Pall cof

In the summer of '92 I was burglarised. It was not nearly as bad as it could've been. When I saw the screen pushed up on the window I'd left unlocked, I dreaded getting inside and finding my roommate's computer gone. But it wasn't. They'd only taken what was within reach of the window, which happened to be a cheap walkman and a case full of cassettes. One of the two I had and, perversely, the one with the more obscure items. Among the odd mixtapes and such was a treasure from my trip to Wales that I'd played the shit out of during my tour of Europe, a compilation of tunes by bands from the Welsh-language alternative music scene like Ffa Coffi Pawb and Tynal Tywyll. My favourites, though, were a track called "Animal Farm" by a band whose name I no longer remember and the title track, "Hei, Mr DJ", by Welsh rock legend Geraint Jarman.

The Internet gave me hope, and then took it away again; intermittent searching over the years has led me to the sad conclusion that I will never find another copy of the album to call my own. But today I did happen to search Jarman's tune and found it available on Amazon music for 99¢. It was only $6.99 for the whole album, so on a whim I bought it. Imagine my disappointment to play a track I haven't heard in nearly 23 years but can still sing the chorus of ("Gwranda arna i 'nawr / Mae'r to yn dod i lawr") only to find that, musically, it's practically a cover version of Alpha Blondy's "Brigadier Sabari". A killer tune, to be sure, but in my memory it had always been something more special. Oh well; there's 13 more tracks in the cache. Maybe there's a new favourite lurking among them.