Datblygu - The BBC Peel Sessions 1977-1983

Cerddoriaeth dant a pethau pop

Peel, of course, was so taken by Datblygu he said they made him want to learn Welsh. It’s easy to see from whence the DJ’s fixation came: whether the lyrics are in your mother tongue or otherwise, the music itself always sounded political, subversive, dark, odd and wonderful.

Lead vocalist David R Edwards, the grubby, wide-eyed storyteller, took the helm with rants and semi-psychedelic flights of wonderful wordplay, leading a jerky band as they stood nervously on the edge of the abyss of genius. He probably wouldn’t like us saying it, but Edwards is quite possibly the greatest Welsh poet of our time. This compilation strips the already spacey strange fruits down even further: there’s gothic mastery (Nesaf), pure pop (Cristion Yn Y Kibbutz, Dim Deddf Dim Eiddo) and oodles of matter-of-fact self-immolation, scab-scratching observation and occasional full-on rage, with Edwards revisiting demons of the past and present, before twisting their necks and kissing them better.

Datblygu both straddled and enabled the explosion of Welsh language acts into a wider consciousness, and these tracks go some way to explaining why and how that happened. There are sleevenote explanations (of sorts) of the songs in English to add to the madness and magic of a fabulous release.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Ankstmusik | ANKST 119

Reviewed by Joe Shooman
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