John Martyn arrived on stage in Telford last night on a six-string and a prayer.
This singer/ songwriter/ guitarist has a reputation for being late, being 'relaxed' on stage and being musically and lyrically brilliant.
He lived up to his reputation in full last night at Oakengates Town Hall.
A jam on the M6 was apparently responsible for an 80-minute delay at the start of the show.
But whether it was the M6 or the fact he didn't know where Oakengates was, the audience immediately forgave him when he bumbled on, looking sheepish, and played a blistering first set.
The second set was more acoustically orientated and the whole concert was a display of vintage John Martyn.
The music is a cocktail of jazz, funk, blues and rock and the vocals are done in a laid-back-further-than-anyone-else mellow Scottish slur.
Martyn was ably assisted, and even occasionally challenged, by the technical virtuosity of Spencer Cozens' keyboards.
But in the end it's the songwriting that counts and, over his 20-year career, John Martyn has penned some of the most beautiful songs in the world.
sitenotes:
This review was probably published in the Shropshire Star the 23 May 1992. In which case CD should refer to Christine Davies.