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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Craig Leve <CraigL@ori.org> |
| Subject | Re: High Llamas... |
| Date | Thu, 30 Jan 2003 10:22:40 -0800 |
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I'd say I heard the Steely Dan even more so on the older CD's - Perry Como,
is basically a page right out of the Steely Dan playbook,
-craig
-----Original Message-----
From: Stewart Mason [mailto:flamingo@theworld.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 10:23 AM
To: audities@smoe.org; audities@smoe.org
Subject: Re: High Llamas...
At 05:50 PM 1/30/2003 +0000, russell hayward wrote:
>Don't think I've ever heard them... Should I have? all
>opinions welcome! Where should I start my listening?
Number one, they don't sound nearly as much like '66-'71 Brian Wilson as
some people (even many fans) claim. There are definite elements of that
Beach Boys era in their sound (especially on what I think is their best
album, GIDEON GAYE), but there's also honking great slabs of European
soundtrack composers of the '60s and Brazilian pop and jazz. But early
reviewers didn't know from Morricone and Gilberto and so they just kept
parroting the Brian Wilson line. (There's also a huge Steely Dan influence,
which Sean O'Hagan enthusiastically copped to when I interviewed him a few
years ago.)
HAWAII is usually considered the masterpiece, but I don't think it's the
best starting point: its suitelike structure means that you have to listen
to the entire thing in one sitting -- it's basically one 74-minute song!
As I noted, I think GIDEON GAYE has the best mix of influences, and most of
my favorite High Llamas songs ("The Goat Looks On," "Giddy and Gay,"
"Checking In, Checking Out," "Track Goes By") are on it. Overall, I'd say
the list looks like:
GIDEON GAYE
SANTA BARBARA (first album, and by far their least electronic)
HAWAII
COLD AND BOUNCY
SNOWBUG
BUZZLE BEE
LOLLO ROSSO (remix album, basically only for diehards)
Note that each album has a higher proportion of synthesizers and
electronics to acoustic instruments than the one that came before, if that
sort of thing bugs you. Basically, if you subscribe to the "two
guitars-bass-drums" model being the only acceptable musical path, you'll
hate them.
S
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