Advantages: Most of the tracks very strong. Album stands test of time Disadvantages: Not a commercial album and needs repeated listening.
With the recent death of John Martyn OBE announced at the age of 60, I thought I'd review his most popular and enduring album, Solid Air, regarded by many fans as his masterpiece.
A Brief Background
John Martyn was born in 1948 in Surrey to Scottish parents who moved back to Glasgow, when he was still a toddler..His parents soon split up and he continued to live with his father and took up the guitar at 15. He made rapid progress on the instrument developing a finger-picking style. Two years later he left home at 17, heading back to the South East, where he began to perform on the British folk circuit, eventually gaining a residency at Les Cousins, London's most prestigious folk club. Whilst still a teenager he was spotted by Chris Blackwell the founder of Island Records, who signed him up in 1967, when he cut his first album ...
Advantages: Highly original and relaxing acoustic guitar songs, superbly played Disadvantages: Inferior bonus tracks might interfere with the mood of the album for some.
John Martyn was a very talented British singer/songwiter/musician, who attracted a strong interest and following during the 1970s (less so in the '80s),.But he enjoyed little commercial recognition, despite his best albums selling steadily over the years. Although Martyn started out as a folk artist in the late 1960s, by the time of this release, jazz and blues influences had crept into his repertoire. By the '80s, Martyn's studio albums had changed noticeably in musical style, devoid of any folk influence, but not some might say, for the better.
Bless The Weather, released in 1971 is John Martyn's fifth album, and arguably his best. It originally included ten tracks, nine songs plus one superb instrumental jam. What the original album managed to achieve is the near perfect blend of contemporary folk and jazz ...
Advantages: Great guitars, honest and powerful lyrics Disadvantages: Depends whether you like the genre
Martyn Joseph - Martyn Joseph
Just before Christmas, we went to see Martyn Joseph at Haren Church, near Brussels airport. I don't not what surprised me more, that a Welsh singer-songwriter should turn up at a small venue in cold, dark Flanders or that this was the fifth successive year he had been there. We had seen him once before, back at Spring Harvest in Minehead in 1996, and had a couple of his albums. One of these, the eponymously entitled Martyn Joseph is the subject of this review.
= MARTYN JOSEPH - WHO IS HE? =
Martyn Joseph was born in Penarth in 1960, and came to prominence in the 1980s, primarily among Christian circles. As he said in his self-deprecating manner at the concert, he was originally classified as a rock and pop artist, then this changed to folk, and most recently, a new category has been found ...
Personnel includes: Martyn Bennett (strings, small pipes, harmonium, samples, sound effects); Petrea Cooney (vocals); Sorren Maclean, John Barlow (guitar, drums, loops); Kristen Bennett (cello, piano).
Album Reviews
Dirty Linen (p.51) - "GRIT is another bold and unusual album....It's an album that requires multiple listens in order to sift through its layers of sonic depth."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Move
2.
Blackbird
3.
Chanter
4.
Nae Regrets
5.
Liberation
6.
Why
7.
Ale House
8.
Wedding
9.
Rant
10.
Storyteller
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
26/06/2005
Compare Grit - Martyn Bennett to other similar World »
