Could Have Been Worse

The Worst Of John Martyn

Since people have great difficulty pointing out their personal favourites, I approached the question from the other side. Here is my personal top five of worst John Martyn tracks:

  1. Gun Money (Well Kept Secret #4) The lyrics!
  2. Fisherman's Dream (Sapphire #5) The backing vocals!
  3. Deny This Love (The Apprentice #6) Sweet Jesus!
  4. May You Never - country style (Couldn't Love You More #9) Elvis!
  5. The Apprentice (The Apprentice #9) The keyboards! Well, still the best of the worst...

Well Kept Secret is generally considered to be John's worst album. In his defense, we can say that it is not a bad album at all. In fact, there is no such thing as a bad John Martyn album. But he did make Well Kept Secret recovering from a punctured lung. What might have caused the poor critical reception is that production sounds more conventional than usual. John's singing is as emotional as ever though and the bass playing is great.
Couldn't Love You More is also an album with a bad reputation; John hates it but it was released without his consent. In comparison with No Little Boy, Couldn't Love You More is less varied but some tracks still are worth checking out. Like Fine Lines, which features a sober keyboard player that knows how to hold back.

"One night, you go to bed;
The very next morning, gonna wake up dead"