Buzzle Bee

High Llamas

Product Details

• Vinyl (November 14, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Drag City
• ASIN: B000051763
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #178,182 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
For many, Sean O'Hagen--the bright-eyed retro-pop connoisseur who's recorded since the early '90s under the tag of the High Llamas--has never topped the elaborate 1994 psychedelic masterpiece Gideon Gaye. Like close contemporaries the Boo Radleys, there's a lingering suspicion that O'Hagen is a desperately undervalued pop voice, but it's difficult to herald Buzzle Bee. With guest backing vocals from Mary Hansen of occasional collaborators Stereolab and all the retro psychedelic influences fixed in place, O'Hagen's muse shows signs of being irritatingly inflexible. While this doesn't quite bring the Bacharach-gone-Krautrock space fairytale of "New Broadway" crashing to earth, it does leave this album's more prosaic moments--such as the exercise in easy-listening tedium that is "Sleeping Spray"--trampling through the same old leafy glades without any clear direction. More ideas, please. --Louis Pattison

Product Description
It's probably critical overkill to point out that the High Llamas are the prime inheritors of the lush soundscapes that Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach perfected (each in his own way) during the '60s and early '70s. On the other hand, it's also abundantly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buzzle Bee, October 4, 2001

By A Customer

I don't get it. Everyone here is looking for that same old catch. Not as good as the old stuff? Each album is like a new band, with new tastes and ideas. Didn't anyone see the hidden meaning behind "The Passing Bell" where Sean O'Hagan clearly refers to laying down at the foot of the rye, and also the cover of the album is much alike to an old printing of the novel, the catcher in the rye. this is possibly thier best album. the fact that some of you cant stand a little change doesnt mean this album is bad. its just lightyears ahead of your mind.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lazy delight., November 16, 2000

By	Spencer G. Dickson (Murray, UT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

So,okay, the High Llamas' songs all sound a bit samey. Their lyrics are nonsensical (but, you know, still kinda fun), and their chord progressions (which are admittedly more sophisticated than those found on the average Oasis album) are becoming more than slightly predictable. Yet Sean O'Hagen's ear for harmony, texture, serviceable melodies, and, yes, lush instumentation continues to fascinate, even though we've heard all this before. The High Llamas definitely have carved out their own niche, and fill it nicely. Aping Brian Wilson--arguably the greatest pop classicist of all time--and adding a dash of Stereolab-esque leftfield electro-acoustica is entirely admirable. O'Hagen's melodies could be stronger, and his songs could be more structured (they seem to meander aimlessly at times), but by now, all this is beside the point--which is to envelop the listener in a blanket of exotic pet sounds that will instantly transport him or her to a palm tree-lined avenue in midwinter Pasadena as the thrum of a convertible completes the feeling of dreamy ambience.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After many listens, finally several straight through,, November 2, 2003

By	Jonathan Goldstein "musiclover" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album has revealed its subtle and magnificent grandiosity. Make no mistake about it, this is a highly ambitious and creative undertaking. This album is a frontier blazer. The first song is the single most beautiful and mesmerizing in the entire Llamas canon. The rest of the album follows suit. Every song is a sprawling work of art. Though it's their shortest album, its the High Llamas album of electronic epics. Yet another masterpiece from a band that is almost unable to create anything but masterpieces. Sean O'Hagan is the most talented and ambitious pop musician in the world right now. And has been for quite some time.