John Martyn! Wow!

veddertown
veddertown Scotland Posts: 5,260
edited November 2011 in Other Music
Any fans on here? I set Sky+ to record another programme but somehow botched it and got Johnny Too Bad, a documentary about John Martyn. Bored anyway so I thought I might as well watch it and I can only say that it amazes me he has slipped the net with me for the thirty years I've really listened to music. What a superb songwriter and surely a pioneer for some current music genres. At times he sound way ahead his time and I was saddened to hear that he had passed away in 2009 after a double pneumonia. I have downloaded 4 albums from amazon this week, Bless The Weather, Inside Out, One World and Solid Air, after about 4 or 5 listens each already they sound like long lost friends. This is going to be another expensive chapter in my life I think! :D
Like a book among the many on a shelf...

Dublin 02 Arena - 22/6/10. Belfast Odyssey Arena - 23/6/10. London Hyde Park - 25/6/10. Berlin Wuhlheide - 30/6/10.
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Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • hostis
    hostis Posts: 441
    *underrated*
  • B-Rock
    B-Rock Posts: 149
    My friend showed me John Martyn not long ago...

    Couldnt believe how amazing he is..


    Listening to the tribute album recently and this has to be one of my favourite covers ever:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1ySA8TqExU
    Sydney 8-11-06, 18-11-06; Melbourne 20-11-09, Sydney 22-11-09, Manchester 20-06-12, 21-06-12
  • FinsburyParkCarrots
    FinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    I met him. Saw him live a bazillion times. Cried when the old goat died.

    This was March 1973:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYCG5wZ9op8
  • Claireack
    Claireack Posts: 13,561
    Fantastic musician!

    Fortunately got to see him live twice.
    <a href="http://s952.photobucket.com/albums/ae8/catkinson_2009/?action=view&current=domo.jpg&quot; target="_blank"><img src="http://i952.photobucket.com/albums/ae8/catkinson_2009/domo.jpg&quot; border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
  • ilockyer
    ilockyer Posts: 2,272
    Never got to see him... the last time he played down here I was in Ireland seeing some band called Pearl Jam...

    Where to start? That is the only problem!
    The secret to a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits
  • FinsburyParkCarrots
    FinsburyParkCarrots Seattle, WA Posts: 12,223
    Work in this order:

    Solid Air
    Live at Leeds
    Bless The Weather
    One World
    Sunday's Child
    Inside Out
    The Tumbler
    Grace and Danger

    Then work through the catalogue. Some of his eighties and nineties stuff is a bit dodgy. Too many cloying synths get in the way. Phil Collins did a good job producing Grace and Danger, but I think ultimately he had a deleterious effect on John's output and aesthetic priorities.
  • jjflash
    jjflash Posts: 5,059
    Good, good stuff. Found him via Chris & Rich Robinson who covered Martyn's "Over the Hill" on the their live Brothers of a Feather album a few years ago. Check out that album if you don't have it....it's fantastic IMHO. Love what I've heard from John but haven't delved too deep yet. FinsburyParkCarrots: thanks for the reference points! 8-)
  • ilockyer
    ilockyer Posts: 2,272
    The Brothers of a Feather album is epic, but that's one for another thread another time.

    I have Solid Air, London Conversation and The Tumbler. Live At Leeds will probably be next.
    The secret to a happy ending is knowing when to roll the credits

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