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NO LITTLE BOY
John Martyn
Festival D31033

IT'S a puzzle: why has singer/ guitarist John Martyn released almost the same album twice? Nine of the 16 tracks on No Little Boy were heard only five months ago on Couldn't Love You More, a 1992 collection of mostly old songs rearranged.

The 1992 British studio sessions have been added to or occasionally re-done in the US, plus interesting new tracks such as Martyn's duets with ex-Band member Levon Helm on the funky Just Now and a country lament called Rock Salt And Nails.

The album title comes from the chorus of Ways To Cry, one of three tracks from the first CD featuring vocals with Phil Collins (two with Pink Floyd guitarist Dave Gilmour). However, Martyn has improved significantly on a few superb, laidback interpretations, extending songs like the languorous Solid Air with understated percussion and long breathy sax lines from Andy Sheppard.

It shares honors with One World, another re-arranged and improved version (featuring fine work by Gilmour and Sheppard), and the restrained acoustic Fine Lines.

JANIS
Janis Joplin
Columbia Legacy 3CD box: C3K 48845

IN her short life, Janis Joplin only recorded a handful of albums, fronting Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Kozmic Blues Band and Full Tilt Boogie Band. […]

sitenotes:
This Australian judgement was passed in The Age (Melbourne) of Thursday 24 February 1994.