Meic Stevens ‎- Outlander (Reissue, Limited Edition) (1970/2003)

Welsh national treasure Meic Stevens is oft-credited as “the Welsh Bob Dylan,” a press release-friendly thing to write and easy barb for all others to recycle upon the release of his widely overlooked masterpiece Outlander. This lovingly remastered reissue will debunk on that prescription however, as any listener worth his or her weight in wax will hear that Stevens is not merely a kowtow to the artist formerly known as Blind Boy Grunt, but instead the finest and most singular psyche-minded folkie to ever emerge from a corner of the world still trading in near-dead languages. His only English language record, soon after Outlander’s 1970 release a Syd Barrett-esque nervous breakdown forced Stevens home to the hills of the village of Solva. After recovering, he turned to writing strictly in his native tongue, becoming a nationally recognized, yet linguistically marginalized folk and blues figurehead. Outlander never made it out of the isles, restricted to a few British pressings, before Warner Bros. deleted it in the mid-’70s.