Articles

Celtic Soul Brother

Michael Heatley
Record Buyer & Music Collector

Michael Heatley traces the career of John Martyn, a true musical maverick

Try to pin down the quicksilver musical soul of John Martyn and he'll just squeeze through your fingers. Few who caught up with London Conversation, his late '60s recording bow for Island Records - he was the first white solo performer on what was then a reggae-based label - could have foreseen his transition from folky singer-songwriter to electric rock-band leader and, now, hip-hop balladeer.

Yet while Bob Dylan, an acknowledged influence, made at least the first change, he never showed the same fascination for sounds and textures as Martyn. The way the Scot applied slapback echo and other effects to the acoustic guitar in the '70s has helped shape the approach of many who followed: a generation led by Brit-winning Beth Orton, owes him a debt, while chart-toppers the Verve selected him as their special guest for a 1998 show, introducing him to a new audience.

Been Gone so Long

Bob Stanley
Mojo magazine

folk

After thirty years away from it all, Beverley Martyn is making music again. She speaks to Bob Stanley about her music, friends, enemies and looking after Nick Drake.

Sister Bliss and John Martyn

Dan Gennoe
Seven Magazine

STAND:

She's the first lady of house, he's a living folk legend. She likes gospel, he likes jungle. They are the odd couple and they're taking progressive trance to new ethereal heights. Via a whole lotta love, Sister Bliss and John Martyn tell Dan Gennoe why they were destined to be together.

WORDS:

Emotional Rescue

David Stubbs
Uncut #43

Classic Albums Revisited

John Martyn is a neglected tower of British rock, a man who's made some of the most palpable, almost physically emotional, music ever recorded, whose reward for having always pushed a little too far ahead of his time and against assumptions of what he's about has been perpetual commercial frustration.

Related to: 

Magic & Loss: 1948-2006

Lee Barry
Big Muff website

The inimitable John Martyn now into his half-century should rejoice in the knowledge that he has survived for five decades as one of Britain's most talented and imaginative artists. Lee Barry tracks a turbulent career, scattered with episodes of undeniable magic, painful loss and more than a wee dram of abuse.

"There were moments of grace and there were moments of danger,
everyday was like that with John."
Ex- manager, Kimball Packard.

John Martyn, Ritorno Dopo La Tempesta

[Gabriela Ferraris]
La Stampa

Stasera il musicista inglese al «Folk Club»

John Martyn, ritorno dopo la tempesta

Un grande del folk rock: John Martyn è senza dubbio uno degli artisti di maggior pesa fra quanti il «Folk Club» schiera in questa sua undicesima stagione. Leggenda negli Anni Settanta, alternativa europea a Bob Dylan, il musicista inglese arriva stasera sul palco di via Perrone 3 bis (ore 21:15) con un nuovo album («The Church With One Bell») dopo tre anni di silenzio, rèduce da una cura disintossicante che ha definitivamente restituito ai fans un artista che sembrava perduto.

John Martyn | Un Mito Del Folk Rock

Riccardo Bertoncelli
La Stampa

John Martyn

Un mito del folk rock

POCHI sanno che John Martyn (in concerto con la sua band al Folk Club, via Perrone 3 bis, sabato 5 alle 21:30, info 011/537.636) è un nome d'arte e che questo signore scozzese ormai cinquantenne si chiama all'anagrafe Iain McGeachy. In realtà il problema è «più a monte». Pochi sanno chi è John 'Martyn «tout court», perché non bastano trent'anni di onorata carriera e la stima della critica per fare una celebrità. Al massimo nasce un «culto», ed è giusto il caso. John Martyn è un venerato minore, un grande outsider, come il suo amico e coetaneo Richard Thompson e altri britannici di gusto raffinato che vedono da lontano le classifiche e quasi mai la Tv ma sono il sale di quella scena. Chi non li conosce, in due parole, si perde qualcosa.

Clear As A Bell

Mike Lipton
Launch

It's safe to say that no one has pushed the realm of the singer/ songwriter/ guitarist farther than Scotsman John Martyn. Beginning in the late '60s, his musical muse has taken him from acoustic, jazz-tinged folk to trance blues and echo-filled, electric mantras, before settling into an evolved, radio-friendly fusion of blues- and jazz-based pop. Despite a lack of recognition, Martyn ranks as one of music's truly unique 'voices'.

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