One of the greatest albums ever made
09/23/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is glorious -- some sort of wild mixture of Brian Wilson, Steve Reich, the Band, the Beach Boys, and a distinctly 90s sensibility. Created for 4000 pounds sterling, it is an absolute whirl of different influences, transcended and exalted by Sean O'Hagan, the High Llamas' resident genius. There's nothing like "Gideon Gaye" anywhere. Do not let the seeming lightness of this album fool you. It is a particularly tender surrealism, with a distinctly English conservatism -- and by that, I don't mean the Religious Right or anything like that. Rather, the conservatism lies in the preservation of old values -- small towns, country lanes, gentility -- expressed in terrific rock and roll. Absolutely brilliant, with that marvelous mixture of the new and the old that T.S. Eliot explored in "Tradition and the Individual Talent." The High Llamas embrace both."
Not a period record
06/03/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Singing like Donald Fagan and arranging like Brian Wilson does not make Sean O'Hagan a throwback artist or a mimic. O'Hagan uses ideas and riffs from Pet Sounds as his pallette to create a completely new work of art. His use of repetition to create musical trances is totally contemporary. This is a best of the Nineties record as far as I'm concerned."
They Want to Take You Higher
Andy Shanks | 02/07/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Though more an extended EP than a genuine album, Gideon Gaye is nevertheless the best place to start appreciating the work of Sean O'Hagan's High Lllamas. Echoing the lush textures Beach Boy Brian Wilson sculpted during his Smile heyday, Gideon Gaye is awash with exotic arrangements, blending strings, vibes, fuzz bass, electronic effects and exquisite harmonies that seem to go up and up and up. O'Hagan also works with Stereolab, however, and the ambient approach of that outfit isn't as effective when applied here -- the songs tend to wander off for no good reason. "Track Goes By" boasts the most immediate hook on the album but drifts into an epic flute solo that drags on for a far too long twelve minutes. The constant remixing of key tracks as bumpers also becomes repetitive. The major numbers, though, are strong: "The Dutchman" is so masterfully arranged that it's hard to believe the Llamas' previous album was average three-chord bash and pop, while "Giddy and Gay" is everything implied by the title; "ear candy" doesn't begin to describe its effervescing melody. And though the lyrics for the centerpiece, "The Goat Looks On", are disappointingly oblique, its message is communicated well enough through impressionistic sound painting."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1