Sunday's Child – Island ILPS 9296
JOHN MARTYN: SUNDAY'S CHILD (ISLAND)
JOHN MARTYN: SUNDAY'S CHILD (ISLAND)
THE sound of running water in a pitch black hall. The lights go up and John Martyn in a grubby raincoat with his back to the audience, looks round in surprise, pretending he has been caught in the middle of answering nature's call.
Two solo acoustic tracks recorded in the BBC London studio.
Solo acoustic performance, recorded Maida Vale 4 studio 7 January 1975.
These tracks were released as bonus material on the expanded and remastered Sunday's Child (2005).
08 Dec 1974
Being a vegetarian myself, which leads to many difficulties on tours of America, I'd choose John Martyn's Bless The Weather.
01 Jul 1974
Probably the most decisive influence on developing acoustic guitarists on the folk scene these days is a young Glaswegian who hasn't played the folk circuit himself for many months. But although John Martyn is now established quite firmly as an electric rock player, his style and his unique approach to the acoustic guitar have spawned a whole generation of imitators. It is virtually impossible to spend an evening in any but the most traditionally-oriented clubs without seeing at least one guitarist trying to achieve the rhythmic pungency and explosive dynamics which are the Martyn trademarks. And though John's career has led him away from the clubs, his spirit is as dominant now as that of, say, Bert Jansch or Davy Graham in the late sixties.
"NICE TO see ya," cried the exuberant John Martyn in between yet another pint of cloudy beer. "To see ya nice," was the spontaneous reply. And indeed it was.
With the preliminaries over John began the task of stimulating the semi-conscious audience. This was achieved successfully with help from nimble-fingered double bass player Danny Thompson, whose musical reflexes suggested he was having multiple orgasms.
01 Apr 1974
bard bon-viveur bullshitter doper entertainer explorer guitarist hero hobo legend lover minstrel musician pathfinder performer picker pioneer pissartist player poet raconteur rambler rhymer romancer singer songwriter talker thinker tripper troubadour trouper trucker tumbler virtuoso wayfarer - and lots of other things too
16 Feb 1974
TWO comments made in the past by John Martyn, who appears on the Yes bill, have defined his work as well as any lengthy analysis.
Firstly, when talking about 'Head And Heart', a track from Bless The Weather, his third album, John said: "I am somewhere in the balance between them." 1) In other words Martyn aims to nourish both the cerebral and the emotional man.
John has contributed to Music Alive, a Schools TV programme made by ILEA-TV that ran in 1973 and 1974. It also featured Frank Zappa, Kevin Coyne and Artemis.
ILEA stands for Inner London Education Authority.
No further details available.