John Martyn RIP

This may be the only time I open with a Phil Collins quote.

"He was uncompromising, which made him infuriating to some people, but he was unique and we'll never see the likes of him again"

John Martyn died a few days ago. The first time I ever saw him was on a BBC2 folk show, and he played an acoustic guitar and beautifuly drawled a song of his classic Solid Air album. Even to a novice like me he was clearly an unusual talent, and I spent the next few years tending to agree with Phil Collins, as purchasing his albums could be infuriating. Think you've got a folkie? Think again. Some called him the 'father of trip-hop', which I don't understand, as I'm not sure what it is.

I saw him live once, at the Cambridge folk festival. He did a version of Johny Too Bad that had guitar sounds which sounded like a chopper scene from a Vietnam film. Several hard core folkies in the tent were highly disturbed. I loved it.

Here are 3 John Martyns

Johnny Too Bad, 1981.

A slightly oriental version of Don't Want to Know



One for The Road, 2004