed the primary influence on albums such as Hawaii then that influence is largely superficial.

A friend of mine whose opinion on such matters I largely trust told me once that the thing most ersatz-Beach Boys acts get wrong is the lack of a bass vocalist. Almost nobody does it, and it's such an integral element of their sound!

There are a few records that are explicitly BB-influenced that I think hit the mark, but these are largely from back in the day and fairly obscure. I imagine most hear are well familiar with the Ballroom/Sagittarius/Millennium Curt Boettcher stuff, which certainly seems at least informed by the Beach Boys and Brian's production style, but I'd wager not as many have heard the first album by The Association that Curt also produced. There's a wonderful Pet Sounds homage on that record titled "Message of Our Love" (lyrics courtesy of Tandyn Almer) that features an electronic oscillator and absolutely nails that woozy Pet Sounds vibe.

Another good one is the oft-reissued album by Mark Eric (Malmborg) A Midsummer's Daydream. Again, while it seems like the album's template is exclusively 1965-era Beach Boys, Eric puts his own spin on it with his distinctive vocal style and lyrical tales of a lost surfer boy on the run from himself. It nearly hangs together as a concept album, and the melodies are superb.

There was a one-off single on the Poppy label in 1967 by the awkwardly-named Giant Jellybean Copout, which was actually members of the vocal group The Critters (also great) and a gifted doo wop/ lounge singer named Bob DiLeo-- "Awake in a Dream"/ "Look at the Girls". The b-side in particular is tremendous-- very lush and moody.

These are albums and songs I would say went beyond aping the group and really nailed the actual spirit and je nes se qua. Your mileage may vary of course.

The Elephant Six Brian Wilson influence that I'd occasionally heard about eventually led me to this nice track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJobXSveRtE), which I'm fortunate to have.  The last minute or so truly works for me in the same way Beach Boys harmonies do.