Bass fret work? Danny Thompson plays a double bass on john martyn's songs a double bass does not have frets !

John very kindly provided me with the soundtrack to my life and continues to do so I'm not sure how many times I saw him live but it must be around 30 to 40 - on a good night he was magnificent , other times just going through the motions Yes ,Solid Air is a great album but for so many casual listeners , and there are plenty of them , it was the beginning and the end of their appreciation of a much more complex musician There were plenty of occasions in the 80s and 90s seeing him live when , had there been a cardboard cut-out of John on stage with a repeat tape loop of "May you never" playing for 90 minutes , most of the audience would have wet themselves!!!! In your profile of John Martyn have you perhaps laboured too much on the tragically negative aspects of his personality rather than his success as a musician and an innovator We all know that John was a complete bastard but is this not the case with so many of our heroes - the people we place on a pedestal....I don't want to know about evil I only wanna know about love You have disected John and Beverly's marriage despite the fact that it continued for several more years and failed to mention the heart breakingly beautiful album "Grace and Danger" which documents their matrimonial breakdown far better than your words will ever do His further albums could be patchy but with moments of stunning brilliance and all worth listening to The world did not come to an end in 1973 despite so many "fans" thinking it did It is impossible to rank John Martyn's albums as they are all so diverse and should be viewed from their own perspectives - do we really need another bloody list? My love of John's music is that it always SOUNDED SO BLOODY GOOD!!!!!!! Listening to the lyrics before the music is to misunderstand his work It is not my intention to give you the character assisination that you have just given to John Martyn but please stop over analysing the man and just enjoy one of the most unique musical lives of the last century Existentially yours........

Nick Drake "Taking His Own Life"?!?! STOP!!!! You do NOT know that as a Fact. Don't be stating it AS FACT.

Great research & no stepping away from his abhorrent behaviours & attitudes. John Martyn appeared to isolate himself & reduce his collaborative opportunities. Imagine if Alan Parsons & John Martyn forged a collaborative relationship: jazz progressive rock & album concepts. John Martyn was ahead of his time but his attitudes and behaviours to his music network, isolated himself even more. A chronically tragic figure as opposed to Nick Drake, an acutely tragic figure.

dave mattacks was with fairport for quite a long time, he is the drummer everyone thinks of when you say fairport convention, his first was Leige and lief an all time classic , he eas with them through the 70s...interestingly he also played on some records by oz folkies the bushwackers along with former Pretender Dave Farndon before he was a Pretender

its a bloody great album, probably his most consistent, i love it , but its pretty "heavy " too ,in an emotional way, so i probably dont play it as much as it deserves, its a bit like Blood on the tracks in that way, you might play it when you are feeling.....intense.

Thank you for posting. It's a great topic on John Martyn. I hope my comment doesn't come across as unappreciative. I understand how challenging it can be to achieve a satisfying sound technique in speaking. Otherwise, the sound mix and balance are great. Looking forward to the next episode.

Fantastic doc mate, found the first part really interesting not growing up in the UK but having lived there and become obsessed when Original Pirate Material came out. It's interesting finding out about the influences and scenes that came before. Gave me some new tunes to hunt down too! I don't know if it's possible to have a favourite. They're both incredible but sit in such different beasts - which I think you pointed out well too! They also sit in such different parts of my life it's awesome to be able to re-live both with these two albumns.

I saw John Martyn at the Rainbow Theatre when he played tracks from Solid Air. No recording can match the magic he created at that concert. A fantastic musician, even when stoned.

The funniest/saddest fact about this song is that John did once play it for Nick and Nick didn't realise it was about him. He just went "Yeah, sounds good."

‘Gline - born’ rather than ‘Glin - de - born’ @21:38ish l thank you as the maestro would say!❤

Brilliant video mate. Just want to mention, that the opening track "Song for Clay" is a reference to the book "Less Than Zero" by Bret-Easton Ellis, which is about a young adult named Clay who we see become so jaded with city life in 1980's LA. The book was no doubt also a big influence on not just that song, but the record as a whole, as it totally has the same melancholic vibe and themes of hopelessness and despair. I strongly recommend reading it, thought it's definitely not for the faint hearted. "Disappear here"

Interesting. But...back in the day he didn't play a Martin guitar...he used a yamaha FG180 with a shaved top for a long time...note he spells his name with a " y".

Where do you start with John Martyn? One of my all time favourites. Solid Air was perfect album without a bad track on it. But I'd say much the same about albums like Bless the Weather, Inside Out and Sunday's Child. My appreciation started to fade a bit through the 80's, but still some classic great tracks like Big Muff. I loved his eclecticism and experimentation, as well as his passionate lyrics and vocals. Saw him live only once at Sydney Town Hall in Australia, and solo he was breathtaking, with as much impact as the best bands. I didn't know about the Pharaoh Sanders angle, but that makes sense. I always suspected his echoplex work was a big influence on the emergence of dub in reggae, through his friendship with Lee Perry during time that he spent in Jamaica. Now many years later I've become a late life student of guitar myself. One of my first aspirations was to develop a finger picking style myself, like John, Nick Drake, Davy Graham, Bert Jansch and all the other British fusionists. Still working on that.

I love how well you articulated yourself on this video. I have a love-hate rekationship with it though. Whilst the lyrics are deep and symbolic, I find several songs either over-produced or just not sounding very good. To this day, I'm still not sure where this album sits with me.

I bought it not long after it was released, but found it hard to get into. I got One World when it first came it and loved it every track. So then I went back to Solid Air. The only tracks I liked on first listening were May You Never and The Easy Blues, bit by bit everything was revealed, like a veil had been dropped from my eyes. I still prefer One World tho', Small Hours, oh yeah !!

The artist I've seen live most over the years, from big rooms like the Oxford Apollo and The Anvil in Basingstoke to tiny stages like Southampton's both sadly lost Gantry and Polygon Club. At his best, he was utterly sublime and ethereal, at his worst, chaotic and cranky but still very, very good. On this album, Go Down Easy is the one for me but overall favourites are One World, Couldn't Love You More, and Small Hours. Why his music isn't covered more by other artists has always puzzled me. By the way, anyone who is a John Martyn fan should grab the chance to see The John Martyn Project. They are brilliant, in many ways as good as seeing the great man himself and on tour in the UK now.

Did see him at the Brook in Southampton towards the end , he played well but looked tired.

Entertain me is my favourite track here. It could be you the second

Hi, I enjoyed this, thanks. could you have a dive into Pulp's "This is Hardcore" album?

Masterpiece, Drake was not able to produce something of this standard!

Epic!!❤❤❤❤❤❤

I always grew up hearing blur & Oasis finding myself thinking they were some of the only rock bands in existence given as a child in the 90s most adults would assume I automatically liked the Spice Girls, Steps or S-Club 7 & not counting the Spice Girls I really grew to resent the latter two bands because where the SG had redeeming qualities & likeable songs the same cannot be said for the others. Seeing There’s No Other Way music video on TV, funnily enough is one of my earliest memories of blur. I say funny because that was in 91 or 92 when I was barely 3 years old *but* the Universal has always been my top song most of all because of the music videos reference to A Clockwork Orange (probably hinting at the drug infused milk that the characters consume in the film & book) which as a movie nerd really spoke to me. My did wouldn’t let me watch that film till I was a little older though so I was just left to reading about it in movie theory books.

great work! thank you. I could never pick a favourite on Solid Air, too much quality. Johnny too bad, Johnny too genius. I wish you success.

The reality of Blur is, they’re a bunch of art school middle class dicks that got a buzz from acting like they were better than the adult peers they were surrounded by only to grow up to be those exact people.

Played this album bald , never knew back then it was about Nick Drake.

Lee was obsessed with words and particularly being didactic like beefheart . The downside to that is no one knows what the you’re talking about . He never realised that and was frustrated and frustrating . There’s only so much of that a man can take .

Small hours has always been a favorite of mine.

Thanks, 31:19 nice documentary and I do like Solid Air very much but for me his outstanding album is One World which seems to me to have broken ground especially in sound and lyricism. It’s nearly up there with What’s Going On- I never tire of them. Excited to learn that Martin was influenced by Sanders…John’s voice and Sanders saxophone style seem complimentary. In the end I wanted your film to be longer and extend into his later works. Highly informative and enjoyable. Steve😊

Folk music and John Martyn? Well, he played one folk song early on, but that's it.

Could I suggest you try running the voice over through a filter, maybe start out at 100Hz but if that doesn't get rid of the excessive bass then raise it to 200Hz. atm it is very hard to listen to when the plosives boom out. If you're holding the mic put it in a stand and use a pop filter. It's a shame that the content is compromised by poor audio.

Great video. I love solid Air, but for me One World is his best album.

Great ! The first time I saw him was in 1970 when he was the opener on an Island Records package, all dayer in Liverpool, with Free headlining. The next time was in 1975 in London when Paul Kossoff ( of Free ) came on for the last few tracks. PK was another friend of John's who died young, in 1976. Feel I must point out that it's pronounced " Mageeky " not " Mageachy " .......... Talking of Scotland, I just came across this story which you should find amusing : - ........ With Danny Thompson, supported by Hedgehog Pie. "It was the night of the Scottish Cup Final and Rangers had beaten Hearts 3-1. During the gig, John Martyn, who was accompanied by Danny Thompson, mentioned something about Celtic and the whole place erupted into something akin to Wild West brawl. I can't remember if order was restored or the gig continued, but years later, and just by chance I mentioned this incident to a guy whilst talking about music in general and John Martyn in particular. It so happened this guy was Mick Doonan who had played in Hedgehog Pie at that time. He remembered the night well and said when it all kicked off, John Martyn actually jumped down off the stage into the midst of the brawl and chinned a couple of students!"

ive been a blur fan since 2016 and this album has always been one of my favorites <33 you did it justice !!

Its a weird album. The singles have a whacky element to them, i loved the darker tunes like yuko and hiro, it could be you and we used to sing "he thought of cars" at my best friend who was an apprentice mechanic

Solid Air album was a huge influence as a musician myself moving me to cover some of John’s songs one of which can be found here kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oa16eZCH0tLJhqM.htmlsi=0EDYP6l7E9f72bDL

Anything about Echo and the Bunny men would be fantastic. Regardless you have got yourself a new subscriber....

I always thought "Traffic Light Lady" was a Rutles song.

Professional musician, amateur human.

Anyone remember comedian Louis C.K. referring to Mike Skinner as a f*gg*t on Stephen Merchant's radio show?

Sorry,so talented but a right pain in the arse drunk

I first saw John when he was supporting Sandy Denny on tour when Solid Air was released. Went straight out and bought it, and then all of his album's. Loved Solid Air and The Man in the Station. The truly beautiful Small Hours, from One World, would probably be my favourite track.

Well done presentation! I always say that he was unique, in that he way the only one (to my knowledge) at the time who was doing what you could call folk/jazz fusion.

Always regarded John Martyn as a significant musician who transcended his folk beginnings. Listening to Solid Air at the time of its release gave the impression of an other worldliness, such was the distinctive sound and lyrics. Your well researched and presented video only deepened my appreciation for this artist.

Soundtrack of my first love, saw him live with Danny, he seemed to have a permanent residency at Essex University. Thanks good video.

What’s the song playing in the background 9:20 ?

It feels like they were being held back production wise, Graham really gets to sound how he wants in Stereotypes and It Could Be You. The rest of the instrumentals are great, but those ones sound so much more powerful. I rediscovered this album coming out of quarantine. The themes of isolation really resonated with me. It has become my favorite album now because I listened to it a lot at a very vulnerable time.

Good vid

I'm a yank and I absolutely love The Streets. Its his accent, the way his delivery combines with the garage beats, and of course the rhymes that make it so unforgettable. That being said I kinda did forget about it. I'll have to dig out the old mp3 player and give it another listen.

Well done 🎉🎉