#langsyne

#1018

Langsyne - Cynghanedd

“Langsyne”, 1976

Langsyne “Langsyne” 1976  mega rare Private Germany Psych Folk 

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https://vk.com/wall312142499_4305

Langsyne from Barmen played some sophisticated English-language psych-folk with a large variety of partly exotic instruments like the psaltery, koto, glockenspiel, banjo, flute, slide guitar, or the Jew's harp. Their only LP was released in 1976, as an edition of only 200 copies, and is today sold at a price of about € 1000 to € 2000 in mint condition. It is thus probably the most expensive Krautrock LP except the first edition of 'Monster movie' by Can. It contains only self-written tracks. Especially remarkable is that the musical interaction of the three musicians is of somnabulistic perfection. There have been several new editions of 'Langsyne', both as LP and as CD, some of them with a bonus track. The Garden of Delights CD has been drawn from the master tapes and contains fifteen bonus tracks, each of them of a perfect sound quality. ....

Lang'syne 's sole album is one of the top 10 folk-prog album out of Germany along with Holderlin's Traum, Emtidi , Borselmachine , Ougenmweide , Carol Of Harvest and a few more. Unlike most German folk prog, it is sung in English which rather sad but the qualty of the songs as well as the musicianship more than makes up for. The music is for the most part acoustic but sometinmes full-blown electric but giving more of a British Isles feel. Moonkyte and early Fairport Convention come to mind when this album is playing. Although quite an enjoyable spin , this was hardly groundbreaking, though as it got released in 76 and was sort of fighting an Arriere-Guarde battle. This album has been released in Cd format on Lost Pipe Dream label in 92... by Sean Trane....

The German folk trio LANGSYNE from Wuppertal area never got support from record companies during their eight years of activity, but their self-budgeted sole album has become a valuable collector's item and has seen numerous re-releases on vinyl and CD. I was happy to receive the Garden of Delights edition with 15 (!) bonus tracks and an exhausting article. Not that I'd ever care to read all details about the various re-releases. I'm surprisingly only the third reviewer. I couldn't invent a better name than the Scottish word for "long since" for this group, who doesn't sound German at all. Indo-Prog / Raga-Rock is a bit misleading category, as this is primarily Medieval / Renaissance -inspired folk. GRYPHON is mentioned as the trio's mutual idol, but the music comes closer to AMAZING BLONDEL, slightly seasoned with INCREDIBLE STRING BAND's Indo-flavoured psychedelia. Ethnic instruments such as psalter, sitar or koto are used to a small degree. Multiple acoustic guitars form the spine, even flute, organ and percussion are often put aside. Perhaps the main album's long tracks are the clearest highlights in their melancholic and nearly mystic atmosphere. I prefer the earthly, unspectacular vocals and vocal harmonies over the oversweetness of Blondel. One guy occasionally resembles distantly Neil Young. Well, thankfully only a little. Also the luxurious bonuses have a very good sound quality. Strangely the text doesn't seem to tell anything about them. They're much shorter in average: they take the same 39½-minute space as the seven album tracks. They are less atavistic, more contemporary sounding songs and instrumentals. Instead of tasting like inferior bonus material as usual, they practically from a whole decent folk album of their own. A very worthy release to all friends of acoustic folk-rock and especially of the aforementioned British bands....by Matti ....

Lang'syne appear to be another one-album wonder as they released an interesting self titled folk album in 1976. Lang'syne sing in English and their brand of folk bares little resemblance to the earlier kraut-folk bands like Broselmaschine, Holderlin, and Witthuser and Westrupp. Throughout the album, there are small touches of a German and Eastern ethnic feel to the music, but for the most part their sound is a bit more Anglo influenced. Many of the lyrics and much of the music appear to have a dark, longing quality which results in the album sounding a bit mystical, and occasionally even Renaissance-style. The standout track is the instrumental 'Cynghanedd'. 'Cynghanedd' begins like an Eastern-influenced ballad, or "Melodie der Natur" as described in the CD sleeve. This track utilizes natural sound of birds and insects and ends with an interesting interplay of 'dueling'-guitar chord sequences. Another track worth mentioning is 'Medina' which has sporadic touches of Witthuser and Westrupp sprinkled throughout. As a bonus, the CD contains 1 bonus track.....

Langsyne is a German trio which released one album in its whole career. Self titled, their first only effort was recorded in 1976. The music is a consistent mixture between folk rock and eastern influences with lot of acoustic guitar, sitar elements. The presence of the electric organ provides to the relative "pastoral" and "ethnic" mood a spacey felt. Advanced instrumental improvisations & interludes are combined with a couple of structured songs with English lyrics. This experimental, peaceful folk rock can sometimes resonates with early kraut folk bands as Witthuser & Westrupp, Hoelderlin, and Broselmaschine. This is in most part an acoustic, contemplative journey deliberately orientated to additional "world" instruments, musical arrangements and imaginary inspired by the eastern, India "raga"universe. The German folk trio LANGSYNE from Wuppertal area never got support from record companies during their eight years of activity, but their self-budgeted sole album has become a valuable collector's item and has seen numerous re-releases on vinyl and CD. I was happy to receive the Garden of Delights edition with 15 (!) bonus tracks and an exhausting article. Not that I'd ever care to read all details about the various re-releases. I'm surprisingly only the third reviewer. I couldn't invent a better name than the Scottish word for "long since" for this group, who doesn't sound German at all. Indo-Prog / Raga-Rock is a bit misleading category, as this is primarily Medieval / Renaissance -inspired folk. GRYPHON is mentioned as the trio's mutual idol, but the music comes closer to AMAZING BLONDEL, slightly seasoned with INCREDIBLE STRING BAND's Indo-flavoured psychedelia. Ethnic instruments such as psalter, sitar or koto are used to a small degree. Multiple acoustic guitars form the spine, even flute, organ and percussion are often put aside. Perhaps the main album's long tracks are the clearest highlights in their melancholic and nearly mystic atmosphere. I prefer the earthly, unspectacular vocals and vocal harmonies over the oversweetness of Blondel. One guy occasionally resembles distantly Neil Young. Well, thankfully only a little. Also the luxurious bonuses have a very good sound quality. Strangely the text doesn't seem to tell anything about them. They're much shorter in average: they take the same 39½-minute space as the seven album tracks. They are less atavistic, more contemporary sounding songs and instrumentals. Instead of tasting like inferior bonus material as usual, they practically from a whole decent folk album of their own. A very worthy release to all friends of acoustic folk-rock and especially of the aforementioned British bands............

Line-up / Musicians

- Edbert Froese / guitar, keyboards, vocals, sitar, psalter - Matthias Mertler / guitar, vocals, percussion, glockenspiel - Ulrich Nahle / flute, guitar, vocals, percussion

Songs / Tracks Listing

Album of the day. 

Langsyne - Langsyne (1976)