23 Apr 1983
More Sweat From The Hot Guitar
By the time Friars started up in June 1969 Martyn was already a force to be reckoned with and was probably too big to play our little Friars venue in Walton Street. In the end it took over 12 years to finally get John Martyn to Friars but the wait proved more than worth while as anyone who came to his superb Friars debut in October 1981 will testify.
19 Apr 1983
In Concert at Bradford
Uni in the Communal Building
John Martyn + Guests
01 Mar 1983
Rolling Stone magazine described John Martyn's music as 'jazz-tinged pop-folk', neatly encapsulating the problems that Martyn poses for ardent music categorisers and critics who always seem to flounder when faced with such an original musician. There has been a jazz element in John Martyn's music ever since his second album, The Tumbler (1968); the folk element is even older and more deeply entrenched; and such a loose, all-embracing term as pop could just about be applied to anything he has done since the late Sixties.
13 Nov 1982
"SO SOUNDS think I'm an old hippy do they?" muses John Martyn as we stand in the hotel lobby waiting for the limo (the manager's estate car actually) to whisk us nearly 100 yards to the gig at Durham University 1. Well, it's raining and he'll get his track suit wet otherwise. "Nooo, that was all too wishy washy. I always wanted to be a beatnik. That seemed to have much more sparkle about it."
13 Nov 1982
War hero Thomas McGeachy lived with danger long after he hung up his rifle. But the 64-year-old ex-commando was blissfully unaware of the potentially-explosive situation for 40 years.
When he first emerged on to the folk club scene back in the late Sixties, John Martyn seemed destined to be a minority cult hero, winning favourable reviews for his album but only a small and dedicated audience for his boldly emotional songs.
23 Oct 1982
IT WAS Sandy Roberton, John's manager, producer, adviser and umbilical chord to the trends of the Eighties, who finally put my suspicions in focus.
OF all the sacrifices an 'artist' must make to become and remain a successful 'performer', John Martyn has always found compromise the hardest.
Three songs from Well Kept Secret finalised a long standing collaboration.
09 Oct 1982
PRESENTS
John Martyn and His Band
Saturday 9th October 7.30p.m
Tickets £3.50
