John Martyn: Solid Air [ISLAND RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

This Island reissue puts John Martyn's most celebrated album back on vinyl, recorded in eight days with Danny Thompson on double bass. Q ranked it the 67th greatest British album ever, and it sits in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

About the album

Solid Air takes its name from a schlieren photograph on the cover, a picture of air behaving like something you could lean on. It suits the music. John Martyn's fourth album, out on Island in February 1973, floats folk, jazz and blues together so smoothly you barely notice the joins.

The title track is a gentle, late-night letter to his friend Nick Drake, with Tony Coe's saxophone and Tristan Fry's vibes drifting around Danny Thompson's double bass. "May You Never" became Martyn's signature song (Eric Clapton covered it on Slowhand), while his take on Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman," retitled "I'd Rather Be the Devil," runs his guitar through an Echoplex until it sounds like weather. Fairport Convention's Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks drop in, and John Wood's warm production keeps everything close to the ear.

AllMusic calls it one of the defining moments of British folk, and Martyn played it in full for the Don't Look Back series in 2006. BBC Music said there wasn't a note out of place; we've checked several times, purely for quality control, and can confirm the finding.

Also at Kops: more John Martyn on vinyl · browse Folk

Tracklist

Listen

On Island (cat# 533 763-6), a reissue of the 1973 album.