Galwad Y Mynydd - Galwad Y Mynydd

West Coast rock, Cymru-style

It’s amazing just how many Gram Parsons/Neil Young/Byrds copyists made it so big following the initial country-rock spark, and how bland they were. Come on, early 70s US West Coast rock is often just bloated egos and cocaine-ridden self-indulgence couched in the mask of sensitivity. Though few would have known it, the west coast of Wales had its own uprising at the same time, and on the evidence of Galwad Y Mynydd (The Call Of The Mountain), it had more passion and fire than anything a group of slick sessioneers could muster. This young bunch of desperadoes (the eldest was only 19) met at a youth holiday camp in 1972, and by the end of the year released their first self-titled EP. It makes up the first four tracks here, with 1973’s Merch Yn Eistedd Ar Y Bryn EP making up the next four. In spirit, much of it isn’t a million miles away from the sound Dylan’s troupe worked up three years later, a ragbag of borderline dancefloor-movers-through-rhythmic-folk music. When in a lower gear, Galwad take the best of the US West Coast, but give it a true country air that none of the Hollywood cowboys ever breathed. In short: pastoral, beautiful and beguiling Welsh-language folk.

Finders Keepers | FKR 015 CD

Reviewed by Jason Draper
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