John Martyn / Well Kept Secret

Released in 1982 just one year after the excellent Glorious Fool is it fair to ask if Well Kept Secret was the beginning of John Martyn's long decline? Sure Martyn wholeheartedly embraces the production values of the day and the tracks are submerged in keyboards and easy listening bass and saxophone. However to be fair the songs are passable retaining some hints of the immediately preceding albums, ...

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Log #193 - Rainbows Rising

After hearing a respected punter select In Rainbows as one of his Top 10 favourite records of the last decade (or was it ever?) I thought I better give it a spin. It could be a dog's dinner but the whole sits together beautifully as a unit. Indeed it's an excellent listen. The band hit it big early with The Bends and OK Computer but to be fair they developed a lot after those early records. ...

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Log #192 - Water As Sound

Not much movement this week at Bamyasi Towers which describes much of this ambient music too.  Loscil continues his form with Endless Falls. Pitchfork write generally about Loscil: An impressive catalogue of pensive, minimal records that turn computerized sounds into something strangely soothing - the kind of music you want to listen to flat on your back, eyes fixed at the ceiling. Or ...

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Log #191 - Pin Drops, Caves and Crickets

More wading through my new ambient discoveries this week, plus an outlier in the John Martyn.  Loscil - Equivalents Arovane - Gestalt Monolake - Cinemascope Monolake - Gravity Arovane - Lilies John Martyn - One World (Deluxe CD 2) As I said last week these ambient artists - Arovane, Monolake and Loscil in particular, ...

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Album Review - The Simmer Dim by John Martyn

The Simmer Dim is both great and poor. In the first place the playing and the repertoire is superb making it potentially one of John Martyn’s greatest live albums, however secondly it loses a significant number of brownie points on account of the poor sound which is of barely bootleg quality. First the songs. The Simmer Dim (the name refers to the summer twilight in the most northerly ...

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John Martyn with Danny Thompson - Live Germany 1986

The late-sixties London music community gave birth to a wealth of beautiful and diverse hybrids. The combination of a jazz scene surrounding venues such as Ronnie Scott's, and a folky, singer-songwriter enclave supported by clubs such as Bunjy's was never the most likely of fusions but, as this album testifies, the music made by such a pairing still pulses as strongly today as it did over four ...

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Log #168 - Rumours Going Down

I came late to Rumours as explained here but its charms have grown on me, particularly on the more rock orientated numbers like the excellent The Chain which is so much more than that slightly annoying bass riff used for that very annoying car programme. It was a video I caught this week on youtube of a live performance of The Chain that encouraged me to give the album another spin. Fleetwood ...

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Log #152 - Experiments In Surround Sound

I'm reading a 33 1/3 book on The Flaming Lips. It's about their album Zaireeka. Now this is interesting for several reasons. For one I did not know the Flaming Lips had been around for so long (since the early 80s); I first heard of them around the time of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and the accompanying hit single Do You Realise?? but that was 2002, their ...

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Log #151 - Glorious Pepper

John Martyn Glorious Fool Truckstop Honeymoon Big Things And Little Things The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Harmonia Deluxe Tord Gustavsen Trio The Other Side The Black Keys El Camino Still enjoying the John Martyn album - it's one of his best actually. Possibly his last great album but considering it's his 11th studio album that represents ...

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Log #150 - From Barroom To Stadium - The Black Keys Go Large

I've come late to the Black Keys. Shame actually as this album sounds tremendous - heavy, exciting and melodic. Even my house mates love it. Of course they compare with other 2 bit bands, The White Stripes and Royal Blood for instance, but I think I prefer this; I love the grungy dirty bluesy emphasis and Dan Auerbach's distorted vocals. They seem to have translated well from barroom ...

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Log #143 - Fried Wax To Burn

Julian Cope, him from Teardrop Explodes, and Antiquarian and Krautrock expert, is a genius. His Modern Antiquarian reference guide, 7 years in the compiling, is a fantastic gift to mankind, one of my favourite books, and one that has enlightened many a holiday to the South West. His musical taste is impeccable - an early adopter of Krautrock, his Krautrock Sampler is a long ...

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Log #142 - The Road To Solid Air

When people think of John Martyn their thoughts usually start (and end) around Solid Air, his masterful jazz folk fusion album of 1973. Many would be surprised to learn that Martyn actually released five albums before this major breakthrough. This week Eddy examines Martyn's road to Solid Air. John Martyn - London Conversation John Martyn - The Tumbler John Martyn - Stormbringer! John ...

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Is This John Marytn's Greatest Album?

Aren't we lucky those of us who have discovered John Martyn? One World is my favourite album of his and a perfect bridge between the more jazz folky Solid Air and the harrowing Grace and Danger. All the tracks are gems including the acoustic declaration of unconditional love Couldn't Love You More and the catchy pop of Certain Surpise to the echoplex driven rhythms of Big Muff and Dealer. Best ...

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John Martyn Live At Leeds (and More)

Martyn fans have always had an abiding affection for this particular in-concert memento. Owners of the original vinyl release of 1975 always knew they were getting something rather special coming as it did from the man himself rather than his regular record label, Island. Inexplicably, the company felt a live album at that point in his career (circa Sunday's Child) was unwise, and so left it to ...

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