Big Muff

We all know John will not be forgotten by his fans. Some people make an effort to enhance the memory further.

Some people are trying to put a blue plaque above the door of the house John used to live in during the Hampstead period. They are still thinking about which house would be best: Pilgrims Place or Denning Road. Bob Cunningham writes: "There is no rush as the earliest a plaque can be put up is Jan 29th 2019. There is a 10 year gap period. Personally, I think the Blue Plaques are a long lasting tribute to people who lived in London; and JM probably wrote Solid Air while living in Hampstead." So we will have to wait some more.

Jim McKnight, who knew John well, got another idea. He had this plaque made and installed in the Scotia Bar, Glasgow on 18 February 2012. "It is placed under Hamish Imlach's, which has been on the wall since Hamish died, as Hamish was John's mentor." Nice touch.
The Scotia Bar (established 1792) is the oldest pub in Glasgow; 112-114 Stockwell Street.

John passed away three years ago and we still miss him.
Chris Nickson gives a thorough write-up for the occasion published here.

Every once in a while some unique material pops up on YouTube.
This clip was published by Glenn Veness and features live footage of a spontaneous beach concert that took place in Hastings in 1991 so during the Cooltide era. I don't have an exact date, yet.

Glenn: "John was drinking in the Lord Nelson with the fishermen when, after a few drinks, they talked him into playing on the beach. He played all afternoon for free, and went round with a wellington boot collecting money for local charities. This is a great track from that afternoon called Big Muff."

The intro is hilarious.

Well ya bunch of English bastards. Riight ya want me tae be mair Scottish, is that whit ya wan? A''rrrriiiiight pal, yooouv'e goot it...

Also it is highly amusing to see women and children dancing to the rather unorthodox rhythms produced with the echoplex.

This is to wish you all a fine and healthy 2012. The year is going to be an interesting one from a John point of view.

First of all there will be a release of an edited version of the Tell Them video on DVD, under the title One World, One John.

Then Universal have announced a 2CD compilation of all of John's performances on the Old Grey Whistle Test, on occasion of the 40th anniversary of the famous BBC program.

Furthermore someone is preparing a bootleg release of the Regent's Park open air concert of 4 July 1976. This was a solo performance broadcast by Capital Radio at the time.

And of course there is a fair chance that Reginald Hastings will be organizing a second edition of the JM Tribute Festival. Last year was a blissful blast of a party. Bless the Irish.

Meanwhile this site will continue to grow and expand even though I have a very busy job in the wonderful town of Venlo. People still contribute new information to this date, and on YouTube it is apparent that John Martyn's music keeps on gathering momentum among young people, too.

Follow @bigmuffsite on Twitter to keep up to date!

The Bottom Line:

About as much fun as you can cram into one room

The tribute concert of Saturday 10 September is SOLD OUT. All 450 tickets have been sold last Wednesday so Carrolls Bar are looking at a packed venue and a capacity crowd. If you don't have tickets there is no use coming to Thomastown because no more people are allowed in. A great result for the John Martyn Trust Fund and a great evening coming up!

The Bottom Line:

An impressive lot of posthumous friends.

Michael Eavis is famous for having founded the Glastonbury festival. He is 75 years of age now but still active in organising the event. When asked about his memories he comes up with a surprising favourite act. We quote from the website This Is Somerset:

Virtually every major rock act has played Worthy Farm, apart from the Rolling Stones, and Mr Eavis is confident of booking them one day. But few would guess his personal favourite was the late John Martyn, the singer-songwriter who played in 1979.
"He was so good, it brought tears to my eyes. The world would not think that was the major thing at the festival, but to me it was. Then there were The Smiths, Oasis and Radiohead. And T-Rex, who replaced The Kinks at the first festival, was one of the best ever."

Good to read this and thanx to John Neil Munro who discovered it. Read the whole story here.

The Bottom Line

Well, this is the bottom line.

John's final record finally released.

All tracks written by John Martyn except Can't Turn Back The Years by Phil Collins.

So we know that 15 August the tribute album is going to be released. We also know that it is going to be a double CD and that the title is Johnny Boy Would Love This. Twenty-five artists have joined in the effort. The people behind the release have made a track available for free download: Don't Want To Know, by Swell Season. More info on this page including four sample tracks. Here's how it goes.

• You submit your email address in the black box on the right
• You get a confirmation email on the address provided
• Click on the Confirm & Download button
• This takes you to a website with the download link
• The track you get is Don't Want To Know, by Swell Season
• You get 10 Megabyte worth of high quality mp3

Before the official release, the publishers will use your email address to send you an opportunity to preorder the double CD set... And maybe a little extra. In the meantime enjoy the music.

By the way the Phil Collins track, Tearing and Breaking, might fire a memory. Indeed a track by this name featured as opening for his 2CD sampler Love Songs: A Compilation... Old And New (2004). However the version included in the tribute CD has been re-recorded at Phil Collins' own request. He and John wrote the song together.

This is the artwork for John's final album Heaven And Earth. The release date has been set on the 16th of May, although there have been mentions of 3rd of May, which is not quite correct. Itunes Canada started selling the album on 4th of May, though. And Martin Chilton from the Daily Telegraph has published the first elementary review on the 5th of May. Uncut's Graeme Thompson rated the album 3 stars in a one page review.

Amazon has clips available of all songs of the album.

Two whole tracks can be listened to over here: Heaven And Earth, and Can't Turn Back The Years, featuring Phil Collins on backing vocals.

Today the following message was posted in Chicago.

John Martyn Tribute Set for July 12; Beck, Snow Patrol Among 30 On Board

Monday, February 28, 2011 at 12:46PM

An expansive 30-song tribute album to John Martyn, the pioneering and mind-bending British folkie who passed away lin 2009, has been confirmed for a July 12 street. In the works for a few years, the project -- officially titled Johnny Boy Would Love this….a Tribute to John Martyn -- includes a number of notable participants including Beck, David Gray, Snow Patrol, Lisa Hannigan, Davandra Banhart, Robert Smith of the Cure, Phil Collins, Paolo Nutini and The Swell Season. A companion DVD including recording and interview footage is also being produced for the project. See the album's full track listing below. DC will have a full write up on the Tribute w/ music streams soon.

Music Matters - John Martyn (23-3-10) from Music Matters on Vimeo.

Things have gone a lot quieter on the webfront but this goes to wish you all a happy, healthy and satisfying 2011.
We know for a fact that this spring, John's final album Heaven and Earth will finally be released. Also several young artists are committed to contribute tracks to a John Martyn tribute album. I for myself have several ideas of enhancing this website and still have lots of work lying on the shelf. So it remains a good habit to visit Big Muff every once in a while. JM is here to stay...

Simply Vinyl are repressing their 180 grams vinyl reissue of Solid Air. They announce that production is on the way. The release date of the classic record is set to 11th October. It will be their first release in 2010. They claim it to be their best selling 180 grams title. The price is £ 21,99 so they are aiming at the higher end of the audio market.