Thursday, September 10, 2020

The 1980 Listening Post - John Martyn - Grace and Danger

John Martyn - Grace and Danger 


#397 LISTENING POST MEMBER DISCOVERY

by Tom Mott
October 1 1980
John Martyn 
Grace & Danger 
Genre: Boz Scaggs on Acid Rating: 
Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Tom’s Rating: 4.66 

Highlights:
Some People are Crazy
Lookin' On 
Johnny Too Bad 
Save Some (For Me) 


This album is unlike anything else I've heard from 1980. Or maybe anything I've heard. I love this. John Martyn is one of those beloved-by-all-British-musicians figures I'd absolutely never heard of before. He was a British Folk performer and close friend of Nick Drake who landed on his own distinctive sound in the early 70s: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox, phase shifter and Echoplex. For this 1980 album, he's more in R&B territory. But it's sideways R&B with touches of jazz, fusion, and experimental music. 

He's assembled a stellar quartet (himself included): Phil Collins on drums. Tommy Eyre on keyboards. John Giblin on bass. Not everyday names. Tommy Eyre played the organ intro on Joe Cocker's With a Little Help of My Friends, and was Wham! and George Michael's musical director -- "Careless Whisper". John Giblin recorded with Simple Minds, Kate Bush, David Sylvian, and the later Scott Walker recordings. Is it sadcore? Proto-trip-hop? I don't know, but I dig it.

I guess I'd say it sounds like Robert Wyatt put out a mid-70s R&B album with Ramsay Lewis. The lyrics are so depressing, Chris Blackwell (Island Records) delayed the release for a year until John Martyn had a meltdown. I can't verify this because I can't get past the sound of the songs. I haven't heard the words yet. Each highlight is different. Johnny Too Bad is a reggae cover with a crazy guitar sound. Save Some (For Me) gets us into Phil Collins percussion territory.

Magic. 

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