Over Easter we were lucky enough to be blessed by visitors from the deep, unreconstructed south (i.e., Melbourne). The conversation turned, as it does, to music. My suggestion that our visitors harboured a couple of Dead C artefacts owned by myself was countered, conclusively and authoritatively, by my being reminded that a transaction had been entered into long ago whereby those artefacts were traded for a 7” single by Alastair Galbraith, entitled “Gaudylight”, comprising five tracks and released on the short-lived but crucial XPressway label (and in the US on Siltbreeze).
Suffice to say, I do not resile from the deal. My love of that-era Alastair Galbraith is unabated. Another XPressway release, on cassette only, featuring on one side demos and on the other a recording of a performance (with Helga Hunke on piano accordian) in a Dunedin theatre late one night in June 1987 during a 24-hour book sale, has slowly been absorbed into my DNA. It is all stark, emotional, fragile. You feel that if a light was shone on this music, it would melt away.
The definitive (to my mind) Galbraith release from that time is a compilation CD, “Seely Girn”, originally released on XWay but licensed to the strangely misnamed (in this context) Feel Good All Over in the USA. It contains three-fifths of “Gaudylight”, along with selected tracks taken from the live tape, the Plagal Grind ep (with Peter Jefferies, David Mitchell and Robbie Muir), the fabled “Stormed Port” and “Timebomb” singles, and more besides.
Here, by popular request, are the three tracks from “Gaudylight” that are reproduced on “Seely Girn”:
“As In A Blender”
“Mrs Blucher”
“Warden Tye”
This gives a representative sample of Mr Galbraith’s sound (note: “Warden Tye” does cut out like that, it’s not poor handiwork on my part), and obviates the need for me to attempt any kind of description.
