"...Thanks For Coming
Up..."
This is not a new studio album but yet another live set from the UK's
"One World Records" Label who are dedicated wholly to JM reissues and
new releases. It's a wonderful performance for sure, but the awful news for
fans and newcomers alike is that it's only passable sound-wise.
UK released June 2008 - "The Simmer Dim" by JOHN MARTYN on One
World OW137CD (Barcode 604388710027) is a new Live 13-Track CD recorded at the
Garrison Theatre in Lerwick in Shetland in furthermost Scotland in 1980 (the most
Northerly town in Britain).
1. Over The Hill
2. Spencer The Rover
3. One World
4. Anna
5. One Day Without You
6. The Easy Blues
7. Couldn't Love You More
8. Big Muff
9. Certain Surprise
10. Dealer
11. Seven Black Roses
12. Outside In
13. May You Never
The date was 12 August 1980 and Martyn was still riding high on his
Island Records "One World" masterpiece from 1977. His audience was
now split between the folk output of 1968 to 1975 ("London
Conversation" and "Sunday's Child") and the new fans gained
through the ethereally, electrified "One World" album. Personally I
dug both - and his gigs of the time included music from each camp - making his
concerts a superbly rounded experience. But now to bad news...
The rear sleeve rather vaguely states that the 13-tracks are 'A Restored
Recording' - but of course offers no further explanation as to where it was
'restored' or from what. It isn't un-listenable by any means, but the best
approximation is that it's an audience tape and therefore loaded down with all
the inherent crap that accompanies such things - chatter, rumble, noise, the
music in the distance, interruptions between songs by people moving about and
shuffling things...(somebody's baby crying - literally!). The 8-page John
Hilarby liner notes rather conveniently don't mention anything about this...
But the real shame is that the performance is fantastic - exceptionally
good. Some songs like the wonderful opener "Over The Hill" and the
obvious but sweet finisher "May You Never" are just him on a lone
acoustic guitar, while "Big Muff" and "Dealer" feature his
famous electrified echoplex-guitar effect. The crowd shout at him and he
responds wittily and warmly - including one lady who literally stops the whole
gig to thank him for making his way to such an out of the way place in the fog
(her words are the title above). In fact the banter between him and the
audience adds extraordinary warmth to the proceedings. None of the drunken
arrogance that often marred his concerts of the time is evident here - Martyn's
in superb form - witty, sharp, and enjoying himself. Vocally he's right up
there too - easily imbibing each tune with really sweet vocal work. You would
imagine that the punters left that tiny gig that wonderful night feeling they'd
just witnessed a little bit of Scottish magic for a pittance (£3 a ticket!).
Two rarities turn up - "Anna" was recorded for the 1978 road
movie "In Search Of Anna" and receives a rare airing here. It's a
lyric/vocal version of "Small Hours", the 8-minute echoplex
instrumental masterpiece that finishes the "One World" album. It's
really lovely and has poignant lyrics about a kid in a "...dirty town,
where they like to put you down..." The second rarity is "Seven Black
Roses", a mid-60's folk instrumental he wrote to impress club owners and
Davey Graham fans - it's fast and complicated and receives genuinely impressed
reaction from the crowd when it ends on clever harmonic pings. Another
highlight is a truly lovely version of "Couldn't Love You More", but
towards the end it's unfortunately counter-pointed by a lengthy echoplex
version of "Outside In" from the 1975 "Live At Leeds"
privately pressed UK-only album. It goes from rocking out to lovely mellow
across its near 19-minute course - and as good as it is in places - it
seriously overstays its welcome and is self-indulgent.
As I say - the real shame is not that the sound is only passable - the
real kicker is that you'd kill to hear this great gig in decent fidelity; then
we'd be raving about one of his best live works and not calling on words like
'shoddy' or 'bootleg'...
Released in July 2008 ('before' he so sadly died in January 2009) -
there are two ways of looking at this release - it's exploitive and
deliberately deceptive or it's magic that deserves to be in the marketplace -
it's both really.
The title of the set takes itself from a weather anomaly; that far North
there are as little as 6 hours of daylight during Midwinter, which produces a
sort of surreal twilight the local Scots like to call "The Simmer Dim”.
It's a damn shame that this CD's sound doesn't match such a lovely thought...
In a two-to-three star kind-of-a way and at a very, very, very tight
pinch - it's recommended...
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