Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Solid Air
2. Over The Hill
3. Don't Want To Know
4. I'd Rather Be The Devil (Devil Got My Woman)
5. Go Down Easy
6. Dreams By The Sea
7. May You Never
8. The Man In The Station
9. The Easy Blues / Gentle Blues

Disc 2:

1. Solid Air
2. Over The Hill
3. Don't Want To Know
4. I'd Rather Be The Devil (Devil Got My Woman)
5. Go Down Easy
6. Dreams By The Sea
7. May You Never
8. The Man In The Station
9. The Easy Blues/Gentle Blues - John Martyn
10. Keep On - John Martyn
11. When It's Dark - John Martyn
12. In The Evening - John Martyn
13. May You Never - John Martyn
14. The Easy Blues - John Martyn
15. May You Never
16. I'd Rather Be The Devil (Devil Got My Woman)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1190 in Music
• Released on: 2009-05-25
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .34 pounds
• Running time: 114 minutes

CD Description
Compiled, with John Martyn's blessing, by John Hillarby from the official John Martyn website and with sleeve notes by Record Collector's Daryl Easlea, Martyn's landmark album from 1973 has now been digitally remastered and expanded into a  two CD set. Disc One contains the original album, considered by many to be his best album, digitally remastered and sounding better than ever. Disc Two contains twelve previously unreleased out-takes, three live tracks and the 7" single version of "May You Never".

Customer Reviews

Another John Martyn Deluxe Edition - Possibly The Best
Concensus of opinion is that 'Solid Air' is John Martyn's best album and having delivered deluxe editions of 'Grace and Danger' and 'One World' it is a natural move to issue a deluxe edition of 'Solid Air'.

I think that many artists legacy are detrimentally treated by poorly put together releases but John has been very lucky to have John Hillarby to look after his legacy, and he did a particulary good job on 'Ain't No Saint' and with this deluxe edition he has repeated his great achievement by adding a great set of studio outtakes and live performances that provide a great understanding of John's musical ability and his great live performances.

CD 1 is basically the remastered album from 1973 but the goldmine for John's fans is CD 2 which has 12 alternate takes, all unreleased,three live cuts 'Easy Blues',' May You Never' and 'I'd Rather Be The Devil (Devil Got My Woman) and the original vinyl single release of 'May You Never'.

Rather than repeating some of the other deluxe editions in having multiple versions of the same tracks, Hillarby has put together the 'Solid Air' album using alternate versions which could just as easily have been a succesful album on its own, and every track is very different from the originally released version, though John's great musicianship and vocals are evident throughout this alternate version of the album.

In my opinion this deluxe version has been put together with great thought and its a quality product and its well worthwhile buying, even if you have the original album. It is a fitting tribute to the artist who sadly passed away in January 2009 and is probably the best deluxe John Martyn release.

"...I'm Going Home...Over The Hill..."
John Martyn's 7th album for the mighty Island Records - the lovely and ethereal "Solid Air" - was always going to be a candidate for the 2CD DELUXE EDITION treatment at some point in time - but few of us could have hoped it would turn out 'this' good. I'm blown away - I really am. But details first...

Disc 1 (34:49 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 9 are the LP "Solid Air" issued 1 February 1973 on Island ILPS 9226 in the UK and Island SW-9325 in the USA (it didn't chart in either country). It was recorded in November and December of 1972 and engineered by JOHN WOOD. The original album had a gatefold sleeve and a famously designed 'hand through air' shot on the front cover by FABIO NICOLI. The gatefold digipak recreates this artwork inside and out, has 'palm-tree' label CDs to reflect the original LP design and a 20-page booklet with passionate, informative and detailed liner notes by noted experts and friends JOHN HILLARBY and DARYL EASLEA. The booklet also features trade adverts, the master tapes box, lyrics to the songs, session details - it's superbly done. But the real fireworks lie in the SOUND of the album on Disc 1 - and I'm thrilled to say - the staggering quality of the EXTRAS on Disc 2...

The 24-bit digital remaster has been done by PASCHAL BYRNE at Audio Archiving in London and he's done a STUNNING job. Every track sounds alive, warm and in your face - but in a good way. Highlights include the truly gorgeous "Over The Hill" which has Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol of Fairport Convention playing an absolute blinder on Mandolin and Autoharp (respectively) - and every time - and I mean every time - it wells up a tear in my eye. Now it suddenly sounds HUGE, Byrne's remaster having brought its beauty out - a genuine wow if ever there was one.

While others love it - I've never liked his echo-plexed version of Skip James blues tune "Devil Got My Woman" which he renamed "I'd Rather Be The Devil". But if you do like it - you're in for a treat, because it sounds absolutely enormous here - I just always felt is was kind of out of place in a largely folky setting.

There is hiss at the beginning of Side 2's lovely opener "Go Down Easy", but Byrne's smartly not tried to process it out of the transfer - the result is that Danny Thompson's double-bass sounds like he is standing in the corner of your room. Tony Cox's fantastic sax work on the funky "Dreams By The Sea" is complimented by John "Rabbit" Bundrick's fabulous keyboard work - again astonishingly clear. The final three tracks still sound years ahead of their ambient time - and the remaster is beautiful too...

After the joy of Disc 1, I'd expected Disc 2 to be a let down - it isn't.

Disc 2 (80:22 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 9 are fully formed 'alternate' takes of all 9 album tracks
Tracks 10 to 12 are 3 brand-new out-takes from the album sessions - "Keep On", "When It's Dark" and "In The Evening"
Track 13 is the 1st version of "May You Never" issued as 7" single in the UK on Island WIP 6116 in November 1971 - it's an entirely different version to the 'acoustic take' released on the "Solid Air" album (the song was famously covered by Eric Clapton on his "Slowhand" album of 1977). The 1971 single mix contains a full band with keyboards by John "Rabbit" Bundrick and guitar work by Paul Kossoff of Free
Tracks 14 to 16 are Live Versions of "The Easy Blues", "May You Never" and "I'd Rather Be The Devil" (no venue details are supplied)

The 'Alternate' takes are all lovely and something you'll play again rather treat as a curio. But then you're hit with a genuine sensation - 3 Session out-takes never heard before - one of which is a showstopper - the eight and a half minute acoustic bliss of "When It's Dark". I played it in the shop the other day and two Euro customers came to the counter within minutes asking after the new "Nick Drake" recording! Fans will wonder how this peach has remained in the vaults all these years.

So there you have it - a great album beautifully transferred and extra tracks that actually deserve the word 'bonus'. I've enjoyed some superb issues in the Deluxe Edition series in the last few years (Whiskeytown's "Strangers Almanac", "Tighten Up" Volumes 1 and 2 and Free's "Fire And Water" - see reviews), but this is something really special.

Buy it with confidence - and Rest in Peace you great big gorgeous Scottish beauty.

Breathtaking!
Solid Air, Deluxe Edition. My God! I've been buying through Amazon for many years, but this is the first time I've ever been motivated to write a review. The standard of aural craftsmanship on this remastered recording is, not to put too fine a point on it, on par with the musical craftsmanship of the artist who's work is being re-presented here - The Master would certainly have been very happy with what I've just heard. It sounds absolutely fantastic. Suffice to say, if I believed that any CD being sold in a version billed as "remastered" meant improvement to this degree (though it never has, even remotely, prior to this one), then I would have to get a bank loan and replace my entire CD collection. There! Enthusiastic rant over! Buy this absolute gem!