[.ca] Beet Maize And Corn

runner up for best of 2003:
Buying a new High Llamas release is always accepting the fact that you will be taken on a musical journey; the creative road less travelled by other artists. I always expect somthing different with each new High Llamas release. The first listen to Beet Maize and Corn was admittedly a curve-ball, but realized there was something xtra special about this work. It's beauty opened up upon subsequent listenings. I had thought the band's creative hi-water mark was "Gideon Gaye". I was wrong. "Beet Maize and Corn" is. Standout tracks are "Click and Fizz", "Walworth River". To me, Beet Maize and Corn's sucess was that it made me look back on the band's earlier works. Listening to "Ill Fitting Suits" off of Hawaii, an album I was never particularly on fire about, now shows it's brilliance. It's very difficult for artists to write something that still holds up and sound fresh as it did 10 or more years ago. Beet Maize and Corn has illuminated the fact that the High Llamas works have actually gotten stronger and gelled more over time. A rare accomplishment indeed. Time will look back on the High Llamas and their music as gorgeous yet little known works. 20 years (or sooner!) from now, tribute albums will come out. That's a wager I'll make. A special "Musical and Creative Bravery" award should be presented to Holdaway, O'Hagan, et.al. for sticking their necks out their whole careers, trying something different, and for music lovers sake, triumphing with a work like Beet Maize and Corn. Album of the Year? Shack-"Here's Tom With the Weather" runners up: High Llamas-"Beet Maize and Corn" Mogwai-"Happy Songs For Happy People" Yo La Tengo-"Summer Sun" biggest disappointment Spiritualized-"Amazing...Grace"

best Llamas Album? Get real!:
I do not know what you guys smoked, giving 5 stars to this album, but it must be strong... Honestly, this is the slowest, inspiration deprived of all High Llamas albums... Especially when you compare it with the new Stereolab.

Wow, What have I been listening to?:
I first heard about the Llamas in a reference made by a music critic reviewing the Beatles Let It Be...Naked album. He suggested saving your money on that, and picking this up instead. I guess there is a little bit of Sgt. Pepper/Revolver going on here, but Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach are the men they really channel. If you want to know where to jump in with this group, this album is evidently an acceptable place, even though it's their most recent. The mood varies from warm and sunny to dimly-lit room late at night stuff. I love every track, but especially the closing song, The Walworth River. The lyrics are beautiful, but almost completely inscrutable (they do hommage Van Dyke Parks after all). Having said all this, here's a warning: I've played it a few times for different people I care about, and so far I've gotten so-so feedback. This is a great album IMHO in a 'Pet Sounds' or 'Smile' kind of way, but maybe it's not for everyone's ear.

It just sounds better with each listen...:
Folks, let's face it. Sean O'Hagan is every bit the musical "genius" that, say, Brian Wilson. But because the High Llamas music is not easily accessible to most people(as far as radio play..it has'nt gotten any), it does not diminish the fact that this group plays some of the most elegant orchestrated, electronic, vibrant music ever put on record. Especially after seeing a live performance by them at the Troubador in Hollywood, I was somewhat stunned that they sound even better in person. O.K., maybe not everyone will "get" their music. But if ever I,m dying of a terminal illness, I,ve instructed those closest to me to let me go into the next world with this CD and a pair of headphones. And I would'nt be surprised when I get to Heaven, that they will be getting plenty of "airplay" there.

It is a kind respite:
This album is a strange experience. I listened to the tracks for the first time on a warn night with the last of the days light was coming in my window. I believe that it works more successfully to alot of the other records put out by this band as it is a very organic sounding album. The songs are for the most part slow and winding. There is very little in the way of drum beats. It is an album that is very much a mood record. It projects a mood and I believe it does this very well. The songs sound so familar, in many cases this is not a good thing. But here the melodies are rich and rewarding. I have found this was a very different type of record to the new stereolab album, this record is not pop. It is a blend of jazz with some melodies that sound like the beach boys if they had aged gracefully and Brian Wilson had not lived to the 80s. It is an aquired taste. It is a very medative album, a great album to read to or to watch the last of the day fade away.

• Barny Mix
• Calloway
• Click and the Fizz
• Porter Dimi
• Leaf and Lime
• Alexandra Line
• High on the Chalk
• Rotary Hop
• Ribbons and Hi Hats
• Holly Hills
• Monnie
• Walworth River