Customer Reviews

Hidden Years: The Very Best Of John Martyn

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Sad. There is really no other way to describe this album. Martyn has exhumed some of his best work and added a Vegas sheen to it. Avoid this at all costs. Get SOLID AIR or BLESS THE WEATHER instead. And John, come back to us, please.

This is possibly my first and last review. The Glaswegian bard is one of the true originals with a guitar technique all his own and a voice that would make another great scot say "its singing Jim but not as we know it.." Buy all you can get, a very good start is "Sweet little mysteries. The Island Anthology", BUT please do not buy this tortured abomination of a CD.This is not a best of, it is John Martyn meets Liberace.These are lounge lizard retakes of some of the maestro's best work.All I can imagine is that late one night he and a mate or two took a bet that he wouldn't have the guts to do it and this is the result.

I've been a fan of John Martyn for twenty years. . .his beautiful evocative lyrics and haunting voice were like nothing else out there. Well, now he's re-recorded his best work and ruined it with awful violins, Motown backup vocals and treacly "sweetening." Picture what would happen if John Renbourne and Pentangle had collaborated with Liberace -- it's almost that bad. Order the Island Records double set if you want to remember John Martyn before he became a Las Vegas Lounge act. . .

If you're the type who wants to hear a song exactly as it was originally recorded, then don't buy this CD. John Martyn's music has evolved from day one, from folk and pop to today's jazzy, soulful, expressive sound. I doubt that he's ever sung a song the same way in his life and that has alienated many fans along the way and limited his commercial success.

I heard him in concert this month and one woman continually shouted out "Sweet Little Mystery," but he never played it. Martyn plays what he wants, when he wants and on this snapshot of his career I find the listening very enjoyable, although the latter tracks fade in intensity.

Just as Clapton's unplugged version of Layla stands on it's own compared to the original, Martyn has breathed a wonderful new life into his classics on this CD.

Late night, bluesy, folksy, John Martyn has such an impressive back-catalogue of material that looking at the titles on this cd, you wouldn't think you could go wrong. However, there should be a warning on the cover explaining that John Martyn has unfathomably re-recorded some of his classic songs, and in the process murdered them slowly. What possessed him to do it? True, his voice has changed over the decades, and perhaps he thought he could bring something new to the old favourites. But the orchestrations and arrangements are dull and unimaginative and Martyn's delivery sounds half-hearted to say the least. Listen to the Island originals, and avoid this at all costs if you think it will be a good introduction to the sleepy-voiced Glaswegian.

With the exception of "Solid Air" and "Grace and Danger," Martyn's early albums tend to have one or two good songs buried amongst a lot of guitar and vocal noodling. This album sums up the highlights of that period; although the two albums I mentioned are heavily represented, it also includes some of my personal favorites from other albums, such as "Bless the Weather." An excellent introduction to Martyn's best work.