Comments on: Passing into Air: John Martyn

By: Donagh

Donagh — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:01:22 +0000

It is Hugh. Nice to see you back here. I was thinking of your recipe suggestions just the other day, and its good to see you’re still loving Loveless.

By: Hugh_C

Hugh_C — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:20:32 +0000

I remember going to hear John Martyn when I was a callow youth back in 78/79 probably in the Exam Hall in TCD, must’ve been around the time of One World or so, but I became a fan there and then and have remained so ever since. Wonderful voice, sad passing.

By: Austin Coll

Austin Coll — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:37:06 +0000

I always thought John Martyn was a bit ‘far out man’, usually played to death [ooops] by my fellow squatters, how anyone stayed awake was beyond me. If it was’nt for John Martyn I’d probably never have listened to Jackson Browne. His Grace & Danger album gave cause for thought tough. I saw him in what was then The Town & Country in Kentish Town in 1985, maybe 6. He had the full band up. The gig kicked off late, difficulties with setting up to record the gig it later turns out. When he eventually appeared he began by firing handfuls of joints into the crowd. Good start Johnboy .. What followed was extraordinary. It stands among the best I have/will ever see/hear. It was some band too; two keyboards, Foster Patterson & Jeff Page, who did a guitar solo on a Mirage Ensoniq most guitarists only dream of. The bass was Taef Evans, hot as a hoor on & off frets. If I recall right, & I do, Colin Tully, late of Stagalee, was on sax. It was a feast to the ears. Relentless quality & command of music. Martyn’s rendition of Angeline was chiiling, I think the bar stopped serving. It was so good I went back the next night for more, on which night I was jumped out of my shoes to see I was standing beside Sting. Yeah him .. he had a beard & he was taller than me, confusing until I figured beside Stewart Copeland everyone’s a midget. I kept the ticket stubs for years, evidence I’d been there & seen true greatness. All this happened a couple of years after I’d heard of him around Windmill Lane, where he had run away with Annie the manageress, who was a frosty nosed yeah right but when the recording was done & he was gone, so was she. No postcard, no note on the mirror, just gone. To see the faces you’d have thought Garret FitzGerald had died [or joined U2]. After or around about that Kentish Town gig time he followed with a few haymaker albums, Well Kept Secret but one. The ‘live gig later appeared on vinyl, one album when a triple album would have done more justice to that night. It was amazing. I can still see it, so powerful the delivery it stuck in my head forever. I’ve not yet taken in the idea he is dead. Large as life people make that a problem. I’ll leave it go with this one .. a sound engineer I knew, Niall Shorthall [don’t tell me he’s dead too][please] told me of another sound engineer friend of his, a big fan of Martyn’s & thrilled to be mixing him, dared to offer him a toot. Martyn looked at the Bohemian Blade, an old Dublin implement, chopping the dust con gusto & says ‘Hey you .. this is what you need’ &, producing a bowie knife the length of your elbow, scoops up the lot & revs up the lot in one go. We all have stories that strain the belief system but for such a character, such a man, it’s only right to know. To speak of him since was like asking if you knew The Bohemian in Phibsboro, so ignored & unappreciated it never existed. Now he is dead he’ll get a retro on BBC2absolutely, with the usual ‘expert’ shites telling us he was really playing World Music. Was he phuq .. Best gig I ever saw bar none. It was a performance like you cannot imagine, on some lines it seemed his head would explode with the passion of the voice. On May You Never everyone had a nice little singalong, probably cringing, England being that kind of place. By the time he got to John Wayne you knew where you were. That’s quite something for those times, any times really; that music let’s you know where you are. Seen MTV lately? Elvis either one]? The wife wonders will there be a ‘Tribute to .. ‘ gig, featuring Bono of course. I hope not. That would be the pot & the kettle gone arseways plus ultra.

By: Seán Báite

Seán Báite — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:20:21 +0000

A bed ? - I thought it was a freezer cabinet with springs…
There were a good few dacent bukes around it on the shelves though…
Civil Service is hell
Looks like a lot of people are going to be released from hell in the coming year thanks to those nice Sodgers of Destiny trying to keep up appearances for the IMF :-

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:42:09 +0000

Myself and Sean had to share a bed that night as well. It was all very John Candy and Steve Martin. Yeah I finished that job in 1997 and it took me another seven years to sober up. Yep. Civil Service is hell.

By: Donagh

Donagh — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:10:57 +0000

It was Dundrum indeed Sean, all the gin was drunk before anyone else got there, and I remember that too Conor, but had forgotten that it was only a month into your job at SW - funny that. I was also introduced to a lot of excellent music after shifting through Sean’s eclectic scrapyard. Though the memories that John Martyn conjures seems somewhat inadequate next to SOS’s.

By: Seán Báite

Seán Báite — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:26:09 +0000

“Eclectic” - well if yer man from Enniskillen had an Eclectic Ballroom - I must have an Eclectic Scrapyard

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:35:50 +0000

That house in Dundrum was the coldest, coldest house I have ever stayed in. If I remember correctly I was only about a month into my five year sentence as a clerical assistant in the Dept. of Social Welfare and whatever the reason for the party the next morning we were all standing around in the kitchen and I asked Min to ring in sick for me. Then we carried on drinking. Start as you mean to go on, I always say.
I never got into John Martyn, though. and I have to thank Sean for getting me into Richard Thompson. First time I heard “I want to see the bright lights tonight” I fell in love with it immediately. Still one of my favourite albums. In fact, two of my other fav. albums are down to Sean as well - namely Daydream Nation and Nation of Millions. Baite, thy name is eclectic.

By: Pat_H

Pat_H — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 20:29:03 +0000

A Man blessed with a golden voice and a certain style with guitar and technology, but could somewhat lacking in people skills and women skills more especially.

By: Seán Báite

Seán Báite — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:24:10 +0000

Eh, SOS, I might’ve said ‘English’ (on which I stand corrected) but did I ever say ‘fey’ ??…
To the detriment of my musical education, being born about a decade after yourself, I never had enough patience to trawl through early 70s folk-rock (whether English or not).
Only managed to interest myself in RT due to a couple of covers by your good selves.
Great couple of firsthand recollections though… and how did youse compliment the Town + Country soundman on the night in question ??