(Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Folk Rock, Pop-Rock) Galwad Y Mynydd - Galwad Y Mynydd (1971-73) {Welsh} {Finders Keepers FKR015CD, EU (UK)} - 2007, APE (image+.cue) lossless

Formed by brothers; Alwyn (17) and Eifion (16) Daniels, their Camarthen grammar schoolfriend Derek Brown (18), and Camarthen technical college student Mike Harries (19) on drums; Galwad Y Mynydd (The Call of The Mountain) ticked all the right boxes in their quest to deliver, in their own words 'a new style of contemporary Welsh Folk music.'

Choosing musicality over volume, beauty and heartache over protest and politics they were a young anomaly in Welsh language pop. Songs such as Can Cadwaladr were aimed at the dancefloors of a new breed of Welsh language pop sound system that mushroomed in the 1970's led by the charismatic bearded DJ Mici Plwm. GYM clearly understood their audience and were winners of the pop group competition at the 1972 Pontrhydfendigaid eisteddfod.

Galwad Y Mynydd however were never to achieve their ambition of becoming a fully formed professional outfit, rather they were the opening act of a scene of bands that eventually morphed into smooth folk rock college super group, Hergest.

Bonding at a holiday camp run by Urdd Gobaith Cymru, a league of youth that is a near enough compulsory rite of passage of a Welsh language education, the future members of Hergest were drunk on the euphoric possibility of 12 string guitars, mandolin and autoharp - their eventual career as Aberystwyth's answer to The Eagles belying the promises of Derek's Galwad Y Mynydd, Geraint Davies's spooky Gwennwyn (Poison) and Delwyn Sion's Madog.

Although Derek continues to release records, often for children on the Fflach label, as well as penning many popular radio songs in the 1980's, the experienced college boys of Hergest never matched the innocence that is the heartbeat of GYM's songs. Named after an Ioan Bowen Rees' companion to mountaineering, many of their songs display their awe of the geology that surrounded them. Songs such as Niwl y Mor meanwhile, a hymn to the beauty of the mist rising over Cardigan Bay on a Summers day, and ballads such as Un Cynnig Olaf (One Last Opportunity) display all the heartbreak of young love. With their fragile music they created an emotional landscape of their own that is an evocative snapshot of early seventies teenage life on the damp West coast of northern Europe.

-- Gruff Rhys, 2007.

Absolutely amazing 'contemporary Welsh folk music' from the early 1970s. Galwad Y Mynydd (The Call of the Mountain) was a group formed by teenage brothers who went on to record one obscure LP which was re-issued via the Finder's Keeper's label in 2007. Great amateur vocal harmonies, totally perfect home-recorded vibe on the drums and jangly psychedelic guitars make for a really engaging listen. Some real down-and-out vibes too.. nice!

"Galwad y Mynydd were a Welsh folk-rock combo with the emphasis on the Welsh - they sang all their songs in their native tongue and were clearly more interested in appealing to their peers than hitting the international hit parade with their spare but compelling melodies. The group's output was a mere two EPs released between 1971 and 1973, but they're well remembered enough among collectors of small-press recordings to prompt this reissue of their catalog from the British Finders Keepers label. Galwad y Mynydd embraced a graceful pop melodic sense in their music, but the rock in their folk-rock is of the gentlest sort - acoustic guitars dominate the arrangements (with an autoharp prominent on 'Nid Yr Hen Gwestiynau Oedd Wrth Y Llyw'), and Mike Harries' drumming is simple and unobtrusive, rarely venturing much further than keeping the time (when he hits the crash cymbal, the effect is almost startling). The songs maintain a simple, pastoral air even if you don't know what the lyrics mean, and the harmonies and rough but sweet songcraft sound more like a product of the mid- to late '60s than the early '70s, when more progressive sounds were the order of the day and this sort of wistful, folk-inspired music was becoming less and less common. It's hard to categorize Galwad y Mynydd as a great lost band based on the eight songs they left behind - they were musicians part time, and often sound like it - but the melodies and the earnest but passionate performances are enough to suggest they could have become an important group with a bit more time, experience, and studio polish. Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals contributes a brief appreciation of Galwad y Mynydd to the liner notes; there's also a lengthy essay by group member Derec Brown, but it's presented only in Welsh."