The High Llamas then…
When, Microdisney, the 1980s second-most undeservedly unsuccessful band folded in 1988 (I’m rating The Go-Betweens as #1 on that particular list) a beautiful song-writing partnership came to an end. They may not quite be up there with Rogers & Hammerstein, Lennon & McCarthy, Goffin & King et al. but the unlikely combination of Sean O’Hagan’s Beach Boys-esque pop sensibilities with Cathal Coughlan’s angry, gritty, nihilism produced something quite magical.
Over the course of four albums released between 1984 and 1988 and after moving to London in 1983, the duo from Cork blossomed into one of the most exciting and literate bands on the 80s Indie scene. Championed by John Peel (who described one of their early releases, Helicopter of the Holy Ghost as the greatest B-side he had ever heard) Microdisney were always full of promise.
In addition to the four albums, Microdisney recorded 6 Peel Sessions, released a number of EPs and singles and put out a compliation of early singles and rarities, originally released under the title, We Hate You South African Bastards, but later released under the slightly less attention-grabbing title, Love Your Enemies.
During their five years in London the duo morphed into a ‘proper’ band with the addition of Jon Fell (bass) and Tom Fenner (drums). They also moved from indie obscurity to a deal with Rough Trade Records, and then to the verge of mainstream pop success via a deal with Virgin Records. The breakthrough never came but the almost inevitable breakup did…
Sean and Cathal went their own ways; Cathal Coughlan formed the in-your-face Fatima Mansions while Sean O’Hagan was able to follow his Brian Wilson inspired pop dreams through the medium of The High Llamas.
And 32 years after the release of the first High Llamas album, Sean O’Hagan has just released the 11th. It’s generating a lot of indie media interest and BBC Radio 6 airplay but I can’t see it troubling the charts. O’Hagan ploughs his own furrow and makes music exactly how he wants to. He’s not afraid to experiment (he was, for a short while in the early 1990s, a member of avant garde popsters, Stereolab, and it’s not hard to see how he fitted in there) and the new album, Hey Panda, sees him using an auto-tune effect on some of his vocals – not something you’d expect to hear from a white, male, middle class, 65-year old singer with a solid indie pedigree!
I’ve chosen seven High Llamas tracks covering the whole of the band’s 32-years’ output – I say ‘band’ but it’s effectively Sean O’Hagan’s solo project and it always has been. Two of the tracks feature notable vocal contributions from Laetitia Sadier and the late Mary Hansen of Stereolab fame (Cookie Bay) and from Rae Morris (Sisters Friends).
Enjoy…
The 'Spill 
Loved these, only knew a few. Better yet, when I let it play on to the spotify recommends – wow what a lovely mix : Brittany Howard, Lemon Twigs, Camera Obscura, Emitt Rhodes, The Cyrkle (crooners!), Felado Negro woooo
That was me, magicmenagerie
I’m not usually a big fan of algorithms but Spotify tends to get it right more often than not!
I had not deliberately listened to anything by Microdisney, High Llamas or Fatima Mansions but was aware that friends liked them. Interesting to give them a go, thanks 🙂
I first heard Cathal Coughlan on the Fatima Mansions’ Viva Dead Ponies and loved the combination of his rich voice with the aggressive music and lyrics. The next FM records became even more abrasive – wyngate’s arena – and so I got a Microdisney ‘hits’ album, which turned out to be a tad too smoooth for my taste.
These samples are even smoother and further away from my baby bear spot.
I punted a couple of FM songs for this week’s SongBar game, TB. I’m surprised not to see you playing this week.
And yet, weirdly , the “too smooth” Microdisney were definitely one of “my” bands – which of course you know! Makes no sense, but anyway!
I think that the two working together were always greater than the two working apart…
I’ve told this story , possibly recently, but I’ll tell it again…
…I loved Microdisney , having got intio them initiaslly via the Birthday Girl single, and then the Crooked Mile album. An album very much influenced as I understand by the west coast and by 70s MOR, it makes no sense except for the baleful presence of Cathal, and also in a strange way it was the nearest thing for me to Dexys at the time. I was very excited when it was announced in 1988 they were playing Leicester Poly on their tour promoting their 39 Minutes album. I went along with my old mate Phil who was lapping up any indie gigs he could go to. On ther night we arrived at the Poly and went to look for the queue. After fruitlessly searching we realised there was no queue. We entered the venue and for around 50 minutes were the only people there! As others trickled in we watched the utterly brilliant support act Edward Barton ( a chubby beardy man with an acoustic guitar – sample lyric: “My name is Nobgob, but I can’t get my knob in my gob”.
By the time Microdisney came on the crowd had swelled – to around 70 people! They were utterly brilliant as far as I was concerned – Sean O’Hagan and the band got on with playing solid nice tunes while Cathal slowly became more deranged. Phil thought they were “plodding” and “boring”. The Soup Dragons who were indie flavour of the month were playing the Uni, which probably put the nail in the coffin of the Microdisney gig. They split up after the tour though so maybe the rest of it wasn’t much better.
In 1996 I was on my way to see Sheffield hardcore punk band Truth Decay at the Physio & Firkin and on the way called in at the Charlotte, Leicester’s main pub venue. The High Llamas were playing and for a few minutes I found myself at a near empty bar standing next to Sean O’Hagan. I thought about speaking to him, telling him I’d been at the Microdisney gig , etc. I didn’t. Perhaps he wouldn’t want to be reminded , and perhaps he wouldn’t want to hear I was actually going to a gig down the road instead of watching the High Llamas. Then again , he could have taken consolation from the fact that the Truth Decay gig pulled about a 10th of the punters that the Microdisney gig had. I do wish I’d actually spoken to him now though.
Fantastic story! I think Sean would have loved to hear it…