John Martyn: Serendipity - An Introduction to John Martyn

I had a couple of false starts getting to know John Martyn's music. At the start of the '80s I remember Phil Collins singing his praises. That may have had something to do with him being on the bill for the Peter Gabriel/Genesis reunion in Milton Keynes in 1982, and I was quite keen to see him there. But we arrived late and missed him (I think we arrived half way through Talk Talk). I asked my friend Jim what he'd been like and was told, "not the right kind of music for listening to in the rain" — it rained without pause that day. Then maybe six or seven years later, Martyn played in a large tent on Devonshire Green in Sheffield. I can't remember the details, but there was some logistical screw-up that meant I got there after he started and had to stand more or less behind the tiered seating. Not the right kind of music for listening to when you're hassled and uncomfortable.

Hence it was more than a decade later that I got this compilation (£7 from Fopp). And then it got swamped in the prodigious amount of CDs I was buying at the time. I've listened to it afresh this time, and probably more closely than before. The compilation shows off the different styles — of production, arrangement and delivery — that Martyn has made his own.

But somehow I felt this variety was undermining my enjoyment of the songs, make it hard for my ears to settle. So I went to Last.fm and was delighted to find how many of Martyn's albums are available for full on-demand streaming. (God, I would have died to have this service twenty years ago, but that just makes me all the more grateful now.) I had a listen to Bless the Weather and the '60s album London Conversation, and that confirmed my hunch.

Great, just what I need: another set of albums to add to my "requires more listening" list.

MusicBrainz entry for this album Wikipedia entry for this album Rate Your Music entry for this album Listen to this album in full at Last.fm