JOHN MARTYN
Heaven And Earth
ABSOLUTE. CD/DOWNLOAD
OUT NOW
***
Final studio recordings
from late force of nature.

John Martyn was awarded an OBE in 2008, but died before he could collect it. The London/Glasgow voice probably wouldn't have gone anyway; he'd spent the previous 41 years not fitting in, mercurially blending folk, jazz, blues and rock on still-startling albums such as 1973's Solid Air. Unsurprisingly, this posthumous album doesn't reach such heights, and comes with a little too much overlong, incoherent blues whimsy. But on the shimmering, beauteous title track and the anthemic Bad Company, his uniquely transporting, Tim Buckley-esque voice convinces as much as it ever did.

IAN HARRISON

DOWNLOAD: Heaven And Earth // Bad Company // Could've Told You Before I Met You