The Whole Truth...

David R Edwards, Dave Datblygu, reckons that Oblong are The Greatest Rock and Roll Band Ever. Capitalised-The Greatest Rock and Roll Band Ever. I'm not going to dispute that.
Seeing Dave performing with The Greatest Rock and Roll Band Ever was something else. In a rare (unique?) performance in English, this amiable icon of Welsh Culture unleashed a torrent of passion the aftershocks of which I will still be able to feel if I live to be 100. It was a monumental performance, a privilege to witness. Right?
Oblong were, as ever, superb. The potential of the electric guitar approaching fulfilment. They penetrate not only my late middle aged torpor, but my earwax as well (a feat in itself) They enjoy it, too.
Papur Wal were worthy openers. I look forward to hearing their edgy sound on record.

Datblygu- The Peel Sessions 1987-1993

 If you know anything at all about Datblygu you'll know about the late John Peel's passion for them, and the exalted position that they hold in Welsh language music. For a group who performed solely in Welsh to record five sessions for JP was a truly remarkable achievement. David R Edwards is still (rightly) regarded as an icon of popular culture and consciousness in Wales.
Dave once told me that he had never seen a penny from the BBC releases. I had the good fortune to see him again not long back, and it's always refreshing to meet such a talented and culturally significant bloke and to realise what a sound and down to earth person he is.
It's somehow in  keeping with Datblygu's rather anarchic background
that a retrospective exhibition, Datblygu Trideg, celebrating thirty years since their formation, has been held in a waffle cafe.


There's a Datblygu website (in Welsh)  here...
And you can read about the waffle cafe exhibition here (in English) and here (in Welsh).


http://d01.megashares.com/dl/d9aAS4r/Datblygu- Peel Sessions 1987-1993.part1.rar
http://d01.megashares.com/dl/fnAaHAo/Datblygu- Peel Sessions 1987-1993.part2.rar

I've included a scan of the inner sleeve. It includes details of the personnel , producers, dates etc, but more interestingly Dave's notes on each song featured. (In English):   http://d01.megashares.com/dl/K2hT9gx/datblygu notes.rar

And while we're at it, isn't it about time that somebody translated Dave's autobiography,  Atgofion Hen Wanc into English?

Datblygu- Ga I Fod Sion Corn?

David R Edwards

Ar yr un pryd, roedd DJ enwoca'r byd - John Peel - yn datgan mai cerddoriaeth Datblygu oedd yr ysgogiad gore i unrhywun i ddysgu'r iaith Gymraeg:

"You'd have to be a bit of a ninny to ignore Datblygu, this is the band that
makes me want to learn the Welsh language."

Here's the best xmas related record ever.
Despite the fact that my father's first language is Welsh, that I have lived in Wales all my life and that I was even (albeit accidentally) placed in the Welsh form in secondary school I can't translate the lyrics in their entirety. My relationship with the language has always been a bit thorny.
And how much money has been spent on implementing The Welsh Language Act 1993 (an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales with regard to the public sector)?
Road signs, electric bills, driving licences, hospital appointments, application forms,everything bilingual?
According to the 2001 census 582,400 (20.8% of the population of Wales) were able to speak Welsh and 457,946 (16.3%) can speak, read and write it.

From the BBC:
When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated".
So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket.
"When they're proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh," said journalist Dylan Iorwerth.

Anyway, back to Datblygu: Ga I Fod Sion Corn? (Can I be Father Xmas?) here are some of the gems therein, musings of a lyrical genius:

The system causes cancer, not smoking…
I’m sick of feeling like Jesus on the cross, so please, can I be Father Xmas.
3 signs of insanity- talking to yourself, listening to other people, not talking to yourself.
I want Wales to be free, I want every village to be free, I want every person to be free…

Listen here:

Datblygu 1985-1995

Datblygu- Welsh for development.

Here are some sleeve notes:
A word from Gruff Rhys, SFA, Esq…
'Beginning with the aching pop standard ‘Y Teimlad’ this collection gives us a glimpse of a band capable of anything. It seems to me that Datblygu are one of those bands whom standing upon their seedy pulpit hold up a mirror to the society they live in. A lazy comparison would be someone like Serge Ginsbourg. But that slimeball had 50 million heads to fill his mirror and bank account. David “The Last Communist in Europe (Too Skint To Go To Cuba)” R. Edwards on the other hand communicates here to half a million Welsh speakers fucked on Thatcherism. This ever poignant work comes as a sonic and moral warning to a complacent generation of white hicks on coke, looking for a welcome break on the third [motor] way to oblivion'.

http://d01.megashares.com/dl/DAPiKqP/Datblygu-1985-1995.rar