01 Dec 1977
I once saw a girl absolutely cream some poor bastard with a John Martyn record. He'd whispered some lewd suggestion in her ear and she just whipped around and gave him a tremendous shot in the temple with a copy of So Far So Good.
John Martyn speaks about his Folk Award win, how he felt about the reception he got at the event, and the influences that have led to his enduring popularity.
Ci sono sognatori che per qualche accidente del destino diventano chitarristi e songwriter e poi scrivono canzoni che sembrano scendere direttamente dalla luna (rosa, possibilmente). Ovvio che sulla terra, e nel mondo del rock'n'roll, hanno una vita difficile, se non impossibile: per loro, abituati ai cicli delle stagioni, a respirare aria pura (solida, forse), a sognare il mare e a cantare canzoni di Skip James, la velocità e le assurdità del ventesimo secolo devono essere sembrate dei mostri, degli errori universali. Così, se ne sono andati: l'elenco è lungo e meritevole di altro spazio, ma parte da Nick Drake e arriva a Jeff Buckley: spiriti troppo pieni di poesia per un mondo di chiacchiere.
By STEPHEN TURNER
AS the post-Christmas-back-to-work depression slowly evaporates and the spectre of 1975 slinks out through the back door, is there anything on the horizon to brighten up this gloomy scene?
The short term answer is yes – the John Martyn concert at the Carlisle next Friday.
Front cover photograph © Miguel Capelo
Syd Kitchen (1951-2011) was a South African singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He made a contribution to the Johnny Boy Would Love This tribute album by covering Fine Lines – one of the last musical adventures of his life. His biography Scars That Shine appeared six years later. Author Donvé Lee had promised Syd to write his life's story many years before he passed away. But she only got around doing it after his death. So we have a rather unique document here: a biography that sounds like an autobiography. Thanks to extensive research Donvé pulled it off: "It's not often you come across an autobiography that isn’t written by the subject, but Lee went out on a creative limb and, writing in first person, succeeded in capturing Syd in his own voice".
The almost final chapter is dedicated to the John Martyn tribute project and is reproduced here with permission of the author. The book got excellent reviews and is for sale on Amazon as an e-book. Physical copies can be obtained by contacting the author. It is well worth a read, as there are many similarities between John's career and Syd's.
JOHN MARTYN
UN HOMBRE TRANQUILO
A pesar de la exquisitez de tu obra, mucho me temo que en España no eres demasiado conocido. ¿Qué tal en el resto de Europe continental?
- «Mis discos se venden muy bien en lugares como Alemania, Holanda, Francia, Países nórdicos, donde por lo demás suelo actuar con alguna frecuencia.»
Welcome
back, John
[Before interviewing JM, Nicky Campbell played a Prince track (Graffiti Bridge) and then reported that John had said that he would really like to hear Prince and Miles Davis working together. He then played a B52s record and started the interview...]
NC: John Martyn, you're here!
JM: Yes indeed I am (very Scottish accent).
NC: That was a long flight, wasn't it?
In «Sunday's Child», l'ottavo album di John Martyn,
si celebrano le aspirazioni dell'uomo comune, di tutti i giorni:
gioia della famiglia, nella tranquillità più piena si raccolgono i frutti di una vita,
nella dolcezza si ritrovano i desideri dell'amore...
un lavoro che fa fare un passo avanti alla buona musica
e lascia arretrare l'abbaglio e il glam. Anteprima.
JOHN MARTYN:
"Inside Out" (Island)
