Customer Reviews

Bless the Weather

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John Martyn has produced an impressive amount of fine music over his long career -- this album, for me, is the high point (closely followed by SOLID AIR). Don't misunderstand -- just about everything Martyn has released has been of the highest quality, if slightly varying in style -- this period just happens to be the one that appeals the most to me.

Everything comes together here in perfection -- Martyn's solid, gentle songwriting coupled with his unforgettable smokey voice and unique guitar style, accompanied by some of the finest players to EVER grace a recording studio (Richard Thompson on guitar and Danny Thompson on acoustic bass). Placed in the hands of the able producer/engineer team of John Wood and Joe Boyd, the recording itself is crystal-clear and uncluttered, letting Martyn's songs shine through with their own light...

...and what a light they possess! The album's opener, 'Go easy', sets the pace perfectly with Martyn pleading sofly, 'Life, go easy on me -- love, don't pass me by...' With so many other vocalists, Martyn's breathy delivery might seem affected -- but John makes it seem effortlessly natural. 'Bless the weather' continues in this vein, 'Bless the weather that brought you to me -- curse the storm that takes you home...' This album was recorded after John and his wife/singing partner Beverly Martyn split -- and longing, loneliness and pain naturally accompany such a rift, no matter the cause or the instigator.

There is hope in these tunes, too -- 'Walk on the water' is more upbeat and uplifting, and 'Just now' is one of the most endearing reflections on 'getting in touch' with onesself that I've ever heard. 'Head and heart' is probably the best known of all of Martyn's compositions, having also been covered by other artists. His original version here pales them all with it's heartfelt simplicity. 'Let the good times come' is a natural partner to the album's two opening tracks -- 'Back down the river' yearns for a fresh start.

'Glistening Glyndebourne' is simply breathtaking music --- this long instrumental piece gives John's listeners the first taste of his ground-breaking work with the echoplex, to be followed up often on successive recordings, and destined to stun many a listener at his live shows. I heard Martyn once here in America on a tour when he was the opening act for Yes. Much of his equipment hadn't arrived by showtime, but Martyn went on anyway, knocking the crowd -- ready to be showered with the progressive rock of the main act -- back on their heels, bringing the buzzing, cavernous hall to attentive silence. John, his acoustic guitar, the echoplex and his one-of-a-kind voice filled the arena as few complete bands can do, and demanded attention. He only played 3 numbers, but he stole the show.

The album concludes with a classic, 'Singin' in the rain' -- I've never heard anyone give this song a reading like this, and I've never been so moved by it. If hearing Alex sing the song in Stanley Kubrick's film ode to ultra-violence, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, while savagely beating and kicking a helpless, bound victim threw the song into a bad light, Martyn's gentle rendition of it here will definitely clear the air.

This is a disc that could appeal to so many listeners -- folk, jazz, blues, even pop. All of these styles have a place in the unique character that is the music of John Martyn. This is most assuredly an album for anyone's 'desert island collection'.

[Helpful hint: together, John Wood and Joe Boyd made up Witchseason Productions, which brought us wonderful music by Nick Drake and others. Any recording with their name on it is going to be some of the best music from its era.]

I own all of John Martyn's albums and I would rank "Bless The Weather" as one of his best. There is a certain back to the roots feel to this disc; Martyn had yet to fully delve into his exploratory period of recording his guitar with the echoplex, and this album is largely acoustic. Martyn's playing is excellent throughout the album, his guitar work on "Head and Heart" is a mix of jaw dropping technical profiency and improvisational genius. In my opinion, Martyn was really coming into his own as a songwriter during this period of his career, and there are songs on "Bless The Weather" which are stunning. I don't think I have ever listened to "Just Now" one time without repeating it again, a beautiful and soulful vocal and piano and guitar arrangement. Martyn also duets with his wife Beverly on "Let The Good Things Come", which is another one of his best songs of a haunting nature. I would recommend this disc to any newcomer to John Martyn's music, it is some of his most accessible work and a great collection of songs and performances. Needless to say, if you are already a fan of his music and don't have "Bless The Weather", this is an essential purchase.

Q magazine called it one of the dozen essential folk records of all time. I really don't find this album that easy to categorise. The songs vary from the folkish sounding JUST NOW, to the jazzy John Martyn signature HEAD AND HEART. What comes through from the album as a whole,however, is spontaneity. There is an underlying simplicity in each tune, and every song sounds as if composed on the spot, on impulse. The arrangements are basic, and sparse - just accoustic guitars, bass and drums on most of the songs. This is not to overlook the fact that the people playing with John Martyn on this album are luminaries in their own right - Richard Thomson, Danny Thomson et al. Do not be fooled by the apparent simplicity of these wonderful songs, they deserve repeated listening. The high point of this album is the instrumental GLISTENING GLYNDEBOURNE, which has terrific work on bass and the first display of the famous echoplex technique on guitar which Martyn takes to greater heights on "RATHER BE THE DEVIL" on his SOLID AIR album. Get hold of this CD if you want to spend a half hour listening to soothing, genle songs sung by a vocalist of unparalleled ability.

This is one of the BEST early-70s singer-songwriter albums, or of any era for that matter. It is filled with soothing and moving songs that should really be better known to fans of James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne et. al. It enhances that style with an added layer of English/Scottish mystical folk, with a nod to blues. Actually, the best comparison may be to Joni Mitchell. Martyn is a songwriter of rare sensitivity and flexibility, and this wonderful album, heard at the right time and in the right mood, is virtually guaranteed to infiltrate your subconscious and have you reaching for it again and again, especially on Sunday mornings over a cup of coffee. It's diverse, too: he throws in a Stonesy rocker here, an extended instrumental there (what a great guitarist!), but the ten tracks hang together perfectly. "Head And Heart," "Bless The Weather," "Just Now," "Let The Good Things Come"...so many gems here! This and "Solid Air" are his two best albums by a mile ("Inside Out" isn't too far behind), but Martyn's body of work overall is admirable and worthy of the sort of wider attention currently being afforded his late friend, labelmate and colleague Nick Drake. After hearing this stroke of pastoral genius, I'm sure you'll feel the same.

Of all of John Martyn's work for Island Records, this is surely one of the (if not THE) best of them. Between the title cut and "Glistening Glyndebourne," you need know little more...but all of the tracks are excellent, even his breezy little cover of "Singin' in the Rain," which takes the original album out on a happy note. "Head and Heart" is one of the best love songs I have ever heard. The bonus tracks are all pretty good, too, on this expanded edition, although to be honest, I prefer JM's acoustic version of "May You Never," the officially released version included on Solid Air, to the band version here; that said, this version is not bad. (Another is included as a bonus track on the Deluxe Edition of Paul Kossoff's Back Street Crawler; JM and PK put this song together originally.) Highly recommended.

John Martyn's beautiful songs have a way of threading themselves through your subconscious. He says so much about love, loss and just being human it makes you grateful someone can give voice to those feelings you have trouble expressing. He's subtle, raunchy and exquisitely tender. 'Head and Heart' is as pure a piece of vulnerability in love as any to be found, realistic and optimistic but so touching.Once you have this music it will be with you throughout your life, it becomes part of what makes you tick, it's music to live your life by and with.

Bless The Weather is arguably John Martyn's finest recording moments on vinyl (as it was then). What this album manages to achieve is the near perfect blend of contemporary folk music and jazz, and with John's wonderfully expressive vocals, he just can barely put a foot wrong here. The atmosphere of the whole album is laid back, but at the same time completely manages to grip the listener from start to finish.

'Go Easy' is the ideal opener, has a real lazy feeling to it and sets up the whole mood for the album. 'Bless The Weather' demonstrates the perfect fusion of jazz and folk. Danny Thompson, a veteran UK jazz double bassist, who accompanies John Martyn has a strong presence here and features on most of the other tracks. In fact much of the time during the '70s he was the only musician to accompany Martyn on stage, and the two of them became great pals. He has a complete empathy for Martyn's guitar playing and music. 'Sugar Lump' is the only disappointment on BTW. It just isn't up to the high quality of the other songs. 'Walk On The Water' adds an xylophone giving a watery feel to the song. 'Just Now' is a sincere and emotional (but never cloying) ballad about relationships, with John on guitar and a very melodic piano as accompaniment, and it closes the first half of the album.

'Head And Heart' starts the second half, more upbeat and again strongly features Danny Thompson. This is the most commercial sounding track of the album, but excellent nonetheless. 'Let The Good Times Come' deserves a special mention. It features John's (then) wife and former recording partner, Beverly Martyn. Here she uses her voice as a background instrument. The result is highly startling and effective. 'Back Down The River' is a plain gentle song, just John on his own, short and sweet. We then come to the climax of the whole album, 'Glistening Glyndebourne'. This is a six and a half minute instrumental epic. It starts out building slowly for a couple of minutes with piano, double bass and guitar, before markedly picking up tempo, and adding congas and drums. Martyn for the first time uses Echoplex on his guitar, which adds rhythmic layers of sound to the whole piece, a technique that he was to feature prominently on future recordings. Martyn finally closes out with a short but idiosyncratic version of 'Singing In The Rain'. On its own this track would be questionable, but in context it is a light humoured response to the previous mammoth track and it wraps up the original album beautifully.

As usual there are the obligatory bonus tracks, 11-17, but the version of May You Never sounds like it was recorded in the 1980s when John was by then working live with a band. In any case the original version wasn't recorded until John's follow up album to this, Solid Air, so it is out of place here anyway. Personally, with the exception of the alternative take, Glistening Glyndebourne, I would have preferred no other bonus tracks.

Apart from this anomaly, the album (the original part) is a true classic.

The feel of this music is as warm, mellow, and dense as an intoxicating haze. Bless The Weather displays all of the craft and integrity of Nick Drake's first two albums, but the arrangements are less ornate and more relaxed. Though the producers occasionally generate a few strange sounds that hover in the background, Martyn confines himself to guitar, piano, upright bass, and occasionally the muffled sound of bongo and steel drums, which are generally used to convey mood instead of rhythm.

As the seventies wore on and he descended into drug and alcohol abuse, Martyn's arrangements became more complex and less focused. But apart from Sugar Lump (a predictable blues number), every song on Bless The Weather is a jewel. It's nice to hear a folk jazz album that's genuinely beautiful without sounding gutless.

John Martyn's 1971 album "Bless the Weather" made me a life-long fan. His previous recording with wife Beverley, Stormbringer!, brought him to my attention. But this set was the apex of his work for me. The soft acoustic singer-songwriter style that was popular during the period is well represented by this amazing CD, reissued by Universal and made in the European Union. From the opener "Go Easy" with John's soft guitar strum, he completely grabbed me, "Looking at me, you never find out what a workingman's about, Raving all night, sleeping away the day, Something to ask, something to say, something to keep the pain away." The title track builds subtly with intensity. The moody bass glazes the folk sound with a jazz coating, "Rain after rain I stood in, just to see how it would feel, Rain after rain I stood in, just to make it real, Bless the weather that brought you to me, Curse the storm that takes you away." "Just Now" is another classic track that refuses to leave your head with its soothing melody like a musical healing, "There's a man in the moon, a man in the sea; Growing strong, there's a man in me just now." "Head & Heart" with its sweet conga percussion pulses seductively. "Glistening Glyndebourne" is a six & a half minute meditation with piano, harp & guitar that lifts you away. The original album ended with John's minute & a half version of "Singing in the Rain." The alternate takes are interesting, but stretch a set that was perfect as is. This is a classic set that still touches me 37 years later! The sound quality on the re-release is excellent. Bravo!

This CD is a wonderful introduction to the music of John Martyn. It is very much an acoustic CD with a relaxed, improvised feel. John Martyn's unique singing and guitar style are well worth listening to. Another highlight of the album is the warm and resonant double bass playing of Danny Thompson. Lovers of acoustic music will not be disappointed with "Bless the Weather". Recorded in 1971, I think this is John Martyn's best CD. Ignore the radio version of "May You Never", but every other track is well worth the purchase price. The best version of John's classic song, "May You Nver" appears on his CD "Solid Air". If you enjoy John Martyn's music, consider this CD as well.