AM Byth

Artist: Various Artists
Label: Empyrean Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 803645000325
EAN: 0803645000325
ASIN: B0007O38U8

Release Date: 2005-03-01

AM Byth

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Tracks:

Valium
Allan O'i Phen
Breichiau Hir
Gafael Yn Dynn
Sega Segur
Arwynebol Melyn
Lluchia Dyfflachlwck Drosta I
Gweld Dim Byd
Llosgi 'N Nhy I Lawr
Ffarout
Gweneud Fy Mhen I Fewn
Gwn
Hydref Yn Sacramento
Colli'r Goriad
Mynd I Lawr
Dw In Troin Ffrwyth
Bonus Track 1

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Album Description

'Am Byth' is a compilation of songs principally for those few Ffa Coffi Pawb fans whose tapes have long since been chewed up in cassette machines that were thrown out years ago. The band recorded three albums for the Welsh Ankst label (original home to Super Furry Animals & Gorky's Zygotic Mynci), one on their own Siwgwr label and numerous 12" flexi-discs and one-offs on Welsh compilation albums. This is the first attempt to bring some of those disparate recordings together - and is also the first time many of these songs have appeared on CD. Most of the master tapes are lost, so this collection was mastered directly from a variety of formats: cassette, vinyl, mini disc, dat tapes and, of course, flexi-disc. <P>The fab four formed in Bethesda, North Wales in `86 and were instantly banned from the local media as their name, which translates literally to "Everybody's Coffee Beans," translates phonetically to "F**k Off Everybody." The band split in the summer of '93, ending their perpetual tour of Wales, just a few months after releasing Hei Vidal (regarded as their finest album) in December 1992. <P>In time, vocalist and guitarist Gruff Rhys and drummer Dafydd Ieuan went on to form Super Furry Animals with members of other bands from the imploded Welsh music scene - Huw Bunford and Guto Pryce from Cardiff's U.Thant and Ieuan's brother Cián Ciaran from electronic experimentalists Wwzz. Guitarist Rhodri Puw joined Gorky's Zygotic Mynci following John Lawrence's departure and played on 'How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart' and 'Sleep/Holiday.' He also records as Psycho VII. Bassist Dewi Emlyn has toured extensively with numerous bands including Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals, Mogwai and Cornelius.

Customer Reviews:

Rough Cymric musical ore, not yet refined .......2005-07-14

Hwyl! For SFA fans, obviously a must buy. Since I like their Outspaced most of all, that is the off-the-cuff b-sides more than their increasingly polished albums--which although crafted leave me rather ho-hum, I wanted to check out this forerunner of the blunter SFA sound. While both Gorkys & SFA (like their then-peers--hard to believe given their fate--Catatonia) carried the Welsh Language Movement's right to cultural expression in their first native language forward, thanks to "the mighty Ankst label," the bands themselves have drifted more to the poppier, and gradually softer, Anglophonic, legacy (SFA's Mwng excepted) of what was fifteen years ago the post-punk Welsh D.I.Y scene.

When I heard this, I didn't first read the liner notes, so I figured it progressed from rawer, drum machine garage-y cuts to more assured tracks as the duo expanded into a four-man band. But, afterwards, I found that these tracks skip about the mostly early-90s out of chronological order, so what I heard as a sonic advance fooled me--that early drum machine may have (or may not have) outstayed its early welcome. FCP's a hardscrabble product.

Funny that the poppier, psychedelic touches reminding me of SFA (less so than what were in early stages a much more acid-tinged Gorky's, to which one member later went to replace GZM's drummer) can barely be heard here--mostly sitar-ish effects of a couple of the songs. I expected more of this pattern, but the harsher, industrial-garage band on a budget mix predominates. The lyrics, by the way, show that form matches content well.

More commonly, their angrier side emerges, as the notes (in Welsh and in this edition, translated and briefly if helpfully annotated by Gruff Rhys--also see his recent, raw, solo album in Welsh) show a political content matching an itchy, aggressive, musical twitch. Primitive, as the notes by the label show, taking cues from Jesus & Mary Chain (in their mid-career drum machine phase, apparently concurrent with FCP). Not the most evolved or original sound, but verbally intelligent and often cryptic--for poetic and/or lystegic intent--it's one that fits. For the literary equivalent, read Niall Griffith's novels.

Probably 3 1/2 stars overall for music--there's a lot of ordinary-sounding songs among the more promising tunes, but certainly a 5 star rating for the lyrics and presentation. Great snarky logo, too. Am byth!

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