"Pebbles" is something like a "lost classic" of European fingerpicking guitar, thanks to some truly excellent six-string magic and pretty nice original songs.
Weiland was born in Germany but raised in England, which explains his accent-free English. He's doing all original songs except for a Big Bill Broonzy piece. The material is half intrumentals, half sung tracks. While his picking is strongly in the tradition of Broonzy, John Hurt and the like, his vocals and compositions show more contemporary influences, from Crosby, Stills & Nash to Ralph McTell. Some tracks use overdubbing to good effect, like several guitars and a bass on "You've Been Used" or Klaus' voice trippled on "Walking In The Pouring Rain".
This was Klaus' only album under his name in the 1970s. Seems he didn't like the side-effects of success and thus prefered to travel the world. His most famous piece is "Das Loch In Der Banane", the "best-known fingerstyle piece in Germany" (for more on this particulary song, see this older entry on the Hideaway).
Klaus Weiland was also co-founder of the Freiburg Folk Club, an important institution in the German folk scene back then. The main man behind the club was English folk singer Ray Austin, though. "You And I In Words" was Austin's first album and it featured Weiland, among others. Austin was obviously more of a show-man than Weiland. The English singer had a versatile repertoire with traditional English songs, tender ballads and some pretty funny lyrics. "Talkin' Freiburg Wohnung Blues" for example depicts the difficulties for an unmarried couple to find a flat to rent in 1970s Germany while "Little Fat Ladies" makes fun of the self-complacent elderly ladies of it's title. Not every song on this album is first rate, but the fine picking makes them all worthwhile.
These two albums show how fruitful the German folk scene of the 1970s was. English musicians like Bert Jansch, Wizz Jones or Ralph McTell were touring the country regulary while native pickers like Weiland or his mentor, Werner Lämmerhirt, were "stars" in their own right.
Klaus Weiland: Pebbles
Stockfisch Records SF 8005
Germany, 1975
A1 Scratchface Lane 4:01
A2 Culzean Castle 2:43
A3 Guitar Shuffle 3:01 (Big Bill Broonzy)
A4 Worksong 3:21
A5 You've Been Used 5:30
B1 Old Man 2:55
B2 Ingrid's Blues / Silver-Haired Lady 4:05
B3 Walking In The Pouring Rain 3:25
B4 Eschbach 2:35
B5 Lady Anne 3:24
B6 Pebbles 2:48
Klaus Weiland (voc,g,b,bjo)
All titles written by Klaus Weiland, except as noted
Ray Austin: You & I In Words
Xenophon X 5029 ST
Germany, 1973
A1 You & I In Words (Asutin/Leyh) 3:29
A2 The Keeper (trad) 3:42
A3 Talkin' Freiburg Wohnung Blues 2:33
A4 Little Fat Ladies 2:48
A5 Masks Of Confidence 3:23
A6 Kelly, The Boy From Killane (trad) 3:52
B1 Long Hard Road 4:10
B2 Our Story's End 4:03
B3 Settle Down 2:14
B4 High Germany (trad) 3:36
B5 Cottage Of Light 3:46
B6 Come Stand Beside Me 3:12
All tracks written by Ray Austin, except as noted.
Ray Austin (voc,g), Jörg Suckow (voc,cello,b) Wolfgang Leyh (voc,g,bjo) Klaus Weiland (voc,g) Gabriele Branchart, Gina O'Brien (voc)
Ten minutes from German tv in 1975 with Weiland doing a great "Crazy Man Michael" and Klaus and Ray Austin doing "No Other Way":
10 comments:
http://freetexthost.com/ee2wvvttzh
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Many thanks for these two gems!
Thanks for putting "Pebbles" up. I really appreciate any album with guitar instrumentals. I had previously gotten "Acoustic Guitar Scene" which also had some tracks by Klaus. He's very good.
Just listening to "Pebbles" for the 3rd time and I really like Weiland's compositions, arrangements and skill as a player. His voice is quite good as well but his guitar skills are REALLY good. It's amazing how many finger-picking guitar aces you've introduced me too and he is no exception. Every tune here is so full of invention as to demand close attention and get your toes tapping although "Scratchface Lane", "Worksong" and "Pebbles" are standouts for me. A real keeper for sure. Thank you LPR!
The last tune of the Ray Austin album is playing right now. It's nicely done and arranged but not nearly as original or compelling as Klaus Weiland's "Pebbles" album to me. This is folk more in the vein of say, The Kingston Trio and I'm just not a big fan of that kind of pop folk stuff. I'm much more a roots guy I guess. Austin certainly has the voice for this kind of stuff though and he does it well and this album has some very nice moments on it. Thank you LPR.
P.S. To anyone reading this comment, you really MUST check out Klaus doing "Das Loch in der Banane" (The Hole in the Banana) in this Youtube video. Absolutely gorgeous!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWQ8_nOUx2o&safe=active
Thanks very much.
No doubt, Kris, there's quite a gap between "Pebbles" and "You And I..." quality-wise.
I sure will keep the Weiland album, while the Austin record is already in my "for sale" box...
Hi there is there any chance of there being a Re-up on this? I can't seem to get the link to work, thanks so much in advance.
Try this:
http://freetexthost.com/0y02ybjiwp
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