"WHAT TIME is it now?"
"Ten past nine.
"IS THAT ALL!"
And so on and so on all night. John Martyn only played for two hours but, well, it did seem like an eternity.
55 minutes.
Recording of 27 July 1985 Cambridge Folk Festival band show.
There was a time when pop music was considered a young person's career, and a short-lived one at that.
04 Feb 1986
AT the other end of the telephone line things sound to be getting seriously out of hand. There's a choking wheeze, intermittent snorts and could that heavy thudding be a palm slapping a thigh? John Martyn is more than amused. John Martyn is delirious. John Martyn's laughter has reached such a clip that one begins to fear for his throat.
01 Feb 1986
TD: It's 1966. Harold Wilson is prime minister, Lyndon Johnson is president. It's the year of Carnaby Street and Vietnam. In music, Mersey beat and the Modern rockers are on the way out; acid rock and hippies are just around the corner. And in Glasgow, a 17-year old Scottish folksinger is about to make his first live appearance.
John Martyn, how much can you remember about those very early gigs.
JM: The very early ones... I remember the first time I ever played in public. That was in the local village hall, the Town Hall, partial as burro. That was because Josh McCrae got drunk in the pub and could not appear. So I was given the gig, because I was the only one in the audience who could play the guitar and sing. And about four months after that I played in a place called The Black Bull in Dollar which is outside Stirling. I got eleven quid for it, that was wonderful.
TD: How much do you think you have changed.
01 Feb 1986
The program (36 pages) consists of the booklet that accompanied the Piece by piece box set, but has 14 pages extra with mainly tour information and adverts. It also features an album discography. The Brendan Quayle piece is essential reading; the story has been recycled on several CD liner notes, especially of the Serendipity sampler. But this version is longer and has some quotes about the Danny Thompson era that apparently were censored later on.
Saturday morning TV programme for children; John played Lonely Love and Serendipity and participated in some games.
Ain't That Far From Boothill is a sound début album, and yet another reason for taking this band to your hearts.
Obscure track on an obscure album
