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Post by unomusette on Oct 3, 2015 22:39:46 GMT
Time to plug in the earphones and listen to some choice cuts from the totally brilliant John Martyn. The term "honeyed tones" could have been coined specifically for his voice, it's unique and totally beautiful, well it is to me anyway and it deserves to be shared. I once saw him live and he was on stage for three hours plus, even I was getting restless to be honest but most of the crowd were totally rapt. He was kind of hypnotic. Here are some of his songs for your delectation, most are from live performances because I think that's where he really shone, I've also tried to use shortish ones because he can go on a bit. Hope you find some good 'uns: May You Never Written for his son, anyone who has a kid or any loved one can relate, plus it's just really fine to listen to. This was the first song I ever heard by John Martyn and it made me hungry for more. Sweet Little Mystery Yes, it WAS kind of covered by Wet Wet Wet, but this is the original, featuring Phil Collins on drums and backing vocals. There is a video on Youtube but the sound quality isn't so good. One Day Without YouThat voice, mmm... I'd Rather Be The DevilDifferent sound from his usual, love it. In fact the whole Solid Air album is a classic Make No Mistake As I was saying, that voice... Mad Dog Days Great opening track from the live Foundations album, from the tour when I saw him. I would have posted that album as CD of the Week but it's not on Youtube in its entirity Angeline Had to post this right after because it runs on so you get his quip about "Dear Mrs Thatcher" Plus it's a gorgeous song. Hurt in Your Heart Found this whilst trawling around looking for goodies for this thread. It's a bit of an interview and a bit of this song, which shows so powerfully how much his divorce affected him and also how his youthful beauty was dissipated. But he was still very much upbeat and alive, it's so sad he had to leave us. Given the chance I don't think he'd have done much differently though. There is a really interesting hour long documentary about him, made not long before he died, which is on youtube if you have some spare time. For a start you get to hear the saintly Ralph McTell say the F word, gasp! Actually there is a fair bit of that, so avoid if it bothers you. Here's the link:
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Post by jrmugz on Oct 3, 2015 23:36:15 GMT
Interesting stuff, looking forward to checking it all out!
Jim
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Post by Chippa on Oct 4, 2015 17:43:44 GMT
I only vaguely know of John Martyn, so I'm interested to dig into his music.
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Post by jrmugz on Oct 5, 2015 17:32:17 GMT
OK, here is my review of the John Martyn songs:
01. "May You Never" - Very nice guitar craft. Good singer, sounds like Joni-Mitchell-therapeutic meets Gordon-Lightfoot-folk-soul.
02. "Sweet Little Mystery" - OK, there is a little more of the jazz that seemed like was on the verge of showing in the previous track. Nice
pleasant track. Soothing voice.
03. "One Day Without You" - Michael McDonald with a folk guitar. Sounds pretty good!
04. "I'd Rather Be the Devil" - A little bit on the avant-garde side. Didn't really connect for me; but started to grow on me, and I actually started
to enjoy it very much.
05. "Make No Mistake" - Nice soothing effect, works nice.
06. "Mad Dog Days" - Like song 4, I was ready for it to end half way through, but then really started taking a really good liking to it. Seems like
the groove really kicks in, and then it really works well.
07. "Angeline" - Haunting ballad with good crooning and a lot of soul. 08. "Hurt in Your Heart" - Sounds like one of his quintessential songs. Interesting background.
09. documentary - Interesting to find out about him, watched the first 4 or so videos of it.
Star Rating: 4.2 of 5 Prime Cuts: "I'd Rather Be the Devil", "Make No Mistake", "Mad Dog Days" Bottom Line: Has his blues-folk-jazz schtick down pretty good, and soulful lyrics and voice.
I also like the song "The Small Hours" that I stumbled across.
I guess he thought "Grace and Danger" that Phil Collins worked with him on around the same time as "Face Value", was his best album.
Got that up next on youtube, that album.
Thanks, uno, enjoyed the songs and the introduction to the artist! Interesting artist and some pretty good tunes!
Jim
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Post by queenofthehours on Oct 5, 2015 18:24:48 GMT
I love John Martyn but have never given him as much attention as I'd have liked. Can't wait to hear more of his music.
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Post by unomusette on Oct 5, 2015 21:48:05 GMT
That was an excellent and thoughtful review, jrmugz , thanks! For a start I'd never noticed how much John Martyn's voice is like Michael McDonald's. And it's true some of his songs go on a bit but I'm chuffed that they grew on you. I really wanted to post the song John Wayne, it was brilliant live and there's a version on Youtube with Dave Gilmour helping out, but it does take its time and I imagined most people would lose interest. Regardless, you get top marks for the first review in, and for going the extra mile and watching more than half of the documentary
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Post by Chippa on Oct 6, 2015 20:49:37 GMT
May You Never - This is like a slightly more adventurous James Taylor song. Great voice with a unique delivery.
Sweet Little Mystery - Sweet blue eyed soul. Good groove. Has a timeless sound.
One Day Without You - His delivery reminds me a lot of Richard Thompson, although Richard's voice is much deeper.
I'd Rather Be The Devil - The opening reminds me a lot of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell". Unique sound, here. Like some sort of unsettling dream. Love the mid-song bass/ guitar duel.
Make No Mistake - His jazzy vocals work well on this song. Not crazy about the song, as a whole, though.
Mad Dog Days - Peter Gabriel-like musical landscape with soulful vocals. Almost has a Joe Cocker type quality to his voice, on this one.
Angeline - Love his voice here. Has that early 80's Steve Winwood pop/soul thing going on in spades.
Hurt in Your Heart - Oh wow...great emotional ballad. Apparently, he passed away a couple of years after this performance. This is a great song.
Overall, I give these songs 7/10. Thanks for sharing this, Uno.
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Post by unomusette on Oct 6, 2015 21:08:31 GMT
Ah, glad you liked it Chippa! And thanks for pointing out the James Taylor and Joe Cocker angles, I see them now. 7 out of 10 is a highly respectable score, I expect Johnny is very gleeful up there on his cloud
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2015 21:13:30 GMT
This guy has soul to burn! What a golden voice he has.
The songs that really stick out are Hurt In Your Heart, May You Never, Sweet Little Mystery and Angeline.
I'm very surprised he didn't make it bigger in the US, especially since we embraced UK white soulmen such as Winwood, Cocker, Rod Stewart, and Paul Young.
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Post by unomusette on Oct 8, 2015 21:46:29 GMT
Thanks for giving the songs a listen @brax, I'm really pleased you enjoyed them I wonder if he was considered more a folk artist from his early days, and by the time the soulful stuff made an appearance the US had already dismissed him. Or maybe he was happy just making a living over here, he doesn't strike me as madly ambitious, just very absorbed in creating music. It's interesting how popular Angeline is, I was seriously considering leaving it off because it's quite long. It's a bit of an earworm though, found myself singing it the other day whilst hanging out the washing which is pretty random
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Post by 88keys on Oct 10, 2015 23:44:39 GMT
I hear a lot of John Mayer in Mr. Martyn's music. I'll have to do some looking and see if Mayer was influenced by him at all.
I can rank these songs like this..
The Great
Mad Dog Days Angeline One Day Without You
The Good May You Never Sweet Little Mystery Hurt In Your Heart
The Ok Make No Mistake I'd Rather Be the Devil
None of these songs were bad, which is nice for a change. lol. I might have to seek out more of John Martyn's music.
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Post by unomusette on Oct 11, 2015 18:31:58 GMT
None of these songs were bad, which is nice for a change. lol. I might have to seek out more of John Martyn's music. Wow, that's the best testimony you could have given 88keys - I'm seriously glowing on John's behalf And it's also nice to see you rate Mad Dog Days so highly, definitely one of my fave raves too. Thanks for listening! Edit: Just found this edgier version of Mad Dog Days for those not yet convinced of its majesty As one of the comments says, he sings with every bone in his body
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Post by queenofthehours on Oct 13, 2015 16:18:28 GMT
1. May You Never – I know this one. A John Martyn classic. How I remember him best.
2. Sweet Little Mystery – Now this is something I DIDN’T know. The Wets covering Martyn? Not two I’d put together. JM come out on top. A nice jazzy song.
3. One Day Without You – Lovely hypnotic acoustic number. This is the kind I love.
4. I'd Rather Be the Devil – Something a bit different, quite jazzy but it works well.
5. Make No Mistake – Another hypnotic number. Perhaps my favourite so far.
6. Mad Dog Days – Oops! Some sax, I’m not a great fan of sax. However John is quite jazzy so I’ll forgive him.
7. Angeline – Jazzy again, very 80s sounding here.
8. Hurt in Your Heart – John is great .
Nice to hear some John Martyn. He's someone that doesn't get enough praise. I'm inspired now to listen to lots more of him!
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Post by unomusette on Oct 13, 2015 22:26:19 GMT
Thanks for the positive review queenofthehours - I've always said you have excellent taste and here you are, proving it all over again Special thanks for persevering with Mad Dog Days despite your aversion to sax, above and beyond the call of duty
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