Following Sunday's Child , the live record, and a best-of collection, Martyn, for the most part, abandoned his acoustic guitar on record for a sort of rock, world, and jazz fusion. Although his style was moving away from its folk roots, his songs retained the passion and structure of his best early work. Grace and Danger , his first release since 's One World, painfully and honestly depicted the crumbling of John and Beverley's marriage in some of his most powerful material in years.
It also seemed to garner interest in Martyn's sagging career. Glorious Fool, a superb effort, produced by Collins and featuring Eric Clapton on guitar and Collins on drums, piano, and vocals, looked to be his best shot at mainstream success, but failed to extend his cult status. Martyn released his second independent live record, the magnificent Philentropy, before returning to Island Records for two studio releases, a live album and a 12" single which featured a version of Bob Dylan's "Tight Connection to My Heart.
Continuing to battle his alcoholism, Martyn resumed his career in with The Apprentice and 's Cooltide. He also released an album of his classic songs re-recorded with an all-star cast featuring Phil Collins, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and Levon Helm of the Band, as well as various compilations and live recordings.
After a four-year layoff, Martyn issued And, an album with strong jazz, trip-hop, and funk overtones, followed in by The Church with One Bell, a collection of diverse covers. Martyn recorded a surprise studio comeback effort called Glasgow Walker at the turn of the century that was very well received, and had his entire Island catalog remastered and reissued — two of his albums, One World, and Grace and Danger, were given the Universal "deluxe" treatment with bonus discs.
In , a cyst burst in Martyn's leg due to septicemia brought on by diabetes. The end result was an amputation, but he continued to tour the world with the same tireless energy and restlessness, performing with his band from a wheelchair. Martyn, shrugged it all off, typified by this infamous quote: " "I've been mugged in New York and luckily I fought my way out of it. I've been shot a couple of times as well but I just lay down and pretended to be dead. Martyn's health, however, was in real decline as a result of a lifetime of substance abuse issues; in the early morning hours of January 29, , he passed away at the age of 60 after a third bout with pneumonia.
With his characteristic backslap acoustic guitar playing, his effects-driven experimental journeys, or his catalog of excellent songs, as well as his jazz-inflected singing style, John Martyn will remain an important and influential figure in both British folk and rock. Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums and worked with artists such as Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, and Phil Collins. He has been described as "an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues".
Martyn was born in New Malden, Surrey, England. Martyn's parents, both opera singers, divorced when he was five and he spent his childhood alternating between England and Scotland. Much of this was spent in the care of his grandmother.
His strongest ties were in Glasgow, and he attended Shawlands Academy there. Mentored by Hamish Imlach, Martyn began his professional musical career when he was seventeen, playing a blend of blues and folk that resulted in a unique style that made him a key figure in the London folk scene during the mids.
He signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in and released his first album, London Conversation, the following year. This first album was soon followed by The Tumbler, which was moving towards jazz. By Martyn had developed a wholly original and idiosyncratic sound: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox, phase-shifter, and Echoplex. This sound was first apparent on Stormbringer! She was also jointly credited on The Road to Ruin, their next album in However, Island Records felt that it would be more successful to market Martyn as a solo act and this was how subsequent albums were produced, although Beverley Martyn continued to make appearances as a background singer.
In , Martyn released one of the defining British albums of the s, Solid Air, the title song a tribute to the singer-songwriter Nick Drake, a close friend and label-mate, who in died suddenly from an overdose of antidepressants. On this album, as with the one that preceded it, Bless the Weather, Martyn collaborated with jazz bass player, Danny Thompson, with whom he proceeded to have a fruitful musical partnership which continued until his death.
He also developed a new, slurred vocal style, the timbre of which resembled a tenor saxophone. Following the commercial success of Solid Air, Martyn quickly recorded and released the experimental Inside Out, a more difficult album with emphasis placed on feel and improvisation rather than song structure.
In , he followed this with Sunday's Child. In September of the next year he released a live album, Live at Leeds—Martyn had been unable to convince Island to release the record, and resorted to selling individually signed copies by mail from his home.
Live at Leeds features Danny Thompson and drummer John Stevens, and is notable not only for the performances given, but the recording quality and incredibly quiet audience for a live recording. Featuring an intriguing cast Robin Murray. John Martyn remains a legend. Emerging from the folk scene, his acoustic stylings has a definite jazz edge. Soaked in honey, his smooth voice belied the often troubled nature of his life.
Releasing some inspiring material, John Martyn remained a powerful performer until the end. Advanced Search. Track Listing - Disc 1.
Let the Good Things Come. Glorious Fool. Small Hours. Over the Hill. I Don't Want to Know. Bless the Weather. Couldn't Love You More. Go Easy. Solid Air. You Can Discover. The Easy Blues. Certain Surprise. One World. Track Listing - Disc 2. May You Never.
Go Down Easy. Fairy Tale Lullaby. Fine Lines. Run Honey Run. But the album with its pitch perfect Max Ernst front cover illustration was common currency among London's counterculture, in no small part because of the Martyns' well known enjoyment of hash and weed, which seeps out of every groove and which is explicitly referenced in "Primrose Hill," "Auntie Aviator" and "Give Us A Ring.
Martyn continued to enjoy dope for the rest of his life, and went through the statutory cocaine binge; the damage was done later by alcohol addiction. But you don't have to have been there to enjoy it. The Road To Ruin, with all its historical baggage—societal and, informed as it so pervasively was by the Martyns' lifestyle, domestic—still sounds as exalted as it ever did.
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