Various: Acoustic Guitar Scene (1975)

A representative look at Germany's acoustic guitar scene in the mid-1970s.

Werner Lämmerhirt is probably the country's best known picker, not least due to his work for famous left-wing singer Hannes Wader and constant touring as a solo player. Peter Bursch is for budding German pickers what John Pearse was for the British: the guy from whose books most people learned their first steps on the guitar. Foreign listeners may know him as a member of pioneering progrock group "Bröselmaschine". Klaus Weiland is easily one the country's best players. Yet he published only one sought-after album in the 1970s, entitled "Pebbles", before leaving the country to travel the world.

Acoustic guitar music was highly popular in Germany in the 1970s, which offered several foreign players the possibility to tour the country regulary. British pickers Wizz Jones and The Fureys and Davey Arthur where among these popular acts, as was London-based American folk legend Tom Paley.

The one track i really wanted this for is Klaus Weiland's Das Loch In Der Banane (The hole in the banana). Wikipedia calls it the "best-known fingerstyle piece in Germany". Northern German television used it for short interludes to accompany beautiful animations of Northern German cities. I must have heard this hundreds of times as a child and it's very likely the source of my love for acoustic guitar music. I still feel that comforting, sunday afternoon, icecream in hand happiness when i put it on. Biographical issues aside, it's simply a beautiful piece of music. (A short documentary on "Das Loch In Der Banane" can be found on youtube).

The record was conceived as a "workshop production". All tunes heard here where recorded exclusively for this album in a half-year span in 1974. There's a pretty broad selection of styles and approaches here: from the rather loose jamming of Wizz Jones and Werner Lämmerhirt to the strict flamenco of Manolo Lohnes, from the gorgeous traditional harp tunes of Davey Arthur & George Furey to a few rather amateurishly played rags.


Various: ‎Acoustic Guitar Scene
Xenophon INT 181.004
Germany, 1975

A1 Wizz Jones & Werner Lämmerhirt: Transit Blues (Wizz Jones) 4:05
A2 Klaus Weiland: Das Loch In Der Banane (Klaus Weiland) 3:50
A3 Davey Arthur & George Furey: O'Carolan's Concerto (Arranged By: George Furey Written-By: Turlough O'Carolan) 1:50
A4 Peter Bursch: House Of Carpenter (Arranged By [Traditional]: Peter Bursch) 5:05
A5 Tom Paley: Wildwood Flower (Arranged By [Traditional]: Tom Paley) 1:40
A6 Manolo Lohnes: Ayer (Yesterday) (Arranged By: Manolo Lohnes Written-By: Paul McCartney) 3:55)

B1 Tom Cat: Tom's Rag (Bernd Dill) 1:50
B2 Peter Bursch: Na Sowas! (Peter Bursch) 2:40
B3 Wizz Jones & Werner Lämmerhirt: Eleanor Rigby (Arranged By: Werner Lämmerhirt, Wizz Jones Written-By: Lennon/McCartney*) 5:00
B4 Howard Schultens: 'Lasses Dobro (Howard Schultens) 1:47
B5 Davey Arthur & George Furey: Brian Barus March (Arranged By [Traditional]: George Furey) 1:35
B6 Klaus Weiland: Imprvisation 2 (Klaus Weiland) 3:20)

C1 Klaus Weiland: Angie (Davey Graham*) 5:20
C2 Tom Cat: The Entertainer (Arranged By: Bernd Dill Written-By: Scott Joplin) 3:45
C3 Davey Arthur & George Furey: Ask My Father (Arranged By [Traditional]: George Furey) 1:10
C4 Greyhounds, The: Tin Roof Blues (Leon Roppolo) 2:45
C5 Konni Braun: Dallas Rag (Arranged By [Traditional]: Konni Braun) 2:12
C6 Wizz Jones: Sermonette (Arranged By: Wizz Jones Written-By: Horace Silver) 3:20

D1 Greyhounds, The: Hobo's Choice (Bernd Dill, Helmut Grahl) 3:15
D2 Tom Paley: Early Morning Blues (Arranged By [Traditional]: Tom Paley) 1:10
D3 Davey Arthur: Within A Mile To Dublin (Arranged By [Traditional]: Davey Arthur) 1:42
D4 Peter Bursch & Willi Kissmer: Country Doodle (Peter Bursch) 1:40
D5 Klaus Weiland: Improvisation 1 (Klaus Weiland) 3:35
D6 Manolo Lohnes: Romanze (Arranged By [Traditional]: Manolo Lohnes) 3:00
D7 Davey Arthur & George Furey: Swallow's Tail Reel (Arranged By [Traditional]: George Furey) 1:10
D8 Werner Lämmerhirt: Whispering (Arranged By: Werner Lämmerhirt) 2:20
D9 Peter Bursch: Gh (Peter Bursch) 3:30

Producer: Carsten Linde
Engineer: Conny Plank
Recorded May to November 1974 at Conny's Studio, Neunkirchen