Well, I've just listened to the "Hawaii" LP and come to the conclusion that while the Boys have the history, the Llamas may just have the modern edge. I put it to you, ILMers, that Sean O'Hagan's undeniable fixation with the sound of B.Wilson circa 1966 to 1968, mixed with the dots, loops and bleeps of Stereolab-type post-rock, may be just as if not more listenable than much of the Wilsons' screechy, druggy, hippy stuff of the "Smile" and "Wild Honey" period.
Can it be that the influenced supersedes the influential ?
― darren (darren), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:23 (eighteen years ago) link
Smile isn't *as* druggy as it is Van Dyke's fixation with 'Discovering America', and Wild Honey wasn't even Brians, from what I understand. It was the Boys trying to be a soul band.
― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Haikunym (Haikunym), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― darren (darren), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― darren (darren), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 16:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:02 (eighteen years ago) link
Snowbug for tunes Hawaii for soundscapesCold & Bouncy for a compromise
The only song from Buzzle Bee that caught my attention was New Broadway. The rest of the catalog I skipped for whatever reason (sans Santa Barbra, which isn't really relevant to this thread)
Let us know if a year from now you think this stuff hold up...
― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:27 (eighteen years ago) link
I'm not going to take sides. I'll say the Beachwood Sparks are dud though.. haha.
― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Saxon Holt, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― donut debonair (donut), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:47 (eighteen years ago) link
If anything, I found the Beach Boys comparisons for all those bands not only highly innacurate and inappropriate, but insulting to the Beach Boys, and, what's more, struck me as opinions based upon a very narrow exposure to the Beach Boys' music. I have never heard a single E6 song that really sounds anything like the Beach Boys, with the possible exception of OTC's first single off "Black Foliage", which was terrible. (and fwiw I am certain I was not the only person deeply into the Beach Boys stuff prior to the mid-90s "revival" hoohah).
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 17:58 (eighteen years ago) link
Brian wrote melodies that stick, and respected the idea that short pop song structures maintain the listener's interest more often than not.
I discovered non-hit Beach Boys when a copy of Endless Summer was dumped on me in 1987, which was well before the indie-rediscovery of them. Let Him Run Wild still floors me. Near tears each listen.
Shakey Mo Collier hit it OTM upthread:
[[[Really all O'Hagen does is ape a very, very narrow slice of the Beach Boys' bizarrely varied ouevre (specifically "Let's Get Away for Awhile" and the like), stick some vintage synth blippy-bloopy sounds over it, and repeat ad nauseam for 50-minutes. There is way WAY more to the Beach Boys than just tropical-vacation orchestral 60s pop...]]]
Some like blippy-bloppy sounds though; I do to some degree. No hatred over that. But I see more depth and layers in the Beach Boys catalog.
New Thread: Endless Sumner...
― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:02 (eighteen years ago) link
I won't bother arguing that Wilson is overall a better orchestrator and, more importantly, melodically inventive composer than O'Hagen. Certainly his songs are fucking catchier.
x-x-xpost
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:06 (eighteen years ago) link
For the most Beach Boyish E6 song, check out "Marking Time" on Dusk at Cubist Castle. It's a great, great song, and sounds like a facsimile of Smiley Smile Beach Boys.
― Saxon Holt, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:21 (eighteen years ago) link
A lofty goal! And I think, for the most part, one that was successful.
― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 18:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 19:12 (eighteen years ago) link
I have nothing much against High Llamas, but O'Hagan is no match to Beach Boys
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 4 May 2005 20:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 5 May 2005 02:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Thursday, 5 May 2005 11:27 (eighteen years ago) link
O'Hagan was approached by "Brian's people" to do some stuff for the Beach Boys in the mid-'90s. He went to LA; first thing he saw was Mike Love bearing down on him asking if it were true that all Englishmen were "faggots." Exit O'Hagan stage left quicksnap.
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 5 May 2005 11:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― debden, Thursday, 5 May 2005 12:36 (eighteen years ago) link
This is important!
I have never heard the High Llamas though, although I am a very big fan of Microdisney. So he gets pretty much carte blance from me.
― Lucretia My Reflection (Lucretia My Reflection), Thursday, 5 May 2005 12:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 5 May 2005 12:52 (eighteen years ago) link
-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...), May 5th, 2005.
!?HUH?!
I never heard that about Mike Love. I guess there's more reasons to dislike him.
― 99 der leuft balloonnnss, Thursday, 5 May 2005 19:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 5 May 2005 19:59 (eighteen years ago) link
-- 99 der leuft balloonnnss (dododod...), May 5th, 2005. (later)
Yes, told in a 1997 Uncut feature w/ Brian on the cover. We have Sean O'Hagen's squeamishness to thank (in part) for never getting one last record out of them. I mean, as a huge fan of the Beach Boys, it must have come as a great shock to him to learn that Mike Love was actually a jerk.
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 5 May 2005 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link
There are a few cases of him managing to write good songs. They are called "Checking In, Checking Out" and "Giddy And Gay", both brilliant songs.
But generally, you are kind of right.
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 5 May 2005 22:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― tylerw, Thursday, 5 May 2005 22:51 (eighteen years ago) link
Love the High Llamas. Sean O'Hagan is a wizard. The more of his (and Cathal Coughlan's) songs I chord out and present on a website I've been building - COUGHLANOHAGAN.COM - the more I see just how great O'Hagan was and remains (as well as his songwriting partner from Microdisney, Coughlan).
― weirwrite, Saturday, 23 May 2020 06:43 (three years ago) link
I've loved O'Hagan's music for a long, long time. In fact, it was one of two reasons why I launched a website around his music https://coughlanohagan.com/.
― weirwrite, Saturday, 23 May 2020 06:46 (three years ago) link
knobhead
― thomasintrouble, Saturday, 23 May 2020 17:41 (three years ago) link