Gideon Gaye

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]

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

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"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. Page, Tim (10 January 1999). "The High Llamas: A Different Breed". The Washington Post.
  2. "Electronic Musician". Electronic Musician. Vol. 16. 2000.
  3. 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. 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. 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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