Anhrefn: Bwrw Cwrw
Workers Playtime Records
LP
Released June 1989
Neil Crud dives back almost 37 years when Welsh punks, Anhrefn released their ‘difficult’ second album, experimenting with dub reggae and punk rock.
Anhrefn occupy a crucial, often under-acknowledged place in the story of modern Welsh music. Emerging from the early-1980s punk underground, they were one of the first bands to insist that Welsh-language music could be confrontational, contemporary and internationally minded without shedding its cultural roots. Their sound fused punk’s urgency with post-punk abrasion and political bite, while their lyrics treated Welsh not as a nostalgic symbol but as a living, elastic language fit for dissent, irony and modern life.
More than their records alone, Anhrefn’s real impact lay in what they normalised. They proved that singing in Welsh was not a limitation but a provocation – and a strength -opening space for later artists to treat the language with confidence, humour and experimentation. In doing so, they helped build the infrastructure and mindset that would later sustain bands like Super Furry Animals and Catatonia, who inherited Anhrefn’s refusal to choose between local identity and global ambition.
By the time the Cool Cymru explosion arrived in the 1990s, the ground had already been broken. Anhrefn had shown that Welsh bands could be politically sharp, aesthetically adventurous and unapologetically themselves. The psychedelic pop, irony and crossover success of their successors may have sounded very different, but the permission to be bold, Welsh and forward-looking traces directly back to Anhrefn’s snarling, principled beginnings.
With this in mind back in 2012, I had written a reappraisal of their second album…
After finally being reunited with a turntable after many years without one, I decided to revisit Anhrefn’s second album ‘Bwrw Cwrw’ (Lots of Beer!). The old adage about the “difficult second album” immediately sprang to mind. When I first heard this record 23 years ago, I was disappointed — so much so that I wrote about my despondency in my own Crud fanzine, along the lines of: “thin new wave and the rest of it is reggae.” To be honest, it’s probably been 23 years since I last played it.
So, time for a reassessment.
Twenty-three years on, I can hear exactly where that “thin new wave” criticism came from. The production on the punkier tracks lacks the sheer bollocks needed to make it the Anhrefn we knew and loved, and a remastering would be a great idea. Opening track Meddwl Ar Gau (Closed Mentality) is a punchy way to start an album. It runs along in fairly typical Anhrefn style with an infectious vocal melody, but it’s immediately overshadowed by the second track, Be Nesa ’89 (What Next in ’89), the previous year’s single released to promote the Rock Against The Rich Tour with Joe Strummer.
The band’s line-up had already been carved up following their debut LP ‘Defaid, Skateboards a Wellies’. Hefin had vacated the drum stool, Dylan Hughes had been usurped from Y Cyrff, and Dewi Gwyn had mutually parted ways with the band. This upheaval paved the way for Maffia Mr Huws guitarist Sion Jones to join brothers Rhys Mwyn and Sion Sebon.
Track three, Gwylio Mrs Jones (Looking for Mrs Jones), has a latter-day Stiff Little Fingers feel, complete with some sharp, stabbing guitar chops — and even the synths (courtesy of Dylan) work well. Unfortunately, the next track, Dim Llais Dim Poen (No Voice No Pain), owes far more to Maffia and The Police than to punk rock. It is new wave, and it’s fucking awful — the very track that probably put me off the album all those years ago (sorry, Sion!).
Thankfully, Crafwr (Scratcher) more than makes up for it. This is classic Anhrefn. I remember it being a “new one” at gigs in 1988, with its urgent drive and singalong chorus capturing everything the band did best.
Track six, Y Freuddwyd (The Dream), plods along nicely enough in trademark Anhrefn fashion — punchy, if not spectacular — before giving way to the excellent Bach Dy Ben. Roughly translated by the band as “Cocky Little Twat”, it made the perfect B-side to Be Nesa ’89 and is as fast and ferocious as Anhrefn get on this album. Though it’s worth noting their John Peel Session version is probably twice as fast.
Flip the record over to Side Two (Ochr Dau) and you’re greeted by a dub reworking of one of Anhrefn’s earliest songs, Rhywle Yn Moscow (Somewhere in Moscow), followed by Hawaii U2/3UP, a reggae take on another early song, Cornel (Corner) done very much in a pre-‘London Calling’ Clash style. It’s catchy, inoffensive, and clearly there for entertainment’s sake.
The jewel in the crown, though, is the band’s version of Geraint Jarman’s protest song Gwesty Cymru (Hotel Wales). This is punk done right: angry, direct, and focused. It then morphs seamlessly into a dub section à la The Clash Armagideon Time / Kick It Over, complete with pan pipes — and somehow, it works beautifully.
Side Two’s fourth track, Isaac Hunt (a moniker I used myself for years when pseudo-writing), is an instrumental that returns to that simple, catchy reggae feel before smashing into a fast riff-along section, then dropping back again.
The album closes with Pedwerydd Tymor (Fourth Term), a short, punky ditty that’s perfectly serviceable but fairly average Anhrefn. Swapping it with Bach Dy Ben might have made for a stronger finale.
Overall verdict? Yeah… it’s a tale of two sides; standard Anhrefn on side one and experimental dub reggae dominating side two. The complete removal of Dim Llais Dim Poen would’ve made ‘Bwrw Cwrw’ a pretty decent album rather than just a good one. As it stands, it’s flawed but far from without merit.
Check it out now — you’ve got funk and soul, brother.
[Anhrefn bassist Rhys Mwyn – presents an alternative show on BBC Radio Cymru, every Monday at 7pm]
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