John Martyn - Inside Out (1973)

John Martyn was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist.

1973 had seen John Martyn release his most successful record, the career-defining Solid Air. Just a few months later he followed it with Inside Out, an album which expanded on the jazzy elements of its predecessor and took took them to extremes. It focused more on his electric guitar work, using an Echoplex unit to create some truly strange and wonderful sounds, and his vocals became more slurred and difficult to decipher. Backing came from bassist Danny Thompson, percussionists Remi Kabaka and Kesh Sathie and sax man Bobby Keys - there were also appearences from Steve Winwood (keyboards) and Chris Wood (sax/flute) from Traffic.

It was a very experimental album, and for that reason destined to be less commercial and to many listeners harder work, though it remains a favourite to those fans who lean towards his more 'out there' work.

Solid Air (1973) <|> Sunday's Child (1975)
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John Martyn - Solid Air (1973)

John Martyn was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for his distinctive fusion of folk, blues and jazz.

John Martyn had found 'his sound' with 1971's Bless The Weather, and two years later Solid Air saw him explore his distinctive style further. The title track (dedicated to fellow singer-songwriter Nick Drake) best summarised his new sound - a hypnotic, shimmering haze of acoustic folk and jazz instrumentation, with his vocals taking on a new slurred style which added to the abstract, dream-like quality of the song. The rest of the album explored the different avenues available through his unique new musical formula. Featured musicians on the album included members of Fairport Convention past and present (Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks), keyboardist John Bundrick, saxophonist Tony Coe and acoustic bassist Danny Thompson.
The album was a massive success, receiving critical acclaim and coming in time to be seen as his greatest achievement.

Bless The Weather (1971) <|> Inside Out (1973)
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John Martyn - Bless The Weather (1971)

John Martyn was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist.

After two albums with his wife Beverly, John Martyn returned to work as a solo artist. Apparently this was the idea of Island Records, who thought he would be more successful by himself. But he had obviously progressed alot through his albums with Beverly (Stormbringer and The Road To Ruin, both from 1970), as when Bless The Weather came out it proved to be a radical step forward from his first two solo albums. Whilst the duo albums were quite diverse and wide-ranging in styles, they at points distinctly set the foundations for Martyn's new solo direction.
Bless The Weather saw his fusion of folk, blues and jazz come together perfectly. The material ranges from tender solo ballads to dark, captivating jams, all characterized by his articulate finger-picking acoustic guitar and distinctive vocals. For the most part, the instrumental backing is subtle and more restrained than some of the more rock-based numbers on the duo albums, with hand percussion and echoes of ghostly piano here and there. Much of the album is notable for some fantastic stand-up bass accompaniment (presumably most of which is played by Danny Thompson), which complements his guitar pefectly (the guitar/bass interaction is particularly fantastic on the title track and "Head And Heart"). The album also saw Martyn experiment with echo effects on his guitar for the first time, most notably on the breath-taking, almost hallucinatory experience that is the instrumental "Glistening Glyndebourne".
With Bless The Weather John Martyn finally found his 'sound', making it a very important album in his career. It is generally seen as among his best.

The Road To Ruin (1970) <> Solid Air (1973)
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John & Beverly Martyn - The Road To Ruin (1970)

John Martyn was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist.

The Road To Ruin was the second album John Martyn released as a duo with his wife Beverly, after Stormbringer from earlier the same year. Like before, the vocals were shared between the two of them, though this time John dominated the songwriting somewhat (only one song is credited to Beverly alone). Again it was produced by Joe Boyd. Stylistically it was more diverse than its predecessor, also being John's most diverse and wide-ranging album to date, mixing different strands of folk, blues, rock and jazz. Many of the songs featured some prominant saxophones, and the two of them are backed throughout by a long list of musicians, including bassist Dave Pegg (of Fairport Convention), keyboard player Paul Harris, and on one song double bassist Danny Thompson (the first instance of his long partnership with Martyn - Thompson had previously worked with Alexis Korner, Davy Graham, Tim Buckley, Pentangle and others).
The album wasn't much of a success, though retrospectively can be seen as an excellent and worthwhile record. Nevertheless Island Records decided that Martyn would sell better as a solo act rather than as part of a duo, so it turned out to be his last album with Beverly, and after its release he resumed his solo career.

Stormbringer (1970) <|> Bless The Weather (1971)
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John & Beverly Martyn - Stormbringer (1970)

John Martyn was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist.

John Martyn's third album was recorded as a collaboration with his wife, Beverly. Though rather than performing as a harmonizing duo (which could have potentially had very successful results), the record was instead split between performances by the two of them, and Beverly just contributed four songs to John's six. So in reality Stormbringer was a John Martyn solo album featuring a few songs written and sung by his wife.
Martyn's sound changed a fair bit from his first two folk-based albums, as Stormbringer was recorded in Woodstock under the musical direction of Paul Harris, and produced by Joe Boyd (then best known for producing The Incredible String Band and Fairport Convention). Harris played piano and keyboards and handled the band and string arrangements. Bass was handled by Harvey Brooks (a seasoned folk-rock session player), and drums were shared by Billy Mundi, Herbie Lovell and Levon Helm. John Simon also appeared at one point on harpsichord.
The result of these different circumstances of recording was that Stormbringer leant much further towards folk-rock than Martyn's earlier records. Half of the songs had full band arrangements, with a big, deep, powerful sound based around acoustic guitar, piano, bass and drums. It would have been very interesting if Martyn had recorded more in this style, as these five songs undeniably had a unique sound all of their own. Elsewhere the album featured harpsichord and string arrangements, so that Martyn's guitar didn't play such an important role,.
Stormbringer was a bit of an anomaly in Martyn's discography, but a very interesting and worthwhile one.

The Tumbler (1968) <|> The Road To Ruin (1970)
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John Martyn - The Tumbler (1968)

John Martyn was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist.

His second album continued the path he started with London Conversation - whimsical acoustic folk music, performed with dazzling fingerpicking guitar work. Again, most of the songs are originals, but with a few covers here and there (including a great version of blues guitarist Henry Thomas' "Fishin' Blues"). What marks it out from his first album is that it is not all performed solo - Martyn's guitar is backed by double bass from David Moses, and Harold McNair adds some distinctive jazz flute to many of the songs. The album was produced by fellow British singer-songwriter Al Stewart.

London Conversation (1967) <|> Stormbringer! (1970)
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John Martyn - London Conversation (1967)

John Martyn was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist.

His debut album introduced him as a lone singer-songwriter. The folk-based material performed solo let him show off his brilliant finger-picking guitar work, and his voice lent his music an endearing charm. Alongside strong originals, it has stunning interpretations of the traditional “Cocaine”, Robin Frederick's "Sandy Grey" and Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright”. Whilst most of the album is performed solo on acoustic guitar, the sitar and flute of "Rolling Home" shows a connection with the British psychedelic folk scene of the time.

|> The Tumbler (1968)
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