Any John Martyn fans?

[M138]

Use to love going to see the ‘big man’, loved his music.
Chris Blackwell wouldn’t let him release Grace And Danger, said it was too emotional but John got his way in the end.
I didn’t realise it’s been over 16 years since he passed.

[Voldemort]

Massive fan here. First saw him at Newcastle City Hall in 1982-ish. I had never seen an entire auditorium turned into a hot box before
Sw him maybe twenty times since. He is much missed.

[Skyedriver]

Never saw him live, seen a few times on TV. Have a CD of his work, clever but like many seems to have been a troubled soul with problems. Sad.

[MCBrowncoat]

Yes, though too young to see him, really. Have a few of his CDs - Bless The Weather to Grace and Danger. There's not many more magical tracks than Small Hours. Also have that bluray of live stuff from a few years back somewhere.

Troubled soul? Was he? I always got the impression he lived exactly the way he wanted, and fk the consequences.

There's some funny stories in his biog (Some People Are Crazy by John Neil Munro) like when he got so drunk Danny Thompson nailed him under the hotel bedroom carpet. When he woke in the morning screaming for water DT ordered up a breakfast and orange juice and ate it all in front of him funny stuff

I still dip in now and again. No one quite like him.

[Leithen]

Keep coming back to Solid Air, time and time again.

Nurse a whisky or two through the album and by the time I get to Gentle Blues I’m in a special place.

John Martyn and Rickie Lee Jones. So many layers, so original.

[M138]

So many fantastic songs, as mentioned Small Hours, genius.
Along with the recognised great songs of JM I’ve got a few of my own personal favourites like Baby, Please Come Home from Grace And Dancing, Dancing from One World, You Might Need A Man from Well Kept Secret but tbh there’s too many to mention.
Just a side note, Facebook has a John Martyn appreciation page and I was a member at one point but I left in the end due to me mentioning that JM was a big fan(so am I) of the American jazz musician Pharaoh Sanders. Apparently JM wanted him to appear on one of his records but Pharaoh Sanders wanted too much money which didn't impress JM. I ended up getting a private message to ask me to refrain from mentioning Pharaoh Sanders name on their Facebook page.

[JoeSteveMark]

Another fan here.
Introduced to him by the Mrs who saw him live in Norwich many moons ago.

Love Solid Air, Bless the Weather, Grace and Danger.
Bought London conversation as well which is OK.

Enjoy this later release as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfTmrRz7lzo&ab...

[Lotobear]

I saw him in a dingy cellar venue in Carlisle around a year before he died. He looked a sorry sight, perched on a chair and massively over weight (one leg off?) but put in a lovely performance.

I often think of him in the same sort of vein as Michael Chapman, who used to live a just a few miles from me in NE Cumbria - saw him too a lot of times at local venues. Another one gone as well.

[MCBrowncoat]

Lotobear said:

I saw him in a dingy cellar venue in Carlisle around a year before he died. He looked a sorry sight, perched on a chair and massively over weight (one leg off?) but put in a lovely performance.

I often think of him in the same sort of vein as Michael Chapman, who used to live a just a few miles from me in NE Cumbria - saw him too a lot of times at local venues. Another one gone as well.

https://youtu.be/q0DVynJD4jE?si=uh5xW0w8aQJRUDX0

47:50

[snuffy]

When I was at poly in the late 80s, I must have listened to Solid Air about 1,000,000 times.

I think I've got pretty much all his albums, and apart from Solid Air, And, Sapphire and Piece By Piece are my favourite albums.

I'd never seen him on stage, and then I saw him twice in very quick succession. First time in Liverpool, at the Echo Arena, where he was the support for Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings, and the place was almost empty. Then I saw him again in Kendal, Brewery Arts Centre, so a completely different venue. One thing I can remember from that was he asked the audience what they wanted him to play and someone shouted out "John Wayne" and he replied "That's the stupidest song I've written, but if that is what you want, I'll play it".

I found the dates online, July 2008 in LIverpool, and then 3 days later was Kendal.

Edited by snuffy on Sunday 15th June 18:02

[Yahonza]

The performance of John Wayne at Glastonbury was legendary - very atmospheric. He was a real original.
I got into JM in the 80's, although his best releases were from the 1970's, from Bless The Weather through to One World.
He was a bit of a character and I saw him live a few times. His best sound was just the acoustic guitar with the echoplex + Danny Thompson on double bass. I wasn't so keen on his later more commercial / polished albums.

[M138]

snuffy said:

When I was at poly in the late 80s, I must have listened to Solid Air about 1,000,000 times.

I think I've got pretty much all his albums, and apart from Solid Air, And, Sapphire and Piece By Piece are my favourite albums.

Edited by snuffy on Sunday 15th June 18:02

For me personally Sapphire has three fantastic songs, his rendition of Over The Rainbow, Fisherman’s Dream and an absolute classic called You Know.
To me Piece By Piece is in a similar vein to Grace And Danger but a mid 80s sound opposed to a late 70s one. Fantastic record, the funny thing is the one song I don’t like on there is John Wayne, too shouty for me. I always liked JM when he was singing about his love life.
Just my preferred choices.