January was one of the best of times and the worst of times. Mainly the worst. First one of the greats of post-war American literature, John Updike passed away, and within a matter of days, so to had John Martyn, one of the greatest British singer songwriters of the past four decades.
Martyn will be sorely missed. His musical canon has left a large and indelible mark upon the music scene and his ability at creating beautifully personal and emotive songs has been an influence for countless scores of contemporary musicians.
Critcally Acclaimed Jazz, Funk and Blues Musician
Over the years John Martyn’s albums have been critically acclaimed for their exoticism and musical inventiveness. 1973’s Solid Air, seen by many as the benchmark album of his career, was notable for its seamless fusion of jazz, progressive electric guitar and funk, whilst seeming rooted in the blues.
Yet it was with an acoustic album with which announced Martyn’s arrival at the tender age of eighteen on to the music scene. London Conversation first released in 1968 for which Martyn was allegedly paid £153, contained just John Martyn and his guitar and, sparse as it is, still holds up as one of his most enduring albums.
When this record was released the role of the singer songwriter was beginning to take on a different form. Most of the earlier singer songwriters of the folk revival now found themselves in full bands, embracing the new musical possibilities of diverse instrumentation.
Even some of the founding fathers of British blues/folk had started to veer from their blues roots to experiment with different textures. Therefore it is strange to find an all acoustic debut (save for sitar on one track) arriving at the later stages of the sixties.
London Conversation : The Album
It is a shame that London Conversation does not get the same praise and acclaim as other Martyn records (allmusic.com notoriously gave it a miserly 2 star rating) as it is one of his finest. It is an album that at first does not seem necessarily indicative of his later work. When compared to Solid Air it’s hard to appreciate that they are even by the same artist.
With its choice of cover material the record harks back to the earlier part of the sixties revival. Martyn turns his hand to a terrific cover of Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice, its Alright’ as well as blues staple ‘Cocaine’.
But though it is an album of an artist trying to find his voice and direction, it still contains the components which one comes to expect from one of his later records. The song-writing on the original cuts are strong throughout, the guitar playing is lyrical and understated, and his voice belies his age.
Most of the tracks deal with love and loss and are imbued with a sense of melancholy. The title track, “Back to Stay”, “Run Honey Run” and “Ballad of an Elder Woman” are all inward meditations on these themes, and are all intensely intimate portrayals of emotion.
The standout cut on the album has to be “This Time”; a haunting track in which Martyn manages to rail between disgust and despair over the torment caused to him by love. It is a gorgeous tune, and the interchange between guitar and voice perfectly compliment each other to stunning effect.
John Martyn and Nick Drake
Special note has to be reserved for the track “Sandy Grey”. It was a song written for Nick Drake by the singer songwriter Robin Fredericks, when both she and Nick were living together in France. After they parted ways Fredericks met John Martyn and taught him the tune.
This was long before Drake had become the icon that he is today, long before he begun to compose his own material and long before he had met and befriended Martyn himself. The songs inclusion on this album is serendipitous to say the least and will forever fuel the mysticism that surrounds these two artists.
And it is fitting that there is something connected to Drake on this record, as the music firmly points towards the new musical direction which song writers like Drake and Martyn were taking into the early seventies. London Conversation is an album that seems to hold the middle ground between the blues of Bert Jansch and the introspection and melodic qualities of Nick Drake.
It may not be the critic’s choice, but London Conversation is more than just a footnote of John Martyn’s illustrious career, but a timeless record that, in its own right, is absolutely essential.
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