I've Had a Wonderful Time the Drinking, the Drug Taking, the Divorces, the Bankruptcy, the Broken Neck, the Affairs and the Loss of His Leg. But John Martyn's Lurid Personal Life Is Still Leaving Room for Some Sublime Music

Summary

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IT IS far from unusual to discover whole fathoms of deep blue sea between the artist and their art. Nothing, however, quite prepares you for John Martyn. One of the few musicians actually deserving of oft-used terms such as "one-off" and "unique", Martyn is a treasure.

Grabbing a foothold in the rather earnest mid-sixties London folk scene, he soon grew out of its limitations and immersed himself instead in jazz, blues and dub, pushing his guitar playing and his voice, stretching his capabilities.

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Extract

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I've Had a Wonderful Time the Drinking, the Drug Taking, the Divorces, the Bankruptcy, the Broken Neck, the Affairs and the Loss of His Leg. But John Martyn's Lurid Personal Life Is Still Leaving Room for Some Sublime Music

The result - best heard on spectacular seventies recordings such as Bless The Weather, Solid Air and One World - is the kind of music that renders the written word pretty much obsolete.

The art at its best is magical, unerringly beautiful, feather light and somehow pure. The artist, however, resembles someone who failed the audition for Auf Wiedersehen, Pet on the grou...

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