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 Hi guys

  just gone twenty years since Santa Barbara came out on V2 (01/01/92)

  Just to reminisce  .......first fell in love with "The Dutchman" and "Stepping In and Stepping Out".......I went bananas when "Hawaii" came out.....

  Saw the Llamas live in "The Duchess of York " in Leeds in 1997.

  I love all their albums.I particularly adore "Beet,Maize and Corn"

  I've seen them in Manchester at "The Hole In the Wall" and at "The Deaf Institute"

   Some of my fave tracks are "Garden Green(Detroit Shine","Might as well be Dumbo" "Cropduster" "Campers in Control" "High on the Chalk" "Cut the Dummy Loose" "Bobbys Court"  "Calling Up Ringing Down" "Nomads" "Painters Paint"..to name but a few.....

    Greatest thing about he band.......the lovely musical blend.....the humility of Sean and his loyal troup.......and the wondrous melodies that Sean writes..

    My only regret is that this band should be massive worldwide...but in my eyes and by my ears  ironically they are already....

    Please put your thoughts to the site....twenty years of great entertainment and music...we are grateful ...happy birthday Llamas..here's to the next twenty

    BK

 ps its my birthday on Sunday......

20 years eh..

How did you first hear of the Llamas?

As for me, I am a very recent fan only discovering the Llamas after buying Can Cladders in Thailand. I was big into the Beach Boys at the time and so I don't know why but I didn't really like the album at first!.. but... I knew there was something there... just couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I came back to England and gave it to my Dad who had read good things about the album (he always goes off what the press says). Anyway, a month or two later I was looking through his CD's for something to put on whilst having a bath and I grabbed Can Cladders... then all of a sudden it made sense... 'Sailing Bells', 'Dorothy Asby'.. I wanted the CD back! 

I still didn't become a massive fan until a few months later when I picked up Snowbug and heard 'Go to Montecito' and 'Cotton to the Bell'... then in Australia I bought 'Beet Maize and Corn'... well... that was it for me... Favourite band of all time status! Joining my other favs... Pavement, (pre-Sea Change) Beck, Beefheart, The Fall, Wilco, thethe, Beach Boys, XTC, ...

The fame thing.. well.. all the above bands have had their fare share of fame but have also been very 'misunderstood' (Wilco song!) at times.

I am happy that the Llamas are still making music today.. I always seem to get into bands too late! (probably cos I don't follow the media)... I hope they will continue to make music for another 20 years and more!

As for the future of music...the ego of the world has got to burst sometime right? ... when it does.. the down to earth, peaceful and loving music of the High Llamas will be here waiting for them!

Happy Birthday for Sunday br.kitson! 

 Happy Birthday BK!

 I first got into the Llamas via Stereolab, knowing that Sean had worked with them on a few albums.  A record store clear out (Windows, Newcastle) turned up a copy of Cold and Bouncy.  I didn't really get into it though, apart from the Air-like 'Glide Time' and the lovely bass and cryptic lyrics of the last track.

 Even so, I bought Buzzle Bee the day it was released (the now long-gone Changesone, South Shields) even though I didn't "get" the music- it sounded just that bit too twee (but even that's not quite the right word) to my ears.  Even purchases of Hawaii and Snowbug didn't break the ice.  It seemed to take me getting heavily in the Beach Boys and the release of 'Retrospective, Rarities and Instrumentals' and the beautiful 'Beet Maize and Corn' for it all to suddenly make sense.  And once it made sense there was no going back.

While Stereolab has fallen very much by the wayside in my musical taste the Llamas are in my view second only to the Beach Boys and have stood up to a decade of heavy listening.  For the record, I didn't really warm to Pet Sounds (the first Beach Boys album I owned) either - it took three months of Smiley Smile / Wild Honey to sort that out!