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John Martyn Albums Ranked From Worst To Best

Eddy Bamyasi looks back on the 40 year career of one of Britain’s most underrated musicians — folk rock singer John Martyn — and offers up the most comprehensive ranking on the interweb yet of all his albums.

Want to know where to start or how to buy John Martyn? Read on for Eddy’s 31 album ranking.

Short of time or late for the (remote) office and just want the summary list for now? Click here>>

Born in 1948 Scottish jazz folk maverick John Martyn picked up guitar in his teens and was influenced by early acoustic folk pioneers Davy Graham and Bert Jansch. Gradually becoming a fixture on the London folk scene he was signed to Chris Blackwell’s Island label in 1967 releasing his debut album London Conversations that same year when he was only 19 years old.

From these modest solo folk beginnings Martyn went on to produce some of the most progressive jazz folk of the ’70s showcased in a string of stunning original albums.

Through the late ’80s and early ’90s Martyn matured into an easy listening jazz lounge crooner before enjoying something of a creative rebirth in his latter years.

Sadly ill health thwarted his later years and slowed his output with only two albums of new material released in his final decade before his death in 2008. Nevertheless he continued to tour including concerts celebrating two of his landmark albums, Solid Air and Grace And Danger, and a posthumous album Heaven And Earth was completed after his death.

The album ranking below includes all 20 of John Martyn’s regular studio albums from the 1967 debut to the final release Heaven And Earth in 2011, plus his covers album The Church With One Bell, and his two albums of re-recordings of earlier work, Couldn’t Love You More and No Little Boy.

As with any established artist there are plenty of live recordings and bootlegs of varying quality many of which were released late in Martyn’s career as the studio albums dried up. Official live albums and a range of some of the sanctioned bootlegs have been included.

Martyn’s record companies have not been shy in compiling greatest hits anthologies. Many overlap drawing upon the same tracks. Whilst often a good way into an artist for a new listener, the compilations don’t qualify for this listing.

STUDIO ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY

London Conversation (1967)
The Tumbler (1968)
Stormbringer! (1970) (with Beverley Martyn)
The Road to Ruin (1970) (with Beverley Martyn)
Bless the Weather (1971)
Solid Air (1973)
Inside Out (1973)
Sunday’s Child (1975)
One World (1977)
Grace and Danger (1980)
Glorious Fool (1981)
Well Kept Secret (1982)
Sapphire (1984)
Piece By Piece (1986)
The Apprentice (1990)
Cooltide (1991)
Couldn’t Love You More (1992)
No Little Boy (1993)
And (1996)
The Church With One Bell (1998)
Glasgow Walker (2000)
On The Cobbles (2004)
Heaven And Earth (2011)

PROMINENT LIVE ALBUMS

Live At Leeds (1975)
Philentropy (1983)
Foundations (1987)
BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (1992)
In Session (1992)
Live In Germany 1986 (2001)
On Air (2006)
The Simmer Dim (2008)

After a very brief stint with the WEA label John Martyn returned to Island Records for the Sapphire album in 1982.

Unfortunately the production of the album recorded in The Bahamas was troubled with label mate Robert Palmer stepping in late in the process to assist. However the exotic location and Palmer’s credentials couldn’t save a very anaemic record.

Both Martyn’s guitar and voice are very understated. The former is practically non existent and the latter takes on a particularly slurry manner which works on his more jazzy and souly songs but not on this insipid middle of the road pop.

Sapphire employs a lot of gurgling electronics that infested much of Martyn’s “latter period” records and the synthesizers and slappy ’80s drums overwhelm the production. Thus the live cover favourite Somewhere Over The Rainbow is spoilt here with an irrelevant over produced backing. Fisherman’s Dream is single material but very easy listening. Acid Rain has some depth to it with a nice guitar refrain but again ends up a thumping soft rock song of the sort Genesis were churning out by the dozen at the time.

Martyn’s guitar, so revolutionary and important on his early recordings, had become almost apologetic by the ’90s. In live gigs he’d wear it and make rhythmic finger and hand slaps but to almost inaudible effect. What was particularly confusing was the fact that he still “had it” as demonstrated by the rare occasion he’d pick up an acoustic and play lead on a relatively solo May You Never rendition. Otherwise his new crooner persona backed by a flank of smooth session musicians was a long way from the guitar, double bass and drums days of the classic Martyn, Thompson and Stevens trio.

The Apprentice is another album from the period which is over produced to death with over complicated percussion and multitudes of annoying instruments, particularly a very thin synthesizer and a cheesy alto sax that invade most of the tracks.

Best moments are the lovely acoustic number Patterns In The Rain and a moving Send Me One Line which embrace the cheese wholeheartedly without trying to be something else, unlike many of the other tracks — disco, funk, soul, salsa, who knows what Martyn was trying to do apart from a misguided need to be “modern” (ironic how this music now sounds so much more dated than any of his albums from the ‘70s).

Not surprisingly Island Records decided to drop Martyn on hearing the demo tapes for The Apprentice which eventually saw the light of day via a new label, Permanent Records, in March 1990.

A live version recorded with a barely audible David Gilmour guesting on three of the tracks was also released.

John Martyn’s covers album The Church With One Bell was recorded in just one week and released to mixed reviews and mixed results to be honest.

Most of the tracks are very down tempo but this suits Martyn’s crooner drawl which was getting slower and deeper each year.

His soulful rendition of fellow label mates Portishead’s Glory Box stands out and other songs like Small Town Talk, Strange Fruit, God’s Song, and Excuse Me Mister work well, Martyn literally reworking them and (to coin the time honoured X-factor phrase) “making the songs his own”. On the other hand some songs just don’t make the grade with some of the overwrought singing bordering upon parody or cabaret.

It’s pretty non essential in relation to the great canon of original John Martyn and perhaps smuggling just one or two of the best covers used here into some of his other albums of originals would have suited better.

After the joint Stormbringer! album there was already some pressure from Island for Martyn to record on his own, and you can see why — this second collaboration with wife Beverley Martyn is one of the least John Martyn sounding albums in his catalogue. In fact the album as a standalone entity sounds like two different artists — one part Beverley, one part John. As such it is really just a John Martyn EP and hence receives a low ranking in this listing.

The lead vocals are taken in turns and rarely in harmony — the Beverley fronted tracks are funky and upbeat (I do prefer the tracks here to her offerings on Stormbringer! and her voice sounds more confident). The John Martyn tracks are more down tempo and acoustic. In fact there are definitely some moments here where Martyn approaches the unique sound he would settle upon in later albums.

The fuller instrumentation is however generally wayward — we have flutes, tablas, piano and saxophone. Martyn himself was not altogether happy with Joe Boyd’s production and what he perceived as excessive overdubs.

However one very significant session player was hired — Danny Thompson from Pentangle played double bass and would become Martyn’s constant sparring partner through the ’70s both on stage and in the studio.

Unfortunately this album suffers from an acute case of “Kenny G tenorsaxitis”, a particularly unpleasant condition that many late ‘80s/early ‘90s artists suffered from. If the saxophone track was stripped from most of the songs on this album, they would be better for it.

Opener Hole In The Rain is hopeful with a circular synth low in the mix and a driving bass sound which would come into its own on the later And album. There is some guitar but it is so distant in the mix it is barely discernible.

Jack The Lad (perhaps autobiographical) follows a similar groove, and (over?) employs Martyn’s new cracked vocal style (another common X factor technique these days).

The Cure is a driving up beat track with a catchy chorus but… you know what I’m going to say… nevertheless this one is decent single material.

Same Difference has atmospheric synthesizer chords, Martyn’s occasionally rasping vocals, and a hint of a guitar, and is thankfully sax free. But with a lightweight chorus of backing vocals the title is symptomatic of much of Martyn’s output of the era to be honest.

All that being said the extended 12 minute title track is an atmospheric groove laden track punctuated (literally) with honking jazz sax. This is perhaps approaching the free form Miles Davis inspired music Martyn (or his fans) wished for?

Barely a proper John Martyn album but just about qualifies being re-recordings of his own songs with guest appearances from Dave Gilmour and, most prominently Phil Collins.

The provenance of the release is troubled: Martyn had recently been dropped by Island records and had released the not great The Apprentice (1990) and Cooltide (1991) albums on a new label. Perhaps seeking to cash in on his previous great songwriting a new album of reworkings was sanctioned but Martyn was unhappy when it was released prematurely without his permission:

For the most part the 15 tracks across his ’70s and ’80s output (a collection of these originals would have made a pretty decent greatest hits package) are given a new sheen of easy listening production values with jaunty beats, saxophone syrup, and banks of female backing singers.

Notwithstanding this misguided template there are some tracks that work: One World is beautiful with a great vocal track and new piano. Man In The Station is given the full upbeat funk treatment and May You Never showcased the full band version Martyn was deploying live at the time.

However, overall, as is the case in nearly all situations where an artist revisits earlier material, most fans preferred the originals. Despite this Martyn bizarrely persevered with the project and released the very similar (but improved) No Little Boy less than a year later.

Released in 1982 just one year after Glorious Fool is it fair to ask if Well Kept Secret was the beginning of the long decline? Sure Martyn wholeheartedly embraces the production values of the day and the tracks are submerged in keyboards and easy listening bass and saxophone. However to be fair the songs are passable retaining some hints of the immediately preceding albums said Glorious Fool and Grace and Danger. They just aren’t very memorable and there’s no way songs like this would have passed the quality control on earlier albums.

You Might Need A Man is a catchy upbeat number that reminds me of Perfect Hustler from Glorious Fool. Love Up is similarly upbeat but very corny with an awful sounding heavily treated guitar riff and Hiss On The Tape is light hearted/weight. The soppy lyrics don’t help as evident on the weak love song that finishes the album — maybe Martyn had been hanging out with Phil Collins too long.

Nevertheless the voice is still strong, and clear, and high in the mix. The slightly corny grizzly cracks in the vocals, which became more and more prominent on later albums, are employed with restraint. But after the impressive Glorious Fool this, his second and final album for the WEA label, was a disappointing follow up which set Martyn on the road towards irrelevant easy listening.

Stormbringer! was the first of two collaborations Martyn recorded with his new wife, folk singer Beverley Kutner, who he had met as a session player on an earlier assignment.

Here Beverley is credited as writer of four of the ten songs although urban myth says the record was originally intended as a Kutner solo album with Martyn guesting.

The jaunty and catchy opening track immediately demonstrates a change of style from the acoustic folk of The Tumbler and London Conversation. Recorded and produced by Joe Boyd in the then current hotbed of new music, the Woodstock area of upstate New York, the pair have a full backing band at their disposal including players from The Band, The Doors and Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention (John Martyn would continue to garner admiration and guest appearances from fellow musicians throughout his career right up to his very last album where The Band members would again guest).

Much of it sounds very dated now though and parts of the record, particularly with Beverley to the fore, comes off as a sort of second rate Fairport Convention. The harmonies between the two singers are good but Beverley’s warbles are a bit too “Nico-tone” for my taste.

Would You Believe Me is probably the stand out track which featured some nice Solid Air like vibes. In fact Martyn felt (generously in my view) that the album was just a little bit ahead of its time, saying:

Foundations is a live album taken from a London Town and Country Club gig in November 1986.

Although recorded only three years after the excellent Philentropy the results are quite different. Where the earlier album reinvigorated old songs with brave new arrangements Foundations concentrated on Martyn’s current crop of songs particularly from Piece By Piece (1986) in their original easy listening saxophone heavy context and is consequently a fairly insipid performance save for the two stronger “Johnny” songs at the end of the set: John Wayne which seemed to have become the go to rock out track replacing the previously ubiquitous Inside Out and Johnny Too Bad.

Fans do get to hear three new songs for the first time — The Apprentice, Send Me One Line and Deny This Love, plus the moving Over The Rainbow cover with which Martyn often encored at the time.

However the mood of the album is really summarised by the full band version of May You Never — even this perennial acoustic favourite is buffed to death in full band saxophone sheen.

With some overlap in context and songs listeners would be better served by the BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert album also from 1986, although Philentropy trumps them both.

With his sophomore album in 1968, the Al Stewart-produced The Tumbler, Martyn expanded his sound, employing backup musicians notably jazz flautist Harold McNair. However this proved a retrograde step as the album consequently now sounds date-stamped in the flower power ’60s era, more so than its predecessor London Conversation.

This dating is further set with Martyn’s slide guitar and fast intricate acoustic picking, the upbeat jaunty songs, and a definite folk style singing which was a far cry from the unique slurred growl he would soon develop. It would seem the young Martyn was considered a prodigious guitarist more so than a singer or songwriter.

Al Stewart

With its chunky drum and bass grooves Glasgow Walker retains an And (released 4 years previously) vibe especially on the driving opener So Sweet and funky tracks like Cool In This Life, and Martyn is in fine fettle — his smokey voice and idiosyncratic vocal delivery well suited to the laid back jazz grooves.

It’s also nice to hear some excellent piano over the beats (a welcome change and huge improvement over the synth infested tracks of the previous decade).

Following on from his Church With One Bell covers project Martyn draws upon a couple of more standards — Cry Me A River and You Don’t Know What Love Is — the latter a blissful late night jazz blues with a superb trumpet break over walking bass. The song featured in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Piece By Piece is a mixed album. It’s nearly good with the opening track Nightline, despite embracing synthesizers and drum tracks, showing some power and drive. There are some beautiful ballads like the popular Angeline, and the very catchy title track, and a triumphant closer in John Wayne which became a live favourite.

However the overall album, albeit consistent in sound and mood, is weakened by some elevator music pap like Lonely Love and Who Believes In Angels. Nevertheless even these are tackled unapologetically and the strong tracks pull this one clear of its immediate predecessors Well Kept Secret and Sapphire.

Piece By Piece became Martyn’s last Island album ending a near 20 year association with the label.

No Little Boy became the officially sanctioned release from the Couldn’t Love You More sessions. Tracks from the disowned preceding album of covers were remixed, rerecorded, or abandoned altogether, and four new tracks were added including Just Now (from Bless The Weather) which featured The Band’s Levon Helm on vocals.

Martyn was much happier with the results, however his credibility had been damaged releasing two such similar albums almost simultaneously and his relationship with Permanent Records was permanently damaged.

Although passable as greatest hits collections neither this, nor Couldn’t Love You More, are essential for either the long term fans or listeners new to John Martyn who would be better served seeking out a compilation of originals.

This concert recording is largely from Martyn’s 1986 Glastonbury appearance.

Apart from a couple of acoustic numbers (taken from earlier concerts for some reason) tagged on to the start the majority of the album features Martyn’s mid ’80s fusion band (the cover shot hence being misleading) which gallops through a range of old and new tracks centred around the One World and Piece By Piece albums.

The deceptively complicated One World tracks work well in their live setting. The sound is big, the playing top notch, and Martyn turns in an impassioned performance, but it’s not my favourite live incarnation, and far from essential.

Yet another version of Inside Out is tagged on at the end of the record — this one from a 1977 recording which veers off nicely into Small Hours territory which at least makes it very different from the Glastonbury version which is the most song based version I’ve heard.

John Martyn’s simple trad. folk guitar debut arrived in late 1967 in the wake of other guitarists on the London scene at the time — Bert Jansch, Al Stewart, Davey Graham, Ralph McTell, and John Renbourn.

Containing some covers (notably Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright) and with his young voice far from the bear’s growl of later years this is a slight record but still very much recognisable as a John Martyn record.

So nothing particularly exceptional but not improved upon in my opinion until Martyn took a huge leap forward with his fifth album Bless The Weather four years later (we can be so grateful record labels were patient in those days).

The album was recorded in one afternoon on a 2-track and the cover was shot on the roof of Island boss Chris Blackwell’s Chelsea flat.

The Simmer Dim is both great and poor. In the first place the playing and the repertoire is superb making it potentially one of John Martyn’s greatest live albums, however secondly it loses a significant number of places in this listing on account of the poor sound which is of barely bootleg quality.

First the songs. The Simmer Dim (the name refers to the summer twilight in the most northerly part of Great Britain) captures Martyn playing 80 minutes worth of his greatest songs in one coherent solo setting thus meeting a gap in the market I’m not aware is fulfilled by any other official releases.

We are treated to five tracks from the One World album, some on straight acoustic guitar like wonderful versions of Couldn’t Love You More and Certain Surprise, and some guitar effected including Big Muff (dedicated to Margaret Thatcher), Dealer and a One World which segues into an edited version of Small Hours also known as Anna. And of course centrepiece is a masterful 18 minute Outside In where Martyn coaxes soaring melodies from his guitar while grappling with echoplexed rhythms that threaten to run away with themselves.

The performance is book-ended by Over The Hill and May You Never with Martyn slapping his guitar strings and bending the notes with more percussive vigour than the studio versions. Indeed Martyn’s acoustic guitar playing is a revelation peaking for Seven Black Roses a traditional finger picking tune harking back to his The Tumbler album.

Leave it at that and you’d have, with all the One World songs, an album probably greater than Live At Leeds or On Air its closest comparisons.

However the recording. I’m all for intimacy and rawness but this is too visceral to pass muster as an official recording. Taken from a one off gig at the tiny Lerwick Folk Club in the Shetland Islands in August 1980 the recording captures not only Martyn on stage but also every other noise in the intimate room, even a baby crying (which is quite amusing to be fair)!

Martyn is indeed on form in song and between song sharing light hearted and witty banter throughout albeit much of it is inaudible. Martyn seemed to have this slightly schizophrenic personality where he could appear a bit of a drunken yob whilst speaking — making silly noises, putting on mocking accents and berating his band members (Live At Leeds sported a parental awareness sticker on later releases) — yet effortlessly switching into beautiful playing and singing. Here he sounds like he’s enjoying himself lapping up the close adoration and the general pub like ambience lends an extraordinary warmth to the proceedings.

Not for the fainthearted but The Simmer Dim is a fascinating insight for the keen fan.

On The Cobbles, released in 2004 four years after Glasgow Walker, is perhaps John Martyn’s real last album (discounting the posthumous Heaven And Earth).

With its stripped back intimacy and textured warmth this album is an undiscovered gem in the latter period Martyn catalogue. The instrumentation is much more pleasing with pleasant organ and electric piano and Martyn even dusts off the acoustic guitar. Even the saxophone is kept in check interspersing the songs only where necessary.

The songs just have that easy laid back groove which suits the Martyn voice. Back To Marseilles for example even recalls Solid Air albeit with some One World electronic embellishments. Martyn actually goes one further step in recalling past glories by revisiting Go Down Easy from Solid Air itself although to be honest it is a very different version with a guitar solo from the Small Hours stable.

Revisiting his fondness for covers Martyn ends the album with an unrecognisable version of Goodnight Irene with Mavis Staples guesting. Further guests included Paul Weller and there was even a welcome return for celebrated double bassist Danny Thompson.

The vibe throughout is down and easy (just steering clear of easy listening) with an updated modern sound that’s not so in your face as predecessors And or Glasgow Walker.

Recorded in front of a small intimate crowd this is an atmospheric record of jazzy Martyn standards.

Although from 1986 it actually sounds like a concert from Martyn’s peak period circa 1973. This is due to both the setlist (only Angeline is from the ‘80s) and the instrumentation — Martyn plays echoplex treated acoustic guitar and is joined by double bassist Danny Thompson who plays wonderful slurry lines that compliment Martyn’s voice beautifully. Oddly as I hadn’t actually noticed at first, the playing is so rhythmic, they play as a duo without a drummer.

The pair offer up great new versions of classics as Martyn, in particularly slurry form, bends his lyrics and Thompson sets off on improvised flights of fancy. They are both on brilliant form, and the banter between them is as sharp as ever. It is a wonder Martyn was touring these arrangements while releasing some anaemic ’80s pap from the studio.

Live At The Brewery Arts Centre Kendal 1986 makes a pleasing companion piece to this recording.

Taken from a 1975 concert On Air makes a nice companion piece to Live At Leeds of the same year.

What’s especially nice though about this high quality recording from an intimate venue in Bremen, Germany, is that it showcases Martyn completely solo with just acoustic guitar and only limited use of his echoplex effects.

It’s just a shame it’s only part of the concert being a modest single LP lengthed 43 minutes.

Unlike the brilliant guitar picking contained inside the album artwork is completely uninspired!

Philentropy was essentially self released in late 1983 when Martyn was “between” contracts.

From tapes recorded in London, Brighton and Oxford over the winter of 1982/3 Martyn compiled what many considered not only the best live album showcasing his ’80s band but perhaps even his best live album period.

Martyn is in confident form leading his regular band of the time including Alan Thomson on electric bass and Danny Cummings on world percussion beats and the crystal clear recordings are charged with atmosphere.

Featuring eight of his most popular songs ranging from his transitional period in the early ’70s through to 1982’s Well Kept Secret what’s cool about this release are the alternate versions played to the point some songs are hardly recognisable in their new upbeat funky form. It seems Martyn was taking more risks live than he appeared to be in the studio at the time and in many cases the risks were paying off with great new versions of Root Love, Sunday’s Child and Smiling Stranger.

Also unlike some of his other cobbled together live albums Philentropy actually retains its cohesion without dilutionary cuts, add ons and duplicates.

And was an excellent modern day effort from Martyn and at the time heralded a bit of a rebirth with a new driving and funky (almost trip hop) sound.

Recording for his new Go! Discs label after the less than fruitful Permanent Records period, the excellent production highlighted authentic drums and bass, and Martyn’s voice hadn’t sounded so fine for years.

And has consistent songs that sit well together as a whole. Comfortably one of the best of the latter period albums Martyn sounds at ease with himself without striving to be something else. This album, like Neil Young’s Harvest Moon response to Harvest, could almost be considered a follow up to Solid Air.

Live At Leeds captures Martyn at one of his most exciting times whilst touring with his classic jazz trio of Danny Thompson on double bass and John Stevens on drums.

The gig at Leeds University was recorded in February 1975 but Island were not keen to release a live album at the time, so famously Martyn produced and marketed his own album selling a limited edition from his home in Hastings:

Martyn initially personally replied and numbered each mailout (now collectors’ items) before the demand became overwhelming.

An expanded 2-CD collection of Live At Leeds was released in 2010. Bizarrely the new album doesn’t include all the tracks of the original (most prominent absentee is the side long Outside In, although we do get two 13 minute versions in the new release).

The main bonus of the new collection is the addition of Paul Kossoff of Free whose sensitively spaced guitar adds a new edge to Martyn’s treated acoustic explorations.

A couple of annoying traits aside (some irreverent between song banter bordering on drunken arrogance, and the habit of duplicating songs within the same release) Live At Leeds as Martyn’s first (nearly) fully formed live album remains an important document in his development from acoustic folky to electric pioneer.

Featuring regular contributors Alan Thomson and Spencer Cozens and The Band members Levon Helm and Garth Hudson Heaven And Earth consists of sessions recorded over a number of years and finished after Martyn’s death in 2009. Eventually released posthumously in 2011 the album is much stronger and more coherent than one might have expected and a fitting finale to Martyn’s career.

Continuing the good work from the previous excellent On The Cobbles it nevertheless starts disconcertingly. There is gruff spoken word introduction which gradually turns into an incredibly low growl. And there is electric guitar. That’s a bit different.

Then second track Stand Amazed really pushes the Martyn envelope. We have driving bass, that flangey low down funky clavinet (?) sound (think Led Zep’s Trampled Underfoot), motown backing vocals, and err… French accordion. Even the saxophone fits in this pot pourri.

The title track is characterised by pleasant piano, and a Solid Air type improvised vocal slur. There is big brass and banked backing vocals especially on Bad Company. Gambler has low bass and sexy saxophone with electric piano and the final track again recalls Martyn’s Solid Air work.

Brilliantly produced the authentic drums, plenty of electric guitar, grinding bass, and piano, all come together like a proper live band making Heaven And Earth probably Martyn’s most funky album.

I think he would have loved it. A toss up between this and the similar And for best “recent” John Martyn album. For me this just gets the nod.

Perhaps his most experimental album Inside Out is possibly a little self indulgent following the success of Solid Air and tours in the US supporting Free and Traffic. Guest musicians included Traffic’s Steve Winwood and Chris Wood, Bobby Keyes and Remi Kabaka.

Mostly improvised and recorded live late into nocturnal sessions it sounds like Martyn is playing around with his new toys, namely the guitar effects. As such it’s a lot more expansive than Solid Air but slightly disjointed too without the rounded continuity of its revered predecessor.

Released just months after that seminal recording it is interesting to contemplate which tracks would have made it on to the earlier album. Best track the acoustic slapping Make No Mistake would sit there just fine as would fan favourite Fine Lines. The album kicks off with this lovely piano song but then immediately makes an about turn with a solo electric guitar interpretation of a traditional Irish tune Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail. Like Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner this leaves me a bit cold.

Martyn risked alienating some of his fans but he had earned the right to experiment and Inside Out albeit possibly a little dated or even overrated now remains an important document in his career:

In Session brings together a number of recordings made between 1973 and 1978 for BBC DJs Bob Harris and John Peel.

Although some of the recordings have seen release elsewhere the majority are new and thus In Session makes for a very welcome addition to the catalogue.

Martyn is on top form throughout. The repertoire is drawn from his key ’70s albums Bless The Weather, Solid Air, Sunday’s Child, Inside Out and One World (and you can’t really go wrong with any of them!).

The arrangements here are different enough from the studio album versions to warrant the release and although we don’t get the authentic live crowd experience the sound quality is superb throughout — sharp, earthy and intimate. In fact I’m probably stretching the rules slightly with this entry as it sort of serves as an improvised Greatest Hits album representing reworkings of previously recorded songs more like No Little Boy or Couldn’t Love You More than the genuine live article such as Live In Leeds. As such it meets this purpose brilliantly and purely on the content it deserves its high placing.

The range is pretty much as you’d expect from this, Martyn’s golden period — plenty of acoustic slapping, some electric echoplex workouts, an epic reverb drenched pulsing shimmering Small Hours and two barely different versions of May You Never. The duplication of One Day Without You is more worthy with a straight studio arrangement and a “boogie” version.

Sometimes lost a little, coming between more celebrated albums, Sunday’s Child represented a return to a more straightforward, song based approach after the open ended experimentation of Inside Out.

The electrical wizardry is held in check on the whole although lends subtle rhythms to many of the tracks giving them special interest — an approach that would reach its zenith on the next album, One World.

Although continuing to develop and test the boundaries Martyn also returns to his folk roots especially with the lovely traditional English round Spencer The Rover and still finds time to play some lovely straight forward acoustic numbers backed by the ever present Danny Thompson on upright bass. This comes to full fruition on the momentous final track Call Me Crazy with Martyn slurring his way through a Solid Air reprise before the track morphs into a Small Hours prelude of glissando guitar.

The way this album doesn’t quite reach the levels of One World or Solid Air is through its presentation more as a group of disparate songs of varying styles rather than a collective whole, padded somewhat with a couple of throwaway rock and blues derivative numbers like Clutches and the riff heavy Root Love which became a live favourite although I personally think sounds out of place here. I do however like the marvellous laid back groove of his cover of Satisfied Mind where Martyn turns in one of his greatest vocal performances (notwithstanding it does fade too early).

So overall still a great Martyn album but I can’t help thinking that a combination of the best of this and the preceding Inside Out (or at least a better grouping of the similar tracks from each album — perhaps an acoustic Solid Air follow up and an electric One World prelude), would have produced one great album (or two more coherent albums).

The cover is a shot from the beach at Hastings where John had lived since Bless The Weather.

A strong album albeit covering a range of styles. It’s a sort of mix of the previous two albums — Grace And Danger and One World — but with a more straight forward rock aesthetic, and without an acoustic guitar in sight.

So we get the driving rhythms of the One World half of the album with Amsterdam, Never Say Never, and Perfect Hustler allied with the more easy listening Grace And Danger soul of Hold On My Heart, Pascanel and the beautiful piano closer Don’t You Go. Perhaps best of all is the superb title track which combines both elements with scattered world beats.

There’s also a cover of the much loved Couldn’t Love You More originally recorded as an emotionally charged acoustic piece on One World. Here it is jazzed up with fretless bass, but it works — it’s such a great song it weathers a number of interpretations. One World again, this time the title track, is recalled by two lengthy down tempo tracks Hearts And Keys and Please Fall In Love With Me.

With the One World echoplex effects toned down and without the raw intimate emotion of Grace And Danger, Glorious Fool doesn’t quite reach the heights of either of those albums but Martyn’s voice is at a peak. Matched by the deep down slurry bass (he could still hit those high notes too) and backed by the muscular drumming and consistent production the album is an impressive first outing for his new WEA label and offers arguably Martyn’s last great album until And 16 years later.

John Martyn’s first proper “solo” album since The Tumbler, his fifth in all, and the Solid Air predecessor, is where he really hits his stride.

Displaying a maturing voice over laid back acoustic guitar Bless The Weather is probably the first album containing some songs Martyn would become renowned for, and staples of his live sets for much of his career — namely the title track Bless The Weather, Head And Heart and the groundbreaking Glistening Glyndebourne, a 7 minute “echoplex” treated acoustic guitar instrumental backed by jazz piano.

Martyn’s developing lyrics are also beginning to reveal ambiguities between the domestic bliss of life with his wife and new children, and his more temptatious male ego.

Recording solo again after the duet albums with wife Beverley the recording came together effortlessly:

It certainly sounds like it being perhaps Martyn’s most gentle album; a huge leap forward with every track a winner.

Grace And Danger is a beautiful yet gruelling album of painfully honest jazz and soul songs John Martyn wrote following the breakdown of his marriage with Beverley Martyn.

Taking the listener through emotions of loss, denial, bitterness, and finally anger, Martyn wrings ever ounce of emotion out of his voice to produce a poignant and cathartic masterpiece.

Some People Are Crazy sets the tone with lovely harmonic bass, twinkly electric piano and Martyn rolling his booze and smoke enriched bear’s growl of a voice around his rrrrs. Lookin’ On has a luxurious jazz club atmosphere with gorgeous cymbal laden rhythms, and live staple Johnny Too Bad forewarns of stormy times ahead.

Then the mood takes a serious downturn, beginning with one of the most beautiful love songs ever written, Sweet Little Mystery, where Martyn cries in the night waiting for a letter that never comes. Two heartbreaking pleas for reconciliation follow; both Hurt in Your Heart and Baby Please Come Home do exactly what they say on the tin before Martyn’s tone becomes more defiant in Save Some (For Me) where he astonishingly publicly admits his adultery.

Anyway, we know by now it’s too late as Beverley is already “in the arms of some new friend”. The final track, which intriguingly has a co-writing credit with his estranged wife (maybe via that letter?), offers some hope; he’s still angry but is on his way to forgetting.

An equally distraught Phil Collins (whose own marriage was to shortly undergo a similar public exorcism on his Face Value album) lends moral and musical support with some crisp drums and restrained backing vocals, and Tommy Eyre from The Sensational Alex Harvey Band tinkles on keys.

The studio can’t have been much fun but for music this good it was worth it; Grace and Danger will stay with you long after the “hurt in your heart has gone”.

Groundbreaking in style Solid Air found Martyn pushing the boundaries of folk into jazz through his burgeoning interest in the works of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders.

His trademark slap and run guitar playing was maintained supplemented by laid back keys and brushed drum strokes, but the key development was in Martyn’s voice which had become deeper and bluesier, more like an instrument than a voice, with individual words, phrases and even the songs themselves bleeding into each other. Like many exceptional musicians Martyn was becoming a master at bending time around the groove, both in his singing and playing, sounding simultaneously tight yet loose.

The album featured some of John Martyn’s most mature and enduring songs: The slurry title track (written for close friend Nick Drake), May You Never (probably the closest Martyn came to a hit and a sing-a-long favourite at live concerts), Over The Hill, Man In The Station and an audacious electrified cover of Skip James’ I’d Rather Be The Devil.

Members of Fairport Convention guested and the jazzy flourishes of the record are propelled by Danny Thompson’s double bass and especially John Bundrick’s gorgeous laid back electric piano which runs like liquid gold through the whole album.

Warm, mellow and laid back this is the sound of Martyn going down easy. A magnificent acid folk masterpiece which has stood the test of time, Solid Air is the equal of Astral Weeks or Liege And Lief.

One World’s unique sound derived from an extended period John Martyn spent in Jamaica absorbing roots reggae influences with label mates Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry (who guested on the record along with Steve Winwood) and Burning Spear.

On his return Martyn holed up at a lakeside house in rural Berkshire, England, and began work on One World which was both critically acclaimed and commercially accessible on its release in November 1977.

A revitalised Martyn was literally bursting with ideas and like many of his mid to late ’70s albums One World contains a variety of songs yet the overall sound and mood of the album retains a pleasing coherence through acoustic, dub, funk, reggae, experimental and rock styles.

All the tracks are gems including the two chord acoustic declaration of unconditional love Couldn’t Love You More and the catchy string backed pop of Certain Surprise to the shuffling rhythms of Big Muff, Dealer and Smiling Stranger.

The main thread of the album showcases Martyn’s new mastery of his echoplex treated guitar pioneered on earlier songs I’d Rather Be The Devil and Inside Out. Whereas those tracks tended to veer off into improvisational free form sound effects (especially live) here Martyn moulds the effects into perfect more concise song forms.

The title track One World slows the pace like a Solid Air part two and its liquid guitar lines prepare the listener for the atmospheric Small Hours, perhaps Martyn’s greatest ever track, which closes out the album on a spiritual high. One of the all time great chill-out tracks Small Hours’ sweeping soundscape literally and famously absorbs the ambience of the lakeside location with water sounds and honking Canadian geese merging with Martyn’s ghostly guitar chords.

One World is the perfect bridge between the more jazz folky Solid Air and the harrowing Grace And Danger — the three albums together make a magnificent triumvirate but One World just takes the №1 spot for me.

Just to finish, this listing is all about the original studio albums but I suggest interested readers be directed to the Deluxe CD version of One World which contains a bonus album of some eye-opening live solo versions and studio outtakes which are significantly different enough from the originals to warrant the extra investment: a rare case of an extra not diluting the original.

So there you have it — my John Martyn Top 31. How many of these are essential? How far would you go? Possibly my top 3 plus Bless The Weather if you can squeeze that in too? Maybe a live album too (although this is covered too if you get the Deluxe edition of One World)?

Are there any obviously misplaced albums or any that are missing from the list altogether — perhaps one I’ve not even heard or an overlooked collaboration or live recording from the archives?

Is there anything worth hearing after the ‘70s and which are the turkeys best avoided? Is it worth seeking out any of the rare bootleg live albums? What about his covers and reworkings albums?

Is One World the best or are you an advocate for Solid Air, or even Glorious Fool or perhaps the more modern And is more your thing?

Is Sapphire the top of the dummys or is it no worse than any of the other albums from the wilderness years? To be fair maybe even that one isn’t that bad — it’s still a John Martyn album and I feel the range of his catalogue from bad to good isn’t as wide as for some of his contemporaries.

I see this list as organic — I will revisit and potentially rearrange over the coming months. I’d love to hear your comments.

Eddy

/

Too rushed for the full words right now or just want to cut to the chase? Here’s the pure list, in reverse order:

31. Sapphire (1984) —an over produced mess of cheesy synth pap.

30. The Apprentice (1990) — much the same as Sapphire really, barely discernible.

29. The Church With One Bell (1998) — an album of carefully chosen covers delivered by one of the greatest voices of his generation should have been great but it was a disappointment.

28. Road To Ruin (1970) — a disjointed duet project with wife Beverley.

27. Cooltide (1991) — super smooth synth and sax drenched anonymous crooning.

26. Couldn’t Love You More (1992) — reworkings of old songs given a new sheen of production.

25. Well Kept Secret (1982) — anonymous ’80s fodder.

24. Stormbringer! (1970) —Martyn with Beverley sounding like a sub par Fairport Convention.

23. Foundations (1987) — an average document of the ’80s live band.

22. The Tumbler (1968) — some dated folk whimsy.

21. Glasgow Walker (2000) — just like And but not as good (nor as surprising).

20. Piece By Piece (1986) — reasonable easy listening ’80s production and probably the best of Martyn from the decade.

19. No Little Boy (1982) — reworkings of the Couldn’t Love You More reworkings of old songs.

18. BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (2002) — a decent record of Martyn’s jazz rock fusion band with a couple of incongruous bonuses.

17. London Conversation (1967) — a straight forward folk guitar album.

16. The Simmer Dim (2008) — a bootleg solo gig from 1980 brilliantly showcasing stripped down versions of the One World songs but hampered by poor sound quality.

15. On The Cobbles (2004) — an excellent more easy going update on the And sound.

14. Live In Germany (2001) — an enjoyable acoustic reprise of the classic Martyn/Thompson duo.

13. On Air (2006) — a good quality solo acoustic gig from 1975.

12. Philentropy (1982) — Martyn’s best latter period live album with full band.

11. And (1996) — a new trip hop sound signalling the return to form after the wilderness years.

10. Live At Leeds (1975) — Martyn’s most famous live album capturing him as he transfers from folky to electric.

9. Heaven And Earth (2011) — an excellent and daring final album displaying the best of Martyn’s modern sound.

8. Inside Out (1973) — John Martyn’s experimental album and the closest he came to prog.

7. In Session (1992) — this compilation of BBC sessions now surpasses Live At Leeds as the go to live album for ’70s period Martyn.

6. Sunday’s Child (1975) — a return to songs, albeit of varying styles.

5. Glorious Fool (1981) — a dense rock album.

4. Bless The Weather (1971) — the blossoming towards Solid Air.

3. Grace And Danger (1980) — a moving late night soul and jazz break up album.

2. Solid Air (1973) — the ultimate jazz folk album.

1. One World (1977) — a daring mix of rhythms and styles comes together in Martyn’s masterpiece.

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