John Martyn

Trollheart · 04-06-2022, 08:49 PM

Anyone a fan? God I love this man. Sadly missed.

**Exo** · 04-07-2022, 10:25 AM

Solid Air and Road to Ruin are great albums.

Trollheart · 04-07-2022, 12:00 PM

I love Solid Air but I think his real classic is Glorious Fool.

rostasi · 04-07-2022, 12:18 PM

Yup - a fan here too. Solid Air, yes, and maybe tied for
2nd place in my brain would be One World and Bless the Weather.
After his divorce from Beverley, it was unfortunately downhill from there.

**Exo** · 04-07-2022, 03:43 PM

He had some real stinkers toward the end there.

Lisnaholic · 04-07-2022, 04:35 PM

Yep, if you started out like I did with his 1973 Solid Air album, everything else is likely to be a disappointment I think.

I went to see him a couple of times in London when Solid Air had given him a cult following with its "druggy" sound. At one concert in a small hall, everybody went in and sat on the floor: apart from outdoor festivals, I think that doesn't happen much, does it? It showed a kind of respectful approach to the music, I felt, and he didn't disappoint; he did a great job of recreating all those electronic effects on stage. Very much a one-man show, on another occasion he was pretty drunk and kept telling rambling stories between songs. After a while, one story went on so long, a guy shouted at him, "Play some music!", and when he did, the JM magic took hold; a note-perfect rendition of one of his classics.

As for later albums, I have Glasgow Walker(1999) but don't play it much. It has a couple of ok songs, but suffers imo because instead of one voice, one guitar, he is backed, or should I say swamped, by a four-piece band. His vocals, or the songs themselves, really aren't strong enough to carry that much extra weight.

Trollheart · 04-07-2022, 07:27 PM

I'm not familiar with his post-1990s material. I think the last album I heard was The Apprentice, which is 1990.

jadis · 04-11-2022, 02:06 PM

He really produced fascinating sounds

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

I discovered him when YT recommended this RS cover to me years ago. A loving tribute, rendering Small Hours as more of a pop song

Quote:

“I first heard ‘Small Hours’ on the John Peel Show late in 1977 and fell instantly in love with it... ‘One World' very quickly became my favourite John Martyn album... And these beautiful songs were, are and always will be an inspiration and an enchantment.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l93fx-7kANE

04-06-2022, 08:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	John Martyn Anyone a fan? God I love this man. Sadly missed. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

04-07-2022, 10:25 AM	#2 (permalink)
Exo All day jazz and biscuits Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: NJ Posts: 7,359	Solid Air and Road to Ruin are great albums. __________________ LastFM SUPREME POO BAH MODERATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

04-07-2022, 12:00 PM	#3 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	I love Solid Air but I think his real classic is Glorious Fool. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

04-07-2022, 03:43 PM	#5 (permalink)
Exo All day jazz and biscuits Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: NJ Posts: 7,359	He had some real stinkers toward the end there. __________________ LastFM SUPREME POO BAH MODERATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

04-07-2022, 04:35 PM	#6 (permalink)
Lisnaholic ...here to hear... Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: He lives on Love Street Posts: 4,444	Yep, if you started out like I did with his 1973 Solid Air album, everything else is likely to be a disappointment I think. I went to see him a couple of times in London when Solid Air had given him a cult following with its "druggy" sound. At one concert in a small hall, everybody went in and sat on the floor: apart from outdoor festivals, I think that doesn't happen much, does it? It showed a kind of respectful approach to the music, I felt, and he didn't disappoint; he did a great job of recreating all those electronic effects on stage. Very much a one-man show, on another occasion he was pretty drunk and kept telling rambling stories between songs. After a while, one story went on so long, a guy shouted at him, "Play some music!", and when he did, the JM magic took hold; a note-perfect rendition of one of his classics. As for later albums, I have Glasgow Walker(1999) but don't play it much. It has a couple of ok songs, but suffers imo because instead of one voice, one guitar, he is backed, or should I say swamped, by a four-piece band. His vocals, or the songs themselves, really aren't strong enough to carry that much extra weight. __________________ "Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

04-07-2022, 12:18 PM	#4 (permalink)
rostasi . Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 4,007	Yup - a fan here too. Solid Air, yes, and maybe tied for 2nd place in my brain would be One World and Bless the Weather. After his divorce from Beverley, it was unfortunately downhill from there.

04-07-2022, 07:27 PM	#7 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	I'm not familiar with his post-1990s material. I think the last album I heard was The Apprentice, which is 1990. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018