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December 16, 2010

Gwymon - Meic Stevens [1972]


"Clasur gan y cawr o Solfach" - Llinos A.

Y brawd agrees: classic from mighty Meic Stevens.

Having tried to please label Warners with 1970's Outlander (the public, wisely, ignored the "Welsh Van Morrison" shtick), Meic goes on to please himself with quietly stunning results on Gwymon. More laid-back, rootsy and unforced, the quality of the songs and performances shines through. A mix of light-hearted stoned chooglers - Shw' Mae, Shw' Mae [How's it going?]; Mae’r Eliffant Yn Cofio Popeth [Elephants remember everything];  Mynd I Weld Y Byd [Off to see the world] - and more weighyy, heart-felt meditations on loss - Traeth Anobaith [Beach of despair]; Daeth Neb Yn Ol’ [Nobody returned]; O Mor Lan Yr Oedd Y Dwr [How clear was the water].

The loose watery theme explains the title: Gwymon = Seaweed.

Welsh language desirable but not essential. Do yourself a favour, dive right in. 

Oddi wrth y brawd
shw' mae shw' mae

buy Meic

8 comments:

Pastaman Vibration (ye-ah!) said...

Seaweed? I see weed, I see, I weed, Veni Vidi Peepee. The Welsh Van the Man, the English man the van, get your motor running out there on the Highway 61. Y Dylan Gymreig? Ar dy feic Meic, dumpers for old posts. Nice.

And I haven't touched a drop. Worrying, that.

Y Brawd said...

rave on.

Anonymous said...

gwych, o'r diwedd, snapiodd y fersiwn caset tua 1995!
ffrem Sant Elvis yn Solfach, hefyd bae St Elvis ar y map, felly Elfis preseli go iawn, uh huh

mab Maentwrog gynt

aldo said...

Thanks a lot for this...I just came across your wonderful blog.
I had heard most of Meic's stuff up to Outlander and first got to hear him when I bought Tenth Planet's Ghost Town. I was curious to hear this one.

all the best from Chilean Patagonia!

Y Brawd said...

Greetings back Aldo and the land of fantastic names like Geraint sanchez and Pedro Jones.

Gwymon is one of Meic's best. have you checked out Nos Du Nos Da on this site? Gwych.

Picking up Meic's autobiography next week. Comes in two Welsh volumes or one English.

aldo said...

How strange that his autobiography is comprised of two volls in its Welsh version ...
But then, maybe they thought that 2 books in English was too much...
I'm sure you're refering to the Argentine Patagonia...across here and in this area in particular there was no Welsh influence. But then you travel further north, cross the border and find place names like Trevelin, and all the way to the Atlantic, Puerto Madryn and Trelew.

Y Brawd said...

Aye. y brawd sees Patagonia and imagination runs riot.

Unknown said...

Thank you very much :D Posted his Debut some days ago, and someone recommended to listen to his Welsh Records, so here i am!
Gonna give it a try!
Theredhippieteenager.blogspot.com