Ain't No Saint
JOHN MARTYN - 'AIN'T NO SAINT'
John Martyn
(Universal/Island)
****
Outtakes and unreleased live recordings shine new light on the angels and demons at war in a 40-year career
It's July, 1973. John Martyn, one of the young princes of the flourishing British folk scene, is hurtling in a new direction.
Like several Island acts of the early 70s (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, etc), Martyn was given a fairly loose roaming brief.
(Island) * * * *
FANS will know that the only predictable thing about John Martyn is his unpredictability. His live performances can touch the heights, and sometimes just bumble along.
Although his voice occasionally isn't at its best on a couple of songs in these sessions, recorded in Paris and London over a 10-year period 1, there are plenty of good (and now and then great) moments that more than compensate.
The collapse of a marriage (or two) has proven to be creatively satisfying for the likes of Abba, Fleetwood Mac and Marvin Gaye, but few accounts of love-gone-wrong come anywhere close to the emotional impact of Martyn's 1980 release
Robert Sandall reviews John Martyn's new1 album
T&E
Spellbinding no-frills solo set from 1975
Con la pubblicazione nel novembre 2005 delle ristampe rimasterizzate dei primi album di John Martyn, quelli del fertile periodo Island, la Universal finalmente recupera e ripropone gli splendidi frutti artistici dei primi anni del cantautore e musicista inglese, aggiungendo alla limpida brillantezza sonora di un'accurata rimasterizzazione digitale una messe di bonus track mai pubblicata prima d'ora.