Couldn't Love You More
PERMANENT PERM 009

After 24 years' worth of lovely records, no one would begrudge Scots troubadour John Martyn a hit. But is still comes as a shock to find him taking route one to goal.
Cushioned on smoothly upholstered rhythms and haloed by the smokiest winebar saxophone, Martyn sounds like he's doing his damnedest to plug into the Simply Red fan-base. And he's doing it in the most eco-friendly way: by recycling highlights of his own back catalogue in new, luxury versions. However commercial his motives, he's incapable of anything less than the most sensuously sprung rhythm, the most dreamy soulfulness.
Contemporaries Phil Collins and Dave Gilmour help concoct a sound that breathes mentholated class, though whether this new gloss actually improves such avant-folk favourites as Over The Hill, May You Never, Solid Air, One World and Sweet Little Mystery is open to doubt. Still, for the modern shopper, this is an excellent point of entry.
* * *
Mat Snow

Picture of the article kindly provided by John Neil Munro