Glorious Fool

11 Sep 1981
The Bottom Line:

First album without Island and a good effort towards commercial success without compromising the musical quality.

Recorded at Townhouse, London. Digital remastering Stephen Innocenzi.

The album charted for seven weeks in the UK reaching number 25. It got mixed reviews but it cost Warner no trouble to throw a few lines of praise into the Glorious Fool tour ad: "One of this year's (any year's) finest"- Melody Maker; "One of the most genuinely passionate records of the year" - Record Mirror; "A superb distillation of talents" - Music Week; "Martyn's breakthrough from Cult Status" - The Guardian; "Glorious Fool promises to open up an entire new audience for Martyn" - The Times; "Martyn simply hasn't made a better album than this" - Time Out. American reviews followed ten months later and were less enthousiastic.

The US pressing (Duke Records) has a different mix for Couldn't Love You More. More treble, less warmth in bass and drums and more prominent synth. The track also lasts 12 seconds shorter than the European version. The modifications were probably made to ensure FM airplay for the Clapton track. The album in fact was the first release on Duke Records, that members of Genesis had formed as their own label, which shows on the molds. John Martyn was the first act to be signed for Duke, but Genesis and Phil Collins continued to release their own records through Atlantic.

CD cover says album was released 1982. Didn't Do That on the CD has a wow in the first guitar notes that is not present on the vinyl copy.

Mold numbers:
K 99178 A-7 and K 99178 B-7.
Side A also carries insciption "DANG GADANG BY TH' WAY"
Side B: "SOME CALL HIM PHIL!".
This is funny because the same messages are on the German pressing, next to mold numbers
R/S Alsdorf 99178 A6 and R/S Alsdorf 99178 B9xx,
both in combination with "TOWNHOUSE".
The (different) US pressing lacks the messages, mold numbers being ST-DU-824893-A and ST-DU-824894-A.

The Japanese CD edition appeared June 1998 and had Japanese liner notes and lyrics but no bonus tracks.

4 August 2008 Warner rereleased the album in the Rhino Encore series.

Credits: 
Production: Phil Collins
Engineers: Nick Launay, Steve Travell
Sleeve design: Bill Smith
Photo front: Eberhard Grames
Photo back: Andrew Douglas
Sleevenotes: 
Carriers: 
Vinyl: WEA 99 178
Vinyl: WEA K99178 (Germany)
Vinyl: Duke DU 19345 (US)
Vinyl: XWEA 99178 (Canada)
Vinyl: SHIN SEI SS1006 (Taiwan)
CD: WEA 2292-53064-2 WE 835
CD: Warner WPCR 2106 (Japan, June 1998)
CD: WEA 2564-69484-6 (Rhino Encore Series, 2008)