Hans Haider: Lautarre mal 2 (1977)

Re-up on request:
A German luthier who plays his own compositions on a self-developed lute-guitar. This is a very beautiful album that has evolved into a personal favorite. The music is warm and soothing and equally suited to be listened to closely or just to create a calm atmosphere.

Haider's compositions tend to the classical side but show many other influences, too, such as folk and jazz. None of these pieces wears it's influences on it's sleeve, though. The opening "Cancion para Olivia" is a good example. Even if it is titled "Cancion", it is structured like a small concerto, with a lively first movement that introduces a lovely theme, followed by two slower movements (adagio and andante, if you will) and a reprise and variation of the first movement. "Pour Barbara" has a bit of a jazzy drive, an influence that is more obvious on "Stephan's Swing", which sounds like a (very relaxed) variation on gypsy/manouche jazz. I like all tunes here and most are probably best categorized as being simply "guitar music".

The following was cobbled together from the album's liner notes and from German wikipedia (which has an entry on Haider as well his "Lautarre"):

Haider was a skilled luthier who teached himself to play guitar. He played with several popular orchestras (James Last) and Schlager singers (Caterina Valente), as well as working with guitarists such as Sigi Schwab or David Qualey.
Haider's guitar-concertos and compositions for solo guitar were recorded by several radio stations. He also worked as a lecturer at the Academy of Music in Hamburg.

Haider started to develop his own type of instrument in the 1970s, the "Lautarre" (from "Laute" and "Gitarre"). There are variations of the lute-guitar with 6, 7, 8 even 13 strings. Talking about the seven-string version, Haider said: "Thanks to the seventh string and a longer neck the sound possibilities are broadened by a quint down and a quart up. What's more, the sound is much fuller thanks to a doubled sound board. The biggest benefit though is the possibility to play all kinds of music without having to change the guitar all of the time. Everything is possible from renaissance lute music and classical music, to bossa-nova, flamenco, folk and jazz."

The instrument on "Lautarre mal 2" is an 8-string model with a cutaway. The album was recorded at Haider's own studio using overdubs to add a second lute-guitar, which explains the title that translates to "Lute-guitar 2 times".

Hans Haider: Lautarre mal 2
Eulenspiegel (Ger) EULP 1016

Side A
Cancion para Olivia 5:07
Serbian Dance 3:13
Memories of a Summerday 6:21
lndian Walz 3:22

Side B
Pour Barbara 3:00
Summer's Beauty 6:21
Stephan's Swing 3:30
Improvisation 6:03

All tunes written by Hans Haider

Hans Haider: And His Lute-Guitar (1975)

German luthier Hans Haider presents his self-developed 7-string "lute-guitar".

We already met Haider a while ago here on the Hideaway. See the elder post for some info on him and his lute-guitar.

Today's album is his first recording featuring that lute-guitar. It was recorded at his private studio in Hamburg, partly with his trio, Lucas Lindholm on bass and Helge Fischer, drums. Haider used to play concerts of classical guitar music, but when these solo concerts started to bore him, he added a rhythm section and began playing jazz and Latin American stuff alongside the classical standards. 
 
Haider mentioned in interviews that the lute-guitar allows the musician to play all kinds of lute and guitar music without the need to change instruments. To prove this point, it seems, he picked a broad selection of typical guitar and lute tunes for his first lute-guitar album. There's virtuoso pieces like "Malaguena" and "Asturias", there's Django Reinhard, Luiz Bonfá, Bach, a movie theme etc. My favourite, though, is the one original piece here, "Fine".

Hans Haider: And His Lute-Guitar
Polydor 2371 610, West-Germany, 1975

Side 1
Malaguena (Lecouona) 4'47
Prelude (J. S. Bach) 3'33
Nuages (Reinhard) 3'27
My Lady Hunssdon's Puffe (Dowland) 1'42
ManhadeCamaval (L. Bonfa) 3'45
Romance de Espania (Anonymus) 1 '53

Side 2
Asturias (Albeniz) 7'30
Johnny Guitar (Young/Lee) 3'30
The House Of The Rising Sun (Trad.) 2'43
Fine (Haider) 3'30


Hans Haider (Lautarre) & his Trio

Wizz Jones: The Grapes Of Life (1987)

A great fingerpicker, an important early influence on everyone in Britain from Bert Jansch to Eric Clapton, the island's first "beatnik", a travelling musician much of his life - Wizz Jones never earned the reputation he desired, yet he never seemed to care much for fame and career.

This is a fitting follow-up to our look on the German acoustic guitar scene in the last post, since for many years in the 1970s, Wizz found more work in Germany than his native Britain. I have no clue if he ever giged with Klaus Weiland or Ray Austin, but it seems almost inevitable. The 1980s, however, were a dry period for practically everyone playing acoustic folk and blues. Jones' only albums from this period are his collaboration with German picker Werner Lämmerhirt ("Roll On River" from 1981) and today's feature.

"The Grapes Of Life" was recorded at a time when Wizz had to earn his money as a truck driver. Given that the album was done for Run River Records, the label owned by Wizz' former protegé Steve Tilston (already featured here on the Hideaway), we can asume that it was Tilston's attempt to re-establish his old friend as a recording artist.

Repertoire-wise it's a typical Jones album, with a few originals mixed with covers of blues/folk classics and songs of friends and contemporaries - just the same mixture Jones would play in concert. You wouldn't guess that he hadn't recorded in six years - his picking is as intricate as ever, his mellow voice had hardly aged. And since Jones obviously didn't feel any need to adapt to changing times, "The Grapes Of Life" stands closely next to his classic albums of the 1970s. But unlike these, who have all been reissued on cd and/or vinyl, "Grapes" has yet to see new life in the digital age.


Wizz Jones: The Grapes Of Life
Run River Records RR A005, UK, 1987

A1 The Grapes Of Life (Alan Tunbridge)
A2 Happiness Was Free (Wizz Jones)
A3 Corrinne (Blind Boy Fuller)
A4 Touch Has A Memory (Clive James, Pete Atkin)
A5 Moving On Song (Ewan MacColl)
A6 Needle Of Death (Bert Jansch)

B1 First Girl I Loved (Robin Williamson)
B2 Do What You Please (Steve Tilston)
B3 About A Spoonfull (Mance Lipscomb)
B4 Letter Fom West Germany (Wizz Jones)
B5 Dark-eyed Gypsies (Traditional)
B6 Planet Without A Plan (Wizz Jones)

Wizz Jones (voc, g, bjo)


This is Jones playing "Corrinne". A good example why they say that Wizz' right hand is "worthy of Broonzy":


And here's one of my fav clips, a 1960 news clip showing Jones with remarkably long hair for 1960:

Klaus Weiland: Pebbles (1975) / Ray Austin: You & I In Words (1973)

Two great albums from the German folk/acoustic guitar scene of the 1970s.

"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":

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra: Mini Album (1983)

An EP of mostly previously unreleased material from one the most interesting and warm-hearted groups of the 1980s.

Steve Tilston, Duck Baker, Seth Austen, Angelo Eleuteri: The Music of O’Carolan (1987)

Very beautiful acoustic guitar recordings of tunes from Irland's most famous harpist.

Repost: Steve Tilston: Swans At Coole (1990) / Silently The Snow Falls (1989)

Absolutely gorgeous guitar instrumentals, complemented by flute, violin, cello etc.

Ralph McTell, Bert Jansch, John Williams, Earl Okin, Juan Martin: Just Guitars (1983)

This benefit concert will be a delight to all fans of acoustic guitar picking.

Pete Berryman: ...And Guitar (1978)

Called "one of the unsung heroes of the British acoustic guitar movement" by John Renbourn, few people have heard more than one album from this excellent picker, namely his duo recording with John James, "Sky In My Pie".

Eric Bibb: E Bibb & Friends (1981)

A mellow, all-acoustic, early world-music album from the American blues musician.

Pierre Bensusan: Solilai (1981)

Back to the acoustic guitar with one of France's finest pickers.

Jorma Kaukonen: Jorma (1979) / Too Hot To Handle (1985)

Two solo albums from the ex-Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna guitarist: one acoustic and one electric.

Jean David: Le Luth (1973) [Le Chant Du Monde]

Expertly played medieval lute music.

An Triskell: Harpe Celtique (1977) [Le Chant Du Monde]

Gorgeous harp instrumentals, enriched by flute, bass, bagpipes, drums etc.

Skip James: Today (1965)

His intrciate guitar picking and eerie high-pitched vocals make James one of the true individualists of the blues, an artist who influenced musicians from Robert Johnson to Eric Clapton.

Various: Acoustic Guitar Scene (1975)

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

Steve Waring & Roger Mason: The American Guitar & The American Banjo [Le Chant Du Monde, 1972]

Two superb pickers who recorded several instrumental albums for the "Le Chant Du Monde" label.

Doc Watson: Riding The Midnight Train (1986)

The Doc goes bluegrass with the aid of Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, son Merle and longtime companion T. Michael Coleman.