2020 Charity Shop Purchase 18 - John Martyn - Solid Air
I picked up a second CD at BRICC in Ballantrae in the shape of the 2009 Deluxe Edition of John Martyn's 1973 classic album Solid Air.
The second CD is missing.I can live with that as it seems to be a collection of alternative takes,demos and live version. Plus my total outlay was only £2.20 for 2 CDs and a vinyl album.
As it was a double CD it is slightly thicker and consequently takes up more space on the shelves but that is one to file under first world problems.
I've always had John down as a folk artist but this has a little bit of everything including Blues and Jazz which can get dangerously close to being twiddly in places.
Sounds proclaimed that "Solid Air flows beautifully and shows the entire spectrum of music that John Martyn has at his fingertips"
Melody Maker is a little bit more poetic stating that stated that "there is a concentration upon timbre, building up into some very extraordinary landscapes,"
Q rates it as the 67th Greatest British album ever.
I now have this and One World along with a couple of anthologies. The acquisition of Grace and Danger is probably the only essential one still required. Unless anyone else knows different.
Here are the ones that you are probably expecting.
John Martyn - Solid Air
John Martyn - May You Never
There are loads of essential John Martyn Stevie. Bless The Weather, Inside Out, Live At Leeds, The Church With One Bell and Ain't No Saint to name but 5
ReplyDeleteThe first concert I walked out of, Johyn Martyn, Dundee Caird Hall ca. 1981. After 5 songs. Neither track today suggests that I made the wrong decision
ReplyDeleteThe man could be a pain in the bum, but almost every time I saw him live, it was sublime.
ReplyDelete"Make No Mistake" and "So Much in Love With You" from the album "Sunday's Child" are worth having but the big compilation albums have most of the best stuff covered.
"Angeline" and "Patterns In The Rain" are from later albums and worth a listen on YouTube - and you can find a great live version of "May You Never" from the Transatlantic Sessions on there too, along with a Bobby Charles song he covered "He's Got All the Whiskey".
Bless The Weather definitely is essential.
ReplyDelete......anyway, what do I know, I just bought an album by Cat Stevens (Yusuf) last week.
ReplyDeleteOpinions, George, it's all about opinions.
ReplyDeleteIt would be a boring world if we were all the same
...I quite like Laughing Apple by Yusuf.
DeleteNever walked out of a gig like George (felt like I should have a few times - a list is available on demand) but I did once walk out of my own front room whilst listening to a John Martyn alb! Just looking down his discography I think it must have been the live alb Philentropy (borrowed from the local library I recall). He seemed to be on Whistle Test loads of times in the 70s but I could never get what others saw in him. May You Never is such a great song too but for me, nothing else of his touched it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great album. I remember a friend of mine put May You Never on a compilation, probably about 30 years ago, and it sent shivers down my spine.
ReplyDelete