Track Listing

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
10. I'd Rather Be The Devil (Devil Got My Woman)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1698 in Music
• Released on: 2000-10-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 41 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Throughout his 30-year-plus career, Scottish musician John Martyn had touched on an eclectic range of sounds and styles. His continuous work in the jazz, blues, folk and rock fields has resulted in some fantastic music though, somehow, Martyn never really got his full props. The title track on Solid Air is a tribute song to his then depressed friend Nick Drake, which immediately lends a sentimental streak to the LP. The rest of the album reveals its charms in a respectful manner, slowly but surely crystallising much of his earlier work into a coherent yet diverse whole. Using his soft, almost whispery vocal style and gifted guitar phrasing as connecting threads throughout the LP, Martyn offers up a sprawling mesh of dark blues, progressive electric guitar, deep, tribal rock and lighter jazz to make what was one of the biggest benchmark albums of his career. --Paul Sullivan

Customer Reviews

Desert Island Disc
For some strange reason, when I first heard this album, many years ago, I didn't like it. I knew "May you never" which is not very representative of the rest of the album, but that was all I knew. A few years later I happened to hear "Over The Hill" one night and it blew me away. I went out and bought the album straight away, cursing those foolish young ears that had dismissed this timeless classic. These days hardly a week goes by without me giving this a whirl. From the title track through "I Dont Want To Know", "I'd Rather be the Devil", "Man in the Station" and the previously mentioned tracks, each ones a gem delivered in a beautifully hypnotic, lazy slur. Buy it or live to regret it.

Lovable rogue
I'll never forget the jaw-dropping effect John Martyn had the first time I saw him live. It was at Lancaster University, on his tour promoting the release of Solid Air... Martyn had come from a very British folk tradition which encompassed Pentangle, Fairport Convention, June Tabor, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn...and Nick Drake. Stablemate Drake had committed suicide eighteen months before, and the title track was dedicated to him. Martyn's earliest albums: London Conversation and The Tumbler showed promise, but were unremarkable... the next, Bless The Weather had some great songs...but nothing prepared the world for his next release, the groundbreaking Solid Air.

JM's live persona was very different from the sensitive artist he appeared to be on his albums...jokey and wisecracking...and perpetually flaunting a reefer...but whilst his brash breezy persona was a shock to the system, his music was sublime.

He was joined onstage by the mighty Danny Thompson on double bass, and between interludes of sparky banter, the pair worked their way through the album. They cut unconventional silhouettes on stage, Thompson's hang-dog stance over his upright bass, Martyn slouching on a chair with his guitar. I sat transfixed...the two musicians had an almost telepathic link. They were performing what can only be described as magic on stage. With elements of jazz, folk and psychedelia, the warm, dextrous, sinewy bass lines providing the perfect foil to the mercurial, heavily effected, almost funky, acoustic guitar. Martyn's unique vocal style had a depth and humanity that summoned up the kind of warm, fuzzy emotions that made you want to hug total strangers in the audience.

Martyn was also experimenting with a new box of electronica called an Echoplex. This analogue effects unit was used with long delay settings to allow him to set up complex cross-rhythms with his own guitar...phrases cascading over each other producing a psychedelic (blame the weed) glissando field of sound through which Thompson's nagging liquid bass bobbed and weaved ...mesmerising.

The next day, I rushed out and bought the album, half expecting to be let down, surely the magic they made onstage was mainly due to the adrenaline of playing live...but no...the magic was there alright. It made the hairs on my neck stand up all over again. There are more musicians on the album, Dave Pegg plays bass on some tunes, Dave Mattacks on drums, a number of Island session people...but it is Martyns songs, delivery, and verve on guitar, and Thompson's earthy invention that stays with you .

There really isn't a bad track here...from the blissfully-floating-on-air-in-slow-motion balletics of the title track ... to the pleasing simplicity of May You Never: a classic ode to friendship that never fails to make me well up. Solid Air has got to be one of the most atmospheric, singular, lovable albums ever made. Crammed from beginning to end with classic songs, I really can not recommend it highly enough, especially in it's remastered form. The album is Martyn at the height of his powers, and has all the qualities, and then some, of a timeless masterpiece.

One of the best singer songwriter's best album
This album is a sublime masterpiece. All of the songs have such an unbelieveably relaxing effect upon the listener. The mellowness of John Martyn's superb voice coupled with his talent on guitar and the sheer beauty of his songs make listening to this album an unforgettable experience. The album's title track sets the scene with its mellow "smoky corner of a bar" feel and the dreaminess stays with you throughout. Even the faster songs such as "Over The Hill" and "Dreams by the Sea" gently bring you back from your lethargy temporarily before submerging you again with quiet and reflective tracks like "Man in the Station", "Go Down Easy" and the classic "May You Never." The album is the zenith for a singer who is hewn from the same rock as Nick Drake and the earlier Bob Dylan tracks although he is a more tuneful and melodious singer than both of these. His songwriting here at least is as good as any singer songwriter you care to mention and his voice is as pure and crisp as that of Don McLean.

Listening to the album is a richly rewarding experience and whether you are familiar with it already or new to the genius of it's bittersweet melodies, it has never sounded better than it does in this remastered edition.