1. Lynyrd Skynryd - Gold and Platinum
2. John Martyn - Solid Air
3. Tom Waits - Blue Valentine
4. John Martyn - Grace and Danger
5. Van Morrison - Tupelo Honey
6. John Martyn - Glorious Fool
So there I was on this barge on the river wearing nothing but denims and a smile, and this blue man says to me, 'You know I used to be like you, but I saw sense and I changed myself.' So I looked at his sage expression and black shoes and thought 'Thanks all the same, I'll stay on the river.'
I do feel lucky to have discovered John Martyn relatively early in life. I was introduced to him on a summer holiday in France one year by a friend of a friend who played a bit of acoustic guitar in that percussive slapping manner which was very new to me at the time, and characteristic of Martyn's acoustic playing especially on his earlier folky albums. Then later the same (long) summer (I assume) I was helping another friend refurbish a boat down in Cornwall somewhere and had two albums in rotation on my Walkman: Bob Dylan's Desire and John Martyn's Solid Air. Not a bad selection if you only had one C90 tape for the whole summer (and two of my favourite albums still today 30 years later)!
It sounds wonderfully free and romantic, rather like Martyn's quote from the sleeve notes of his debut album above. I had indeed just met a new girlfriend and in my mind's eye the sun shone and I would have been bare footed and long haired too! What emotional memories particular music always brings up.
 |
| JM with smoking joint lodged in machine head |
Solid Air is the classic John Martyn. A lovely blend of folk and jazz and the beginnings of his more electronic echoplex guitar playing. Perhaps most evocative is the lovely electric piano. It is of course, like most of his records, a very chilled laid back album - there is a track entitled Go Down Easy and the title track is a homage to Island label mate Nick Drake. But perhaps his most famous song in his full catalogue is May You Never, a song he always played live and one the crowd would sing along with especially in later life when the drugs and booze had taken such a toll his concerts had become a little more ramshackle.
However like many artists who suffered poor health in later life his voice never left him (just becoming even more of a bear growl), nor did his unique guitar playing which although relying increasingly on effects still mesmerised. Like his very easy going effortless slurred voice the guitar also looked extremely loose and free but he was obviously channelling some higher source as I could never work out what he was doing despite studying May You Never guitar tabs for years.
We also have two later albums in the list above. I say later but Grace and Danger and Glorious Fool were released in 1980 and 1981 respectively so still very early relatively. The heartbreaking Grace and Danger album I've written more extensively about here. The slightly harder edged Glorious Fool was a bit of a crossover album between classic John Martyn and later 80s smoothness, and slightly disjointed as a consequence but still contains some excellent tracks. One disappointment is the electrified rendition of Couldn't Love You More which loses much of the soul of the acoustic original on the excellent One World album. In fact I'd proffer that One World is Martyn's peak, representing the perfect equilibrium of his earlier folk days and the later electric period. All his 70s albums right up to, and including Grace and Danger which was a departure, are worth getting but start with One World and Solid Air.
0 comments:
Post a Comment