Solid Air - John Martyn
I'm not sure this would yet be on my dessert island discs or whatever we want to call such an album these days, but one thing this has done is left a lasting impression.
I've already let the Van out of the bag so to speak, and I was pleased to see that Mr. Roboto (AI) was able to confirm that both shared a songwriting credit to "Sweet Little Mystery", which of course wasn't on this album. But both were influential musicians that incorporated folk, jazz, blues, and rock. If you were to ask me which poster here has these likes and influences in their repertoire,
@threespires would be the first one I'd think of. That's what hanging around on two other threads will do for you.
To cut to the chase, the beginning of "Over The Hill" and "Go Down Easy" gave me the closest VM vibes, and both were more on the folk side.
Big winners for me included "Don't Want To Know", which especially resonates these days for me:
I'm waiting for the planes to tumble
Waiting for the towns to fall
I'm waiting for the cities to crumble
Waiting 'til I see you crawl
Yes, it's getting hard to listen
Hard for us to use our eyes
'Cause all around the gold is glistening
Making sure it keeps us hypnotized
Just pure poetry and a sure sign of "What's Going On?" these days and it's hard to stop quoting John Martyn because the truth hits home, even decades later.
Musically, "I'd Rather Be The Devil (Devil Got My Woman)" with its funky and psychedelic bass line and overall tone really hit the hardest and was the surprise that overall had me more than impressed. Originally from Skip James as the song in (), a Delta Blues artist, this remake was a much different take and in this way, I'd argue Martyn makes this his own given the drastic difference musically.
The guitar notes of "Go Down Easy" in the beginning about 20 seconds in reminded me of Neil Young's "Old Man", and I too found some similarities here of two artists that can tell a story in their songs. I can't see how one can be a fan of one without appreciating the other.
"Dreams By The Sea" had this funkiness that I also didn't anticipate. The bluesy end to the album with "The Man In The Station" and the two-songs in one "The Easy Blues" were both impressive endings with the finale well landed overall spanning the genres. If Jelly Roll runs out of his own material, he'll always have this ending to cover from John Martyn, but like most things, I'll probably prefer the original.
This is an album that I think 4-5 listens are just not enough, so I hesitate with any score with this artist being totally new to me. It's an early
8/10 with some more listens planned given the number of genres it spans so seamlessly.
