John Martyn – Solid Air (1973)
2008 marks the 40th anniversary of John Martyn’s debut album being released, with Solid Air coming at a time when he was at the height of his creative powers. Primarily influenced by pure blues and the traditional folk of his native Scotland, he had raised eyebrows by signing to the Island label, home to mostly Jamaican reggae artists.
By the time Solid Air was released he had expanded his sound to include a heavy jazz influence, recorded several albums with his wife Beverley and added Pentangle’s Danny Thompson on double bass to flesh out his sound. He had also begun to experiment with an Echoplex delay unit, which was fully utilised throughout this album.
Opening with the title track the tone is set with a sparse musical backing and Martyn’s slurred but rich voice talking of his friend and fellow musician Nick Drake. A sombre opener but the mood is immediately lifted with the second track Over The Hill which has an uplifting feel with its strummed acoustics and mandolin. Don’t Want To Know has an almost fusion edge to the keyboards and the multi-tracked vocals add a warmth to the song.
Utilising his lower more aggressive register and the Echoplex to full effect I’d Rather Be The Devil is arguably the album’s strongest track. Busy drums and spacey keyboards give it a real 70’s feel, before Thompson’s bass is pushed to the fore in the breakdown and the song washes over the listener in its final minutes. Go Down Easy is almost impossibly beautiful, no slurred vocals here, just the most pure voice accompanied by deceptively simple guitar. Dreams By The Sea borders on the funk with JB’s style horn lines, before May You Never returns us to the fragile beauty of Go Down Easy. Man In The Station is a reflective song with that voice to the fore before the appropriately titled Easy Blues rounds the album off in fine, if slightly throwaway style.
John Martyn has never received the recognition his talent has deserved – his previous album Bless The Weather is the equal of Solid Air – and his battles with alcohol have become the stuff of legend, and have undoubtedly hindered his career. This is a very mellow record and it would be too easy to allow it to play in the background, but there is so much intricacy and emotion it should be given all the attention this fine album deserves.
Stuart Preston
2008 marks the 40th anniversary of John Martyn’s debut album being released, with Solid Air coming at a time when he was at the height of his creative powers. Primarily influenced by pure blues and the traditional folk of his native Scotland, he had raised eyebrows by signing to the Island label, home to mostly Jamaican reggae artists.
By the time Solid Air was released he had expanded his sound to include a heavy jazz influence, recorded several albums with his wife Beverley and added Pentangle’s Danny Thompson on double bass to flesh out his sound. He had also begun to experiment with an Echoplex delay unit, which was fully utilised throughout this album.
Opening with the title track the tone is set with a sparse musical backing and Martyn’s slurred but rich voice talking of his friend and fellow musician Nick Drake. A sombre opener but the mood is immediately lifted with the second track Over The Hill which has an uplifting feel with its strummed acoustics and mandolin. Don’t Want To Know has an almost fusion edge to the keyboards and the multi-tracked vocals add a warmth to the song.Utilising his lower more aggressive register and the Echoplex to full effect I’d Rather Be The Devil is arguably the album’s strongest track. Busy drums and spacey keyboards give it a real 70’s feel, before Thompson’s bass is pushed to the fore in the breakdown and the song washes over the listener in its final minutes. Go Down Easy is almost impossibly beautiful, no slurred vocals here, just the most pure voice accompanied by deceptively simple guitar. Dreams By The Sea borders on the funk with JB’s style horn lines, before May You Never returns us to the fragile beauty of Go Down Easy. Man In The Station is a reflective song with that voice to the fore before the appropriately titled Easy Blues rounds the album off in fine, if slightly throwaway style.
John Martyn has never received the recognition his talent has deserved – his previous album Bless The Weather is the equal of Solid Air – and his battles with alcohol have become the stuff of legend, and have undoubtedly hindered his career. This is a very mellow record and it would be too easy to allow it to play in the background, but there is so much intricacy and emotion it should be given all the attention this fine album deserves.
Stuart Preston
1 comment:
I have been listening to this album since it first hit the streets, but after reading your "album of the month" I listend again, for all those things I have been missing .
Thanks
Roger
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