His voice continued to transform with each album while his playing became more aggressive, yet without losing its gentler side. By the time of 's Inside Out, Martyn's use of the Echoplex had taken on a life of its own while his vocals became more of an instrument: deeper and bluesier, with words slithering into one another, barely decipherable.
During this period, Martyn's well-publicized bouts with alcoholism came to the forefront and began to affect his career somewhat. He became an erratic and at times self-destructive performer. He might perform an evening of electronic guitar experiments for a crowd of folkies or a set of traditional, acoustic ballads when playing to a rock audience.
His shows would also range from the odd night of falling over drunk to sheer brilliance, as captured on the independently released Live at Leeds Following Sunday's Child , the live record, and a best-of collection, Martyn, for the most part, abandoned his acoustic guitar on record for a sort of rock, world, and jazz fusion. Although his style was moving away from its folk roots, his songs retained the passion and structure of his best early work.
Grace and Danger , his first release since 's One World, painfully and honestly depicted the crumbling of John and Beverley's marriage in some of his most powerful material in years. It also seemed to garner interest in Martyn's sagging career. Glorious Fool, a superb effort, produced by Collins and featuring Eric Clapton on guitar and Collins on drums, piano, and vocals, looked to be his best shot at mainstream success, but failed to extend his cult status.
Martyn released his second independent live record, the magnificent Philentropy, before returning to Island Records for two studio releases, a live album and a 12" single which featured a version of Bob Dylan's "Tight Connection to My Heart. Continuing to battle his alcoholism, Martyn resumed his career in with The Apprentice and 's Cooltide.
He also released an album of his classic songs re-recorded with an all-star cast featuring Phil Collins, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and Levon Helm of the Band, as well as various compilations and live recordings. After a four-year layoff, Martyn issued And, an album with strong jazz, trip-hop, and funk overtones, followed in by The Church with One Bell, a collection of diverse covers.
Martyn recorded a surprise studio comeback effort called Glasgow Walker at the turn of the century that was very well received, and had his entire Island catalog remastered and reissued — two of his albums, One World, and Grace and Danger, were given the Universal "deluxe" treatment with bonus discs. In , a cyst burst in Martyn's leg due to septicemia brought on by diabetes. The end result was an amputation, but he continued to tour the world with the same tireless energy and restlessness, performing with his band from a wheelchair.
Martyn, shrugged it all off, typified by this infamous quote: " "I've been mugged in New York and luckily I fought my way out of it. I've been shot a couple of times as well but I just lay down and pretended to be dead.
Martyn's health, however, was in real decline as a result of a lifetime of substance abuse issues; in the early morning hours of January 29, , he passed away at the age of 60 after a third bout with pneumonia. With his characteristic backslap acoustic guitar playing, his effects-driven experimental journeys, or his catalog of excellent songs, as well as his jazz-inflected singing style, John Martyn will remain an important and influential figure in both British folk and rock.
Over a forty-year career he released twenty studio albums and worked with artists such as Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, and Phil Collins. He has been described as "an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues".
Martyn was born in New Malden, Surrey, England. Martyn's parents, both opera singers, divorced when he was five and he spent his childhood alternating between England and Scotland. Much of this was spent in the care of his grandmother. His strongest ties were in Glasgow, and he attended Shawlands Academy there. Mentored by Hamish Imlach, Martyn began his professional musical career when he was seventeen, playing a blend of blues and folk that resulted in a unique style that made him a key figure in the London folk scene during the mids.
He signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in and released his first album, London Conversation, the following year. This first album was soon followed by The Tumbler, which was moving towards jazz. By Martyn had developed a wholly original and idiosyncratic sound: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox, phase-shifter, and Echoplex.
This sound was first apparent on Stormbringer! She was also jointly credited on The Road to Ruin, their next album in However, Island Records felt that it would be more successful to market Martyn as a solo act and this was how subsequent albums were produced, although Beverley Martyn continued to make appearances as a background singer.
In , Martyn released one of the defining British albums of the s, Solid Air, the title song a tribute to the singer-songwriter Nick Drake, a close friend and label-mate, who in died suddenly from an overdose of antidepressants.
On this album, as with the one that preceded it, Bless the Weather, Martyn collaborated with jazz bass player, Danny Thompson, with whom he proceeded to have a fruitful musical partnership which continued until his death. He also developed a new, slurred vocal style, the timbre of which resembled a tenor saxophone. Following the commercial success of Solid Air, Martyn quickly recorded and released the experimental Inside Out, a more difficult album with emphasis placed on feel and improvisation rather than song structure.
In , he followed this with Sunday's Child. In September of the next year he released a live album, Live at Leeds—Martyn had been unable to convince Island to release the record, and resorted to selling individually signed copies by mail from his home. Live at Leeds features Danny Thompson and drummer John Stevens, and is notable not only for the performances given, but the recording quality and incredibly quiet audience for a live recording.
After releasing Live at Leeds, Martyn took a sabbatical, including a visit to Jamaica, spending time with famous reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. One World is notable for having been recorded outside, the album's lush soundscapes are partly the result of microphones picking up ambient sounds, such as water from a nearby lake.
Martyn's marriage to Beverley finally broke down at the end of the s and, according to his official website, "John hit the self destruct button" although other biographers, including The Times obituary writer, attribute the break-up of his marriage to his already being addicted to drink and drugs.
Out of this period, described by Martyn as "a very dark period in my life",came the album Grace and Danger. Released in October , the album had been held up for a year by Island boss Chris Blackwell.
He was a close friend of John and Beverley, and found the album too openly disturbing to release. Only after intense and sustained pressure from Martyn did Blackwell agree to release the album. Commenting on that period, Martyn said, "I was in a dreadful emotional state over that record. I was hardly in control of my own actions.
The reason they finally released it was because I freaked: Please get it out! I don't give a damn about how sad it makes you feel—it's what I'm about: the direct communication of emotion. Grace and Danger was very cathartic, and it really hurt. Some people keep diaries, I make records. Phil Collins played drums and sang backing vocals on Grace and Danger and subsequently played drums on and produced Martyn's next album, Glorious Fool, in Martyn left Island records in , and recorded Glorious Fool and Well Kept Secret for WEA, the label clearly aiming to bring him mainstream success, and achieving his first Top 30 album.
Glorious Fool was a sharp departure from Martyn's 70s sound and at the time was regarded as something of a sell-out by his die-hard fans, but time has revealed it to be a much stronger album than it seemed at the time, with some fine songwriting and vocals. Well Kept Secret was less successful. Martyn released a live album, Philentropy, in Returning to Island records, Martyn recorded Sapphire , Piece by Piece and the live Foundations before being dropped by Island in Martyn released The Apprentice in and Cooltide in for Permanent Records, and then rerecorded many of his "classic" songs for No Little Boy Material from these recordings and his two Permanent albums has been endlessly recycled on many releases.
Permanent Records also released a live 2 CD set called "Live" in And came out on Go! Discs and saw Martyn draw heavily on hip-hop textures while blending a sound still distinctively Martyn, a direction which saw more complete expression on 's Glasgow Walker ; The Church with One Bell is a covers album taking in material from Portishead to Ben Harper.
In July the documentary Johnny Too Bad was screened by the The programme documented the period surrounding the operation to amputate Martyn's right leg below the knee the result of a burst cyst and the writing and recording of On the Cobbles , an album described by Peter Marsh on the BBC Music website as "the strongest, most consistent set he's come up with in years.
He continued to write and collaborate with various artists up until his death, dividing his time between Glasgow and Kilkenny in Ireland. The award was presented by Phil Collins. The BBC website says of Martyn, "his heartfelt performances have either suggested or fully demonstrated an idiosyncratic genius. The acclaimed set includes many live recordings and unreleased studio material, researched and compiled by his close friend John Hillarby who also runs the official Martyn website.
Martyn's death was announced on his website on 29 January , John Hillarby wrote, "With heavy heart and an unbearable sense of loss we must announce that John died this morning.
English rock band Keane sang a Martyn song. Romantic Evening Sex All Themes. Articles Features Interviews Lists. Streams Videos All Posts. My Profile. Advanced Search. London Conversation Review by Brett Hartenbach. Track Listing. Fairy Tale Lullaby. John Martyn. Sandy Grey. London Conversation. Ballad of an Elder Woman. Run Honey Run. Back to Stay. Rolling Home. Who's Grown up Now. Golden Girl. This Time. Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.
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