One World

One World

November 1977

On Saturday 16 July 1977 the Island Records mobile studio was set up in the courtyard of Woolwich Green Farm in Theale, Berkshire. The house was in the middle of a lake, and microphones were strategically placed, picking up the sound of wildlife and lapping water. Most of the recording was carried out between three and six in the morning, these quiet hours before dawn created the most magical atmosphere. The album was mastered in early November 1977 and released later the same month.

One World was critically acclaimed, commercially accessible and sold well, charting at number 54. It contains a variety of styles and moods from the dubbed Big Muff co-written with Lee Perry, to the incredibly romantic Couldn’t Love You More which has been reworked and recorded many times since and is still a great favourite with his fans. The album closes with the mesmerising Small Hours, a ‘live’ echoplex excursion featuring a flock of Canadian geese ! One of the all time great chill-out tracks which was later adapted and re-recorded as Anna for the Australian feature film In Search of Anna. Unfortunately a sound track was never released, but a small number of live performance tapes featuring Anna are in existence and the studio recording was eventually released for the first time on Ain’t No Saint to celebrate John’a 40th anniversary as a performer.

“Guaranteed to chill your spine.” (Melody Maker 10/12/77)

“Martyn’s labours on Island culminated with One World…that shifted his earlier crystalline sound into a deeper, more liquid encounter. Accompanied by Danny Thompson’s resonant bass and a superb lineup of Island musicians, Martyn’s expressive voice had matured via a wide range of circumstance. There were still moments of joyous sensitivity.” – Magnet

“One World looks like a work of importance and beauty, sounds even better and there’s no finer place to start to develop an addiction for the man who may be England’s brightest light in the musical starfield, nobody else comes near to John’s coherence in expressing the flux of spirit and the voice of emotion, he’s simply the guv’nor.” (Steve Burgess Dark Star)

“First encounters of the best kind – the day you hear’ One World’…A John Martyn Masterpiece” (Island Advertisement)

“You might not be in the market for a new Lamborghini or a flash apartment in Berkeley Square but there’s always ‘One World’…A John Martyn Masterpiece.” Island Advertisement)

John used a Rhythm Doctor: a drum machine winking through the mist of Small Hours and One World. He got more flack for that: “People thought it was so funny, that this geezer would walk onstage with a glorified metronome. They could not see that it was in fact a bass drum, with a kick drum at the top. A lot of the things I used to fiddle about with confused people at first.” – The Wire

There are two mixes of this album. The UK Mix (UK and Europe) and the USA Mix (USA, Canada and Italy).

The differences are often subtle; the instrumentation and percussion but there are some more pronounced differences. There is an entirely different drum track on Big Muff. One World features no scat vocals on the introduction on the USA mix. Some songs are different lengths for example Dancing 3:55 minutes and Big Muff 6:15 on the USA Mix. Dancing 3:46 and Big Muff 6:28 on the UK mix.

The USA mix has never been released on CD. USA Mix versions of Dancing, Certain Surprise and Dealer appear on The Electric John Martyn compilation released in 1982 and the USA Mix of Big Muff also appeared on the B side of the 12″ Single Johnny Too Bad in the UK in 1977.

One World Deluxe Edition includes songs from both UK and USA mixes. The UK mix was remastered and included on The Island Years 18 Disc box set.

The sleeve of One World was completed before the album was delivered, hence the odd running order on the back with the sides in reverse order. The correct, and originally intended running order, commences with Dealer and finishes with Small Hours as indicated on the master tapes. However as a late as 2016 test pressings were produced for a rerelease on 180g vinyl with the wrong running order!

Island released Dancing / Dealer as a single in January 1978.

1. Dealer (J. Martyn)
2. One World (J. Martyn)
3. Smiling Stranger (J. Martyn)
4. Big Muff (Lee Perry, J. Martyn)
5. Couldn’t Love You More (J. Martyn)
6. Certain Surprise (J. Martyn)
7. Dancing (J. Martyn)
8. Small Hours (J. Martyn)

Catalogue Number: ILPS 9492 Island
Matrix / Runout: Side A – ILPS 9492 A B EG JONZ I-31 and Side B – ILPS 9492 B 2 TRIDENT JOHN MARTYN EG I-30

Guitars and Vocals – John Martyn
Musicians – Jon Field, Tristran Fry, George Lee, Neil Murray, Andy Nemark, Dave Pegg, Morris Pert, Rico, Hansford Rowe, Bruce Rowlands, Kesh Sathie, Jon Stevens, Danny Thompson and Steve Winwood
String Arrangements – Harry Robinson
Art and Design – Tony Wright
Engineers – Phill Brown, Frank Owen and Robert Ash
Produced by – Chris Blackwell

Cassette: ZCI 9492 Island
Vinyl: ISMAS 9492 Island (USA)
Vinyl: ILPS 19492 Island (Italy)
Vinyl: 9123 027 Island (France)
Vinyl: L 36457 Island/Festival (Australia)
8 track: Y8I-9492 (USA)
Vinyl: 25 537 I Island (Spain)
Vinyl: ILPM 9492 Island (September 1986)
Cassette: C 19065 Island (Australia)
Cassette: ICM 9492 Island
Vinyl: AN 7081 Antilles Island (Canada)
Vinyl: 9123 027 Island (France)
CD: CID 9492 Island (1988)
CD: IMCD 86 (842 555-2) Island (1990)
2CD: 2CD: ITSCD 2 (514 285-2) Island (1 November 1992 with Solid Air)
CD: 981 922-2 Island (2CD Deluxe Edition) (1 November 2004)
Vinyl: 478 527-9 Island (28 October 2016)
Vinyl: UMCLP149 Proper Music (24 July 2026)