RFI : John Martyn

huh. maybe that's why it's good road trippin music?

that's true for me & "Small Hours", such a peaceful record, can just drift away

Bless The Weather is alltime. I got absolutely blitzed on Balvenie last night and night and it was perfect, sounding great with the hangover as well.

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/folk/boxset-john-martyn-the-island-years-box-set-2013/invt/0602537422883/

The Island Years is the most exhaustive career retrospective from one of Britain’s most original and enduring singer/songwriters. Housed in an LP size hard-back slip case, this lavish box set contains 18 Discs including:

• 17 CDs featuring 12 key studio albums, recorded for Island between 1967 and 1987, now with previously unreleased mixes, Out-Takes, unheard songs and 2 complete, previously unreleased live solo concerts from 1972 and 1977 and the complete demos for The Apprentice, the last album Martyn delivered to Island.
• 1 DVD containing rare television performances from the Old Grey Whistle Test, Sight and Sound – In Concert, A Little Night Music and first time on DVD for the VHS release, Foundations.
• A hard-back book featuring a new essay by The Island Years compiler and researcher John Hillarby plus rare and previously unseen photographs and extensive memorabilia.

There is a strong selection of previously unreleased alternative takes from Martyn’s career defining 70s albums Stormbringer, The Road To Ruin, Bless The Weather, Solid Air, Inside Out, Sunday’s Child and One World; plus there are extensive outtakes and a number of unreleased songs from Martyn’s 80s Island releases: Grace And Danger, Sapphire and Piece By Piece.

170 quid, haha!

WANT

yeah looks neato. $170 for 17 CDs + book + DVD doesn't sound insane.

suppose it's only fitting that they want an arm and a leg for it

eeeyowch

Have still never listened to any JM later than Grace & Danger. Anyone know much about the stuff that came after? What am I missing out on?

I have Piece by Piece and I think it's horrible (but am not sure I have even listened all the way through because it was so horrible). Maybe it's an undiscovered classic waiting to be given a second chance.

Grace and Danger, however, is another matter. For me, it's close to perfection and an album I'll never tire of. I took it to our club recently and wrote about it here:

http://devonrecordclub.com/2013/10/20/john-martyn-grace-and-danger-round-55-toms-selection/

I was going to revive this thread, because I heard One World for the first time this week. Such an incredible record, totally out-there but also really warm and organic. It's totally balearic.

the OGWT clip of that song is amazing

Oh man, One World is such a great album! 'Dancing' is one of the all-time great morning-after comedown tunes

I did update a different thread about that boxset as an £8 dl, off amazon

Mistake, I guess, it's gone now

I bought it for £1.99 from play.com! But the download doesn't work at all and I reckon when I get in touch, they'll probably just give me a refund.

wow @ One World

The song "May you never" is really disturbing. It is quite clearly an incredibly tender song, but one that sounds like it was written by a serial abuser. Its so full of paranoia, its appeal to love is really a veiled threat. So much violence in the imagery, but pleading and pathetic. I've been gradually, increasingly troubled by this song since I started listening to Solid Air almost constantly last summer.

Definitely feel what you're saying here. Martyn's alcohol consumption surely had a lot to do with the more, uhm, unsettling aspects of some his narratives.

'Make No Mistake' is another disturbing one.

"Head and Heart" has made me pause before -- it's a really tender song but idk how healthy it is to want to be loved like a child
guy had problems, news at 11

The guy was an absolute horror but what can you do?

Exactly. Martyn's lyrics are so slurred that I've rarely paid attention despite having listened to him for 30 years. I wouldn't care to read a biography of the man but I'll continue to return to a large number of his albums.

I also love Miles Davis' music despite his horrific character, which I'll admit is pretty much irrelevant to me.

I mean I think what's wonderful and terrible about May You Never is that it *is* so romantic. It is a very moving song, and there is a real appeal in it. For me I had loved it for a long time before I started to taste the poison in it. I was thinking about him when I was in Hastings at the weekend on the beach.