Intelligently compiled selection of mellow magicat the end of his new album you faintly hear John Martyn declaring, “I’ve fucking dropped my stick,” a sad reminder that last year he suffered a partial leg amputation. Late Night John looks back poignantly at sunnier times on a collection of his most swoony tunes. The quality of Bless The Weather and Solid Air is indisputable. But there are revelations, I’d almost forgotten the laid back beauty of the two 1970 albums he recorded with his first wife Beverley, and the trippy, dub influenced brilliance of the tracks from 1977’s One World sound even better today than they did back then.
Time, perhaps, to reconsider his lovely legacy.
Anonymous
Uncut
11 August 2004
