John had been struggling with health, record labels and other problems. And came over four years after John’s last new material on Cooltide. An excellent album that shows John’s music was still progressing with the use of samples and trip-hop beats. Produced by Stefon Taylor who was clearly an inspiration to John.

John was now signed to the Go Discs label along with bands like Portishead. Unfortunately, this was another short term relationship as the Go Discs label was soon bought by Polygram. And is a remarkable album and one which I return to regularly. Phil Collins and John Giblin both play on the album and Phil Collins backing vocals are evident on some of the tracks, particularly Suzanne. Some critics criticised Collin’s involvement as detracting from the album but on the whole And was received well particularly by fans. Crackles are evident on some tracks and on making enquiries of Go Discs I was told that this was vinyl feel ! The album was also released on vinyl – wonder if that’s got double vinyl feel then !? Nonetheless there are some classic songs on this album, The Downward Pull Of Human Nature, Carmine, Sunshine’s Better and She’s A Lover.

Four of the tracks featured on the Snooo.. CD EP which had been given away free with a t-shirt. This has now been re-released by Voiceprint.

An unlisted Acid Remix of Sunshine’s Better with a superb bass-line brings the album to a close.

Asian dance/remix artist Talvin Singh was to remix Sunshine’s Better and this version received much radio air play especially on Radio 1. This is totally different to the remix which appears at the end of And and it is included on a compilation album Cafe Del Mar Volume Four. A 12 inch promotional version of the track was also released on vinyl lasting some 12 minutes plus !

Go Discs planned to release Sunshine’s Better as a single but it was withdrawn prior to release. One or two copies of a Radio Edit Version on CD made it to radio stations but these are without a sleeve and are very hard to find.

1. Sunshine’s Better (J. Martyn)
2. Suzanne (J. Martyn)
3. The Downward Pull Of Human Nature (J. Martyn)
4. All In Your Favour (J. Martyn)
5. A Little Strange (J. Martyn, Leon Ware, T-Boy Ross)
6. Who Are They? (J. Martyn)
7. Step It Up (J. Martyn)
8. Carmine (J. Martyn)
9. She’s A Lover (J. Martyn)
10. Sunshine’s Better (remix)

Note the LP has the first 9 tracks only. Track 10 appears on the CD release.

Catalogue Number: CD – 828 798-2 and LP 828 798-1 (500 copies) Go! Discs
Matrix / Runout: Side A – DFI 96 – 6 828798-1 A1 and Side B – DFI 96 -6 828798-1 B1

All Songs Written by – John Martyn (except A Little Strange written by John Martyn, Leon Ware and T-Boy Ross)
Vocals and Guitars – John Martyn
Backing Vocals – John Martyn, Phil Collins and Cheryl Wilson
Drums – Phil Collins
Bass – John Giblin and Alan Thomson
Saxophone – Jerry Underwood
Keyboards – Spencer Cozens, Kirk Lothian, Foster Patterson and sometimes John Martyn
Programming – Stefon Taylor and Spencer Cozens
Engineered by – Stefon Taylor, Spencer Cozens and Douglas ‘Bone’ Graham
Mixed by – Spencer Cozens (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9), Stefon Taylor (tracks 5 and 7) and Douglas ‘Bone’ Graham (track 6) – numbering refers to above tracklisting
Produced by – John Martyn and Stefon Taylor
Co-produced by – Spencer Cozens
Mastered by – Gordon Vicary
Cover Photograph – Lawrence Watson
Special Thanks to Julianne Daisy Flowers