Has there been a thread about John Martyn?

I also really liked a track he did with Talvin Singh about 5 years back called Sunshine's Better. I think it got played before Orbital came on stage at Glastonbury this year. Sweet.

J Martyn is emphatically NOT a Donovan-esque folkie "sitting on the edge of a mushroom admiring the dingly-dangly-dell of life" as Martyn himself put it. Solid Air is the best album track by track, but there's some great stuff to be found on Inside Out, Bless the Weather, One World and even Grace and Danger.

Search (songs): "Sweet Little Mystery", "Hole In The Rain", "Johnny Too Bad" (long version), "I Don't Want To Know"... and probably more I can't remember.

The '80s/'90s weren't kind. His music got all cheesy and Sting-y and his vocals/lyrics became nearly incomprehensible (if the rumors are true, he got his distinctive slurring out of a bottle). A pal of mine's a great fan and even he makes jokes about, say, Martyn's cover of "Johnny Too Bad."

I'm pissed off I can't get to see him next Wednesday at the QEH. Has anyone seen him live recently?

Odd night - it was the lack of drugs (him and us) combined with an oversized venue that did it, we reckoned. 'Greatest Hits' second half with lots of 'Solid Air', Bless the Weather etc, but Martyn failed to ignite until the final two songs, without guitar, which he gave his all (Rock Salt and Nails, Never Let Me Go), then an undistinguished encore.

"One World" does appear to be getting more grief than it deserves; it's great... The last track is incredible but you really need to turn it up to 11 to appreciate it.

I'd be interested to hear Nick McCabe on John Martyn's new record too; pretty like minded people I figure.

I thought he was great! My friend thought he was massively disappointing. So go figure.

I have "London Conversation" as my dad was present at the session. Why, I have never been able to work out. He told me a couple of stories of the day, and it was about fifteen years later the same stories were in Mojo (a nick drake article) from a woman who was also there. I asked him if he remembered a tall lad, he said no.

homie is awes

We used to drink a great deal together. I got really drunk one night and woke up and Danny Thompson had nailed me under the carpet. I couldn’t move my hands or feet. I was very dry and had a hangover and I said Danny, please… get me, get me a drink. So he stepped over my helpless body, went to the phone and in a very loud voice said, can I have a glass of orange juice for one, please. Breakfast for one, please. I was screaming blue murder by this time. I was furious! He met the guy in the hall, so the guy couldn’t get into the room and see what was happening. He sat in front and downed the orange juice and had the breakfast.

This makes Kossoff cry like a girl, at which point Martyn and Thompson stalk off, laughing like people who are mad.

Amazon.co.uk are currently flogging a few of the reissues for £2.98. Am hugely enjoying Inside Out. Are Grace and Danger or London Conversation vital purchases? (They've also got Sunday's Child and One World at that price at the mo).

(maybe we should have a thread for cheap stuff on Amazon?)

London Conv is pretty much yr standard 'folk singer's first album' stuff.

I guessed it was and passed on it (got The Payback instead).

Yeah lots of these John Martyn CDs are three quid in Glasgow Fopp at the moment - they also have all of Sandy Denny's solo recs, cpl of Richard and Linda Thompsons and some Fairport stuff at the same price

I got Unhalfbricking, just cause it was £3.

Man! That 'sailor's story' sounds like Tom Verlaine guitaring!

yeah, verlaine's gtr sound = 50% jerry garcia, 50% richard thompson - the version of 'Sloth' on the Fairport Convention live at the LA Troubadour set is especially Television-like, tho' Sailor's LIFE always sounds to me more like FT trying to be the Velvet Underground

Talking of guitaring, there's an amazing similarity between the bonus track version of 'Outside In' and the Edge on 'Where The Streets Have No Name'.

tho' Sailor's LIFE always sounds to me more like FT trying to be the Velvet Underground

Yes, that occurred to me too.

(Who's FT btw?)

Have been listening to "Go Easy" on repeat for a while now -- yeesh what a great song! The rest of Bless The Weather is great too, but that one is doing it for me right now. Woozy, wasted self absorption never sounded so good.

http://www.johnmartyn.com/files/images/mojoo.jpg

let's balance out all these fat old John pics with an skinny young one.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Z6nbGySgL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

John's just received his second lifetime achievement award of this year (from Mojo - he got one from BBC Radio 2 in Feb). This does not bode well I fear.

A friend recently lent me the 'Live At Leeds (And More)' album and I finally got round to listening to it last night.

The Live In Leeds set itself, recorded October 1975, and self-released as a LP at the time, is absolutely amazing. Really powerful, rocking, freely extended versions of the tracks. Solid Air on there is wonderful.

The CD set has a second disc of other live stuff from over the years and is pretty patchy to my ears. Too much later stuff that was far too saccharine and sentimental, m.o.r. pish, BUT it ends with an incredible version of a track 'Anna', performed in 1983 at the Bottom Line club in NY.

Anyone know this one? A bit of reading about says that "Anna" was from a movie soundtrack and was an evolution of the track "Small Hours" from 'One World'.

I've only ever heard 'Solid Air' before, which I've fallen in love with over the course of this year. Nothing else I've sampled has clicked yet, but I'm going to explore a few others now.

the electric piano on “dreams by the sea” = most beautiful sound in the universe.

Listening to his 2004 (post-amputation) album On the Cobbles and it's got some goodly things. It sounds glorious; there's a reworking of Go Down Easy, which has Nick McCabe making some beautiful noise; Danny Thompson sounds great; The Creator is meandering and needs some thinking through. Could have done without the Weller track.

This latest Alabaster LePlume (all instrumental, none of the usual "whispered" vocals, as described here) so far has a Martyn-compatible vibe (notes mention "Celtic" etc, some of it seems Adriatic)-mostly reeds & guitar, occasional keys, mbira: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/to-cy-lee-instrumentals-vol-1

(There's also a thread for it, but wanted to listen before reading.)

Little bit of violin, cello bow down in there now. Won't liveblog tho sry

Sweet Little Mystery was featured on the most recent episode of Devs

I dunno why "Give Us A Ring" chokes me up?

me too!! i love that song so much and i have never understood why i found it so poignant

originally written for Nick Drake, aiui; it would've fitted in quite nicely on Bryter Layter. But yeah, for a song seemingly about smuggling weed through customs, it's lovely.

It would totally fit on Bryter Layter. Beautiful song. Paul Harris on piano, too (him off Manassas), which might explain why it totally reminds me of Descending by the Black Crowes.

I had a poke around on the internet and the fellow who write the song put up his own version at some point. Such a great song.

https://soundcloud.com/paulwheeler8/give-us-a-ring

it must be something about the chords or melody or vocal delivery that gets me because i can only remember a few lines, so it's not the lyrics. i don't think "what's the food like, have you slept well" or "give us a ring when you get there" is enough to make me emotional lol

Ah! I never knew it was written for ND. Would indeed fit nicely into "Bryter Layter" which happens to be my fave Drake album. Such a lovely song.

never heard that original "Give Us A Ring" — beautiful ...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/30/small-hours-the-long-night-of-john-martyn-by-graeme-thomson-review

Kill yr idols indeed. Looks like I have to read this one.

Finished Graeme Thompson's new bio. Excellent.
Would've loved to hear Scott Walker cover Martyn's "Amsterdam" off "Glorious Fool" - which I'm digging a lot these days.

hadn't seen this whole rockpalast 1978 performance before, amazing stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whXY0SExC5I

'bless the weather' on that is particularly spicy, starts at 16:30

fantastic perfornance -- has he got a contact mic taped to the guitar in addition to a pickup?

yes, apparently so:

"he used a DeArmond sound hole pickup and Barcus Berry (type) contact pickup positioned behind and slightly below the bridge"

https://johnmartyn.com/guitar/a-history-of-johns-guitar-set-ups/

This 1983 concert is menacing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaDRamS0ap4

It shows how neutered his sound was by the production on the albums of the time. This rhythm section is great. Check out the quoting of Love Supreme near the end in Looking On.

something from a live album got played on wfmu earlier today and, yeah, menacing is spot on

God that is fantastic, thank you so much

After I typed "menacing", I was unsure if that was an apt word, so the confirmation is great to hear. And, yes, this show is so fantastic. Some of the Old Grey Whistle Test material on the deluxe Grace & Danger is in the same vein. I still need to explore some of the other recordings of this period.

Lot of albums here I hadn't heard of; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martyn Curious about some of the expanded reissues, like Solid Air and Live At Leeds.

Expanded Solid Air has some gems, e.g., When It's Dark and In the Evening. The alternate takes are not that revelatory. I think one has some saxophone that's pretty cool. Expanded Grace & Danger is much more essential.

I still haven't heard Live at Leeds (I've only been listening to John Martyn for 2 months or so). But I noticed there are two different expanded editions: Island Records version and Live at Leeds and More by Recall records.

There's a fabulous instrumental version of the title track on the deluxe Solid Air. It totally works, like a tight jazz piece driven by Danny Thompson's bass. The expanded Sunday's Child includes a great solo John Peel session.

Excellent encouragement, thanks yall. Solid Air was the gateway for my friends and I---via a Creem review, I think--then some of my friends found Stormbringer, with xpost Beverly M. input upfront, and the one where she actually got co-billing, Road To Ruin. Then the even jazzier Inside Out was released, later One World was a big smoker's-shroomer's favorite in these parts.

live at Leeds is incredible, a total must have

xpost Even jazzier than Solid Air, that is. Yeah, I've never heard it! Gotta check the xpost concert youtube also.

Am I the only one put off by how "out-of-it" his vocals often sound, or is that part of the attraction? I guess I mean his enunciation in particular.

I never feel that way about Tim Buckley, for instance, which may or may not have to do with how "out-of-it" they each were when recording.

The slurred vocals? For me, that's a big part of his appeal

I was sort of struck by how different his vocals on One World sounded. Yes they’re still slurred but a lot of the tracks—“Dealer,” “Big Muff”—feature a much gruffer singing style than I’ve heard him use elsewhere.

I’ve always liked Solid Air. Weirdly not loved it. But this instrumental mix of the title track, ahem, goes down easy.

Would add that one of the things that always amazed me about Martyn was how he could sound on one track like he just gargled rocks and on the next bust out the sweetest, most delicate “Over the Hill” vocal you can imagine.

I saw him just before he died doing a "Solid Air in full" thing at the Roundhouse in London. He was carried on stage and launched apathetically into about 45 minutes of corporate blues-rock w/rock-gargling vocals. I recognised one song - Dealer - but the rest was 80s/90s stuff I think. Occasional gruff barking. He then said "Well I suppose we'd better get on with the business of the evening" and delivered the aforementioned sweetest, most delicate “Over the Hill” vocal you can imagine. Entire crowd singing along. Then the rest of the album (out of order, so as not to keep changing guitars) brilliantly, then another half hour of blues/rock crud. A memorable event.

JM invents Doom, did he often crank it up like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE6i_qnoAgo

ooft amazing version

Beautiful, thanks

Yeah, I've been wondering why that version isn't on the expanded One World!

xp Good lord that live "One World" is amazing. He used a similar doom fuzz effect on "Root Love" from Sunday's Child (imo his most underrated album, would be my favorite if not for One World)

I feel like I may have posted that “One World” performance two or three times on this thread already. Not that I’m complaining.

I saw him just before he died doing a "Solid Air in full" thing at the Roundhouse in London. He was carried on stage and launched apathetically into about 45 minutes of corporate blues-rock w/rock-gargling vocals. I recognised one song - Dealer - but the rest was 80s/90s stuff I think. Occasional gruff barking. He then said "Well I suppose we'd better get on with the business of the evening" and delivered the aforementioned sweetest, most delicate “Over the Hill” vocal you can imagine. Entire crowd singing along. Then the rest of the album (out of order, so as not to keep changing guitars) brilliantly, then another half hour of blues/rock crud. A memorable event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLf0YsnDuS4

highly recommend everyone listen to the studio recording of "outside in" first and then jump around 6:30 into that video

The part at 45mins where the string breaks while tuning up for Solid Air, and the improvised comedy banter with the audience while he restrings the guitar is priceless.

message on video says playback on other websites has been disabled.
Not sure how best way to send link in that circumstance but presumably have to watch on youtube directly?
youtu.be/bLf0YsnDuS4

There's literally a link in that message saying "watch on YouTube", just click that

hey stevo, in ilx preferences there's a checkbox that says, "Show Images (and other embedded media, like videos and Tweets)." i keep that box unchecked to workaround stuff like this; it simply displays a direct youtube link on bacon's above post.

(it also cuts down significantly on thread load times and makes for fun mystery links that only carry a description and a reader's context, also like bacon's above post🙂👍🏻)

good link, btw. will dig in later, but wanted to say that his stage banter is definitely alltime. you know how eddie harris released basically an album of banter outtakes? john martyn could have easily done a double lp in the same vein.

See also Robert Pollard... I think he released two of them.