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John Martyn

kendo said:
This (covers) album is a must IMO...

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+1.

Only just noticed this thread, but that is a lovely bit of work. The rendering of Strange Fruit is, alone, more than worth the price of admission - and actually my favourite version of that awful-sad song. JM at his very best.

As an album - right up there, fave Martyn delivery for me.
 
foxwelljsly said:
IIRC, The massive Island years box set has all the bonus material included with all albums. Well worth getting if you only have a couple of his albums and love them or if, like me, they have been borrowed and not returned. The bonus material for grace and danger, in particular, is fascinating.
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This set is well worth the money. As you say, the Grace & Danger alternatives are remarkable, and a lot of that extra material is mastered incredibly well. It illustrates how a lot of the final material was squeezed and smoothed before finding its way onto the 'official' album.
 
martin clark said:
+1.

Only just noticed this thread, but that is a lovely bit of work. The rendering of Strange Fruit is, alone, more than worth the price of admission - and actually my favourite version of that awful-sad song. JM at his very best.

As an album - right up there, fave Martyn delivery for me.
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Seems hard to find...
 
Just stumbled across this, whilst listening to a few versions of the sky is crying (and still think JM's version is the best I've heard)..just sublime:


And the start of this, from the same gig, maybe shows a glimpse of the tortured soul..

 
Saw him on the Grace & Danger tour at Cambridge Corn Exchange shortly before he died.
Currently listening to One World on my 1977 LP copy - simply brilliant.
 
I'd never heard of John Martyn until I watched the really excellent and heart breaking film about his comeback whilst being wheelchair bound and I just thought what an amazing an original man. You don't have to look far to see where a lot of Ed Sheeran's sound came from.
 
That film turned me on to him totally too when it was first shown on BBC4 I think. I was vaguely aware of who he was and had heard the "Solid Air" album before, but was not prepared for the scope of his music. Cue massive CD buying spree - favourite being "One World" deluxe edition

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B0002LU96M
 
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My favourite John Martyn story was he and Danny Thompson were in an indian restaurant and a group of lads were doing the "come on Abdul, make it hot" thing. John said "OK Danny here we go".. stood up and all hell broke lose!

I have searched the web but can't find the interview which I'm sure was with Danny along the lines of 'scrapes John Martyn got me into'
 
I know there is a story about them taking on a rugby team in a curry house, more often that not they were fighting each other -but like brothers
Danny Thomson: "... someone who can write 'you curl around me like a fern in the spring' - that's the man that is going to be missed, not the guy who is chucking beer all over you and poking you in the chest."
 
Solid Air has been one of my favourite albums since release. There are many other wonderful albums/tracks. I don't really want to know any more about his private life than I do already.
 
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