I've spent the last week feasting on John Martyn via Spotify. He was a gap in my musical education. He turns out, as a large portion of you reading already well know, to be a rich, raw talent. I knew his rep but had a misguided notion he was another blueprint for whiny contemporary singer-songwriters. All that reveals is my own ignorance.
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John Martyn's valedictory recordings have a suitably weary presence that makes even such legendary laidback soporificos as J J Cale and Leonard Cohen seem positively sprightly by comparison.
Two years after his death, the final recordings by the ground-breaking Glaswegian are released.
Although now regularly cited as an influence by many (and audibly so), it is over three decades since Martyn's career was at a peak, but technology has since made copying his technical innovations possible, and his vocal range –from light-voiced yearning to blues growl– is the aim of many.
BEHIND THE MUSIC WITH HI-FI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW
Now on 180g vinyl, this unlikely fusion of jazz and folk is winning new fans nearly 40 years after its first release. Steve Sutherland recalls a meeting with John Martyn.
Live At Leeds may unsettle latter-day fans of John Martyn who have belatedly discovered the great man via the tasteful posthumous compilation.
ISLAND/UNIVERSAL. CD
OUT NOW
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Singular singer-songwriter in his pomp and expanded.
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UNIVERSAL
His label, Island, never wanted to release his latest deluxe LP.
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Island/Universal
Folk, rock
FOLK/JAZZ/BLUES
(ISLAND/UNIVERSAL)
