15 May 2004
Arts+Books section
Favourite new film
Gore Verbinski's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. I think Johnny Depp is particularly funny in it.
Blues
There’s a poignant dedication on John Martyn’s new album to the surgical team and nurses of orthopaedic ward one at Waterford hospital in Ireland, where last year he had part of one leg removed after an infection. But you can’t keep a good man down, particularly one such as Martyn who has had to deal with a variety of misfortunes in his troubled career, from chronic alcoholism to being produced by Phil Collins.
Welcome
back, John
FOLK jazz maestro John Martyn made a triumphant return to his home town despite the effects of serious surgery.
JOHN Martyn, arguably Scotland's most respected singer-songwriter, has played the musical equivalent of steady darts throughout his career, while continuing to attract new fans to his understated brand of Celtic soul. Consequently, last night's audience represented a broad church, who were politely receptive to his support act, a mousey young minstrel called Eva Abraham, who has obviously heard a Joni Mitchell album or ten in her time.
Lowry, Salford
If John Martyn hadn't become a folk/blues/rock legend, he could have knocked out a career as a mimic. At one point, he perfectly impersonates Alf Garnett. At another, he adopts the voice of what can only be described as a northern-English, butch but camp transvestite.
"IT'S only an A chord," John Martyn protested, somewhat embarrassed as yet another wave of encouraging whistles and cheers greeted even his pre-song noodlings on the guitar.
05 May 2004
The guitarist John Martyn has swapped hellraising for Buddhism. He explains his change of direction to James McNair
John Martyn's four-decade career has certainly seen its share of alcohol-fuelled misadventure. He once awoke to find that Pentangle's double-bassist, Danny Thompson, had nailed him under a carpet; his pancreas burst in 1996; and in July 2002 he was forced to don a neck brace after a head-on collision with a cow. When I interviewed him about 1999's Glasgow Walker album, he was nursing a dislocated shoulder after a fall. Since then, he has broken an arm and several toes.
Let's get one thing straight - this man is a national treasure. For 30-odd years he has been making great albums, playing memorable gigs, pushing boundaries.
Released 26th April 2004
29 Apr 2004
When John Martyn counts (shouts) in the first track of his new album, there's no mistaking the Scots accent.
