JOHN MARTYN

    • Official Post

    A bit inspired by the discussion in the "Your Favorite Collins album" thread, I thought it would be interesting to have a separate John Martyn Thread.


    I found about John when I spent some research on what Phil was doing over the years. That was many years ago. But it took until his final album that I really got interested. Heaven And Earth really touched me - and there was also a Martyn version of Can't Turn Back The Years on that one, with Phil on backing vocals.

    So, how did you get in touch with John's music?

    cheers

    Christian


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  • I was first introduced to his music through a sound engineer who was working on a pantomime* in which I was appearing. The album was Solid Air if I remember correctly. At first, I had no knowledge of the Phil Collins connection, only finding out about it when I read Phil's biography by the late Ray Coleman.


    Shortly after that, I was bought the Grace And Danger album, a sort of companion piece to Phil's Face Value.


    In some quarters, John is regarded as a folk artist. I find that a very limiting view. And I don't like folk music anyway.


    *The panto was Jack And The Beanstalk. I played Darth Vader. It's a long story.

  • I came initially to JM via Grace & Danger, as was often the case with music new to me my brother had it. Then I heard Glorious Fool and liked that too then subsequently went back over the earlier stuff.


    I agree "folk" is too narrow a categorisation of his work. Some of his early work has folk-like elements but even then it's misleading to suggest he started out as a folk musician. His work changed and developed over the years and he did some quite spiky stuff as well as more gentle songs. He remained quite uncategorisable, which I like in musicians.


    His live shows could be great and he generally had a superb band. But he was a heavy drinker and his gigs could be unpredictable affairs. I went to gigs where it was clear he was pretty tanked up but luckily never experienced anything too disruptive as I gather other audiences did.


    Just to further dispel the notion of his simply being a folk musician, when I think of his live work I immediately default to the often incendiary renditions of the menacing John Wayne. The arrangement changed but at its best it could switch between a sort of controlled brooding malevolence and unhinged bellowing mayhem. You kind of sensed this maybe reflected his own character in some ways. And what a great riff. All very much in my neighbourhood.


    Nah, definitely not just folk.

    Abandon all reason

  • Went to see John Martyn when I was 14 as we tried to see everybody at my home town. I remember in one week watching Whitesnake Barbara Dickson and Rita Coolidge. Was underwhelmed but loved the song, Hung up. So I have followed John Martyn over the decades. Some amazing songs and some terrible ones. But I still feel that the smooth slow band that Martyn had in the early 2000s were astonishing. Arran Ahmun on drums. Foss Patterson on keyboard. I saw him around that time and the combined Solid Air/ She's a lover 12 minute super slow live thing was magical in a ghostly ethereal way.

    It was filmed by a lady in Ireland and it is on YouTube.

  • First saw John opening '6 of the Best' at Milton Keynes, liked what I heard. Two years later I'm a postgrad in Glasgow and someone lends me 'One World' & 'Grace & Danger', the rest as they say is history. Saw John multiple times, got all the albums and the special Island CD boxset released a few years back. John is one of my 'go to' listens. As noted above John had a temper and drink issues (amongst other things) but he never failed to entertain and move me. Funnily I was listening to Talk Talk's 'Laughing Stock' yesterday and I said to my wife that I 'get' more out of sad (melancholic, moody) music than I do out of upbeat (happy/ier) and I place quite a bit of John's music in that sad/moody/melancholic bracket.