Gideon Gaye
Studio album by
The High Llamas
Released1994 (1994)
RecordedLate 1993 – early 1994[1]
Genre
Length54:48
LabelTarget
Producer
The High Llamas chronology
Santa Barbara
(1992)		 Gideon Gaye
(1994)		 Hawaii
(1996)
Singles from Gideon Gaye
  1. "Checking in, Checking Out"
    Released: 5 October 1995

Gideon Gaye is the second studio album by the Anglo-Irish avant-pop band the High Llamas, released in 1994 on the Brighton-based Target label.[1] Notable for anticipating the mid 1990s easy-listening revivalism,[4] the album's music was influenced by Brian Wilson, Steely Dan, Brazilian bossa nova and European film soundtracks,[5] and was recorded with a £4000 budget.[6] It was met with high praise by the British press.[7] Q dubbed the LP "the best Beach Boys album since 1968's Friends".[8][9] In the US, the album was indifferently promoted.[7]

Background

Upon release, bandleader Sean O'Hagan responded to Beach Boys comparisons: "There are aspects that are blatantly Brian-esque, because I've always been a huge Brian [Wilson] fan. He has been the biggest influence in my career to date. I was always shy [about] how much I liked him, but this time I decided to be blatant about it. But then I'm also a huge John Cale fan."[10] The album's sleeve art is a homage to Van Dyke Parks' 1967 album Song Cycle, which uses the same Torino Italic Flair typeface.[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
The Guardian[13]
Select4/5[14]

Scott Schinder of Trouser Press reviewed: "The result is a homespun, heartfelt art-pop masterpiece, with airy arrangements and gorgeous melodies in richly detailed tunes — 'The Dutchman,' 'Checking In, Checking Out,' 'The Goat Looks On' and the fourteen-minute 'Track Goes By' — that liberally quote Brian Wilson's lost classic [Smile] without sacrificing O'Hagan's purposefully playful point of view."[3] Writer Tim Page called the album "suffused throughout with a gentle wistfulness that is never made quite explicit ... [the album] is also intriguing on a purely formal level. The album's centerpiece is 'The Goat Looks On,' yet the entire disc might be described as a study of the creation of a song called 'The Goat Looks On.'"[1]

Critic Richie Unterberger opined: "It's an impressive outing that sounds like little else in the alternative rock world of the mid-'90s. But it only establishes O'Hagan and his various pals as charming emulators, rather than true innovators.[12] CMJ New Music Monthly's Steve McGuirl wrote of the album: "A tad academic, perhaps; but to dismiss Gideon Gaye as merely retro cheapens a beautiful record and the music that inspired it."[15]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sean O'Hagan

No.TitleLength
1."Giddy Strings"0:27
2."The Dutchman"4:41
3."Giddy and Gay"4:55
4."Easy Rod"2:04
5."Checking in, Checking Out"5:45
6."The Goat Strings"2:06
7."Up in the Hills"4:57
8."The Goat Looks On"6:13
9."Taog Skool No"1:36
10."Little Collie"0:44
11."Track Goes By"14:13
12."Let's Have Another Look"0:50
13."The Goat (Instrumental)" (CD only)6:17
Total length:54:48

Personnel

Per AllMusic.[16]

The High Llamas

  • Rob Allum – drums, percussion
  • John Fell – bass
  • Marcus Holdaway – cello, harpsichord, organ, piano, upright piano, string arrangements, vibe master, vibraphone, vocals, background vocals, Vox organ
  • Sean O'Hagan – composer, glockenspiel, guitar, Moog bass, Moog synthesizer, organ, piano, upright piano, producer, string arrangements, vocals, background vocals, Vox organ

Additional staff

  • Andre – layout design
  • Charles Francis – engineer, producer
  • Anthony Lyons – layout design
  • Jocelyn Pook – viola
  • Anne Wood – violin

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
UK Albums (OCC)[17] 94

References

  1. 1 2 3 Page, Tim (10 January 1999). "The High Llamas: A Different Breed". The Washington Post.
  2. ↑ "Electronic Musician". Electronic Musician. Vol. 16. 2000.
  3. 1 2 Schinder, Scott (1997). "Hawaii". In Robbins, Ira A.; Sprague, David (eds.). The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock: The All-New Fifth Edition of The Trouser Press Record Guide. Simon & Schuster. p. 345. ISBN 978-0-684-81437-7.
  4. ↑ Kamp, David; Daly, Steven (2005). The Rock Snob's Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Rockological Knowledge. Broadway Books. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-7679-1873-2.
  5. ↑ Mason, Stewart. "Checking In, Checking Out – The High Llamas". AllMusic.
  6. ↑ Buckley, Peter, ed. (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. p. 494. ISBN 978-1-85828-457-6.
  7. 1 2 Unterberger, Richie. "The High Llamas". AllMusic.
  8. ↑ Harrington, Richard (20 February 2004). "High Llamas Keeping It Simple". The Washington Post.
  9. ↑ Lester, Paul (June 1998). "The High Llamas: Hump Up the Volume". Uncut. No. 13.
  10. ↑ Sexton, Paul (23 September 1995). "High Llamas Hope to Scale U.S. Market". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 38. p. 22.
  11. ↑ Henderson, Richard (2010). Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-4411-9619-4.
  12. 1 2 Unterberger, Richie. "Gideon Gaye – The High Llamas". AllMusic.
  13. ↑ Sullivan, Caroline (7 July 1995). "The High Llamas: Gideon Gaye (Alpaca)". The Guardian.
  14. ↑ Cavanagh, David (May 1994). "The High Llamas: Gideon Gaye". Select. No. 47. p. 87.
  15. ↑ McGuirl, Steve (February 1996). "High Llamas: Gideon Gaye". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 30. p. 13.
  16. ↑ "Gideon Gaye – The High Llamas – Credits". AllMusic.
  17. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
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