The Brook's greatest strength is also its biggest weakness. Yes, it's incredibly intimate, and everyone is close enough to the stage to see the whites (or sometimes the reds) of the performers' eyes.
Say what you like about John Martyn but there's no doubt that after 35 years in the business he's still taking risks. Tonight he's accompanied by a sax player1 who offered his services after recording with Martyn in the studio the day before. No warm-up, nothing. And it sounds fantastic.
01 Dec 2000
John Martyn is a neglected tower of British rock, a man who's made some of the most palpable, almost physically emotional, music ever recorded, whose reward for having always pushed a little too far ahead of his time and against assumptions of what he's about has been perpetual commercial frustration.
01 Aug 2000
At the age of 20, John Martyn was struck by a bolt of karmic lightning. It's never left him.
'When you get loaded, this album opens your head up to a different thing. I've chosen it because it taught me the value of sustain. My parents were big classical music fans obsessed with that belcanto, operatic sustain, regardless of the cost to the lungs or the ears. With Sanders it was different; beautiful, long notes but with breath and gurgling in between. His tone blew my mind and he gave me a glimpse through a keyhole that I didn't even know existed.'
27 Jul 2000
How often do you go out?
Very rarely. I go out to restaurants now and again, but I don't go clubbing at all. I get enough when I'm playing. If there's a good concert on, I'll definitely go.
It's more than 30 years since lain McGeachy hit the road south from Glasgow to record his first album -the acoustic guitar-driven period piece London Conversation- changed his name to John Martyn, and began a career in music that, if it hasn't made him rich in worldly terms, has earned the wayward Scotsman critical acclaim and a world-wide following.
30th-odd album plus old song collection from Glaswegian songwriter.
Phew, what a scorcher. Not the music. John Martyn doesn't scorch much, being more disposed towards light and mellow grooves -
22 Jun 2000
We bring you the brightest gems from the dark recesses of the diamond mine of music. This issue: John Martyn.
Stomping about the stage of the Shepherd's Bush Empire, muttering incomprehensible asides to his band, John Martyn sometimes resembles an amiable nutter basking in the glow of a gallon of Guinness.
