Thing at the Nursery Room Window

To my knowledge this is the first CD issue of an album that's been out of print for more than twenty years. I first bought this 1973 album after hearing Peter Lang on the Leo Kottke/Peter Lang/John Fahey album. The Thing at the Nursery Room Window was Lang's first release and is full of solo folk- and classical-based acoustic guitar instrumentals--all composed by Lang. Five of these tracks run under two minutes (and R.C. Rag clocks in at a mere 51 seconds), but Lang also stretches out on some compositions like the nearly ten-minute "Future Shot at the Rainbow," and all of it makes for enjoyable listening.This was Lang's only release on Takoma. He released three more albums in the Seventies for Flying Fish and Waterhouse Records, but made the mistake of singing--definitely not his strong suit. I'm not aware if Lang has recorded in the past twenty years, or even if he's still alive. [Lang was born in 1948, but appears to have disappeared from the music scene.] However, that does not diminish the power of this record. And the addition of three bonus tracks only makes this album all the more essential. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The most underrated solo guitarist in the history of solo guitarists.

I purchased this album on vinyl in 1973 after hearing only the title cut on a progressive radio station in Baltimore. I actually called the radio station to find out the name of the artist and album and then waited for over a month while the local record store special-ordered it for me. It is a real gift to have it on CD, since I have been playing and recommending this impossible-to-find music to friends for two decades now. If you love solo 6- and 12-string guitar (a la Leo Kottke), this recording is for you. It has had a treasured place on my shelf right next to Kottke's armadillo album, and although I love Leo I have to admit that I've always liked Peter Lang even more! Buy it for yourself and give it as a gift. It is a work of sheer beauty.

Peter Lang is an incredible guitarist, and this album is outstanding. Highly recommended, especially for those who enjoy Leo Kottke.

As a big fan of Leo Kottke I decided to see if I could find similar artists. Someone suggested Peter Lang and I acquired this album. He hasn't put out much music but this album is about as good as it gets. You won't be disappointed ... buy it.

I very much enjoyed this music CD. It's a style of guitar picking similar to Leo Kottke. Thanks to being able to listen to sound clips, I knew that I wanted to buy it.

great lp

He could have had a bigger career if he had stuck to music, but that's part of the dharma. Lang disappeared from the concert stage and the recording studio for something like 20 years, and when he returned he wasn't the 25 year old who recorded THE THING AT THE NURSERY ROOM WINDOW way back in 1973. That's okay, we all grow and change, but on the other hand a lot of fans who played this LP to death got tired waiting for him to come back to us.On CD you can hear the perfection of his attack even better; the clarity of the 12 string (and 6 string) numbers is amazing. Lang's titles are always amusing: be they plain ("Adair's Song") or whimsical ("Snow Toad") or redolent of an earlier era of US and UK folk music ("Young Man, Young Man, Look at Your Shoes") the music that accompanied these little haiku titles was always apropos and surprising.Special to this release was the inclusion of three bonus tracks that all but the dead faithful had completely forgotten about, for only one was ever actually played in concert. "Flames Along the Monongahela" takes us back to what Greil Marcus called the "old, weird America" of Harry Smith and his "Anthology of American Folk Music," or at least to MUSIC FROM BIG PINK, while "Going Down the China Road" has the delicacy of some of the Garcia/Hunter compositions of the AMERICAN BEAUTY/WORKINGMAN's DEAD era.

Early Peter Lang, nothing but guitar. Up tempo and a slightly lighter variation on the style of Leo Kottke, Fahey etc. Delightful music.