These three reissues represent the earliest incarnation of Welsh band Gorky’s, the collaborative songwriting partnership formed around Euros Childs and John Lawrence while at school in Carmarthen in 1990.
Patio, from 1992, was an unruly introduction. John Cale once claimed it to be his favourite ever album, but the mixture of cassette demos, radio sessions and other scattershot releases is a bumpy ride. Quality levels vary wildly, as you would expect from a compilation from a band counting 14-year olds in its number, but tracks such as Peanut Dispenser hint at the, well… schoolboy mischief that would trickle down through the Gorky’s music for another 16 years. But there was melody and introspection too. 1994’s Tatay (still on the everlovable Ankst label) refined matters (thankfully) further. They didn’t exactly go overground, but people outside of the valleys pricked up their ears.
Bwyd Time, from summer 1995, was a sonic smorgasbord which followed a similar template to Patio (encompassing folk, psych and even disco), and saw the band blossoming. The charts, unbelievably, were beckoning (along with major label status), but somehow Gorky’s never really emerged from under the shadows of these chaotic, pastoral embryos.
