“No Little Boy” by JOHN MARTYN. A Review of his 1993 Re-Recordings Compilation Now Given A New Lease Of Life in 2008 by One World Records.

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"…What A Time We Had…”

The 1993 compilation “No Little Boy” has a convoluted history and this 2008 reissue of it requires some explanation too.

After the well-received but relative commercial failure of the “Piece By Piece” album in 1986, John Martyn found himself dropped by Island Records and without a contract. He then signed to a new UK label - Permanent Records - who issued two albums of new material - “The Apprentice” in 1990 and the wonderful “Cooltide” in 1991.

However, away in the USA at the time (and without his knowledge or permission), Permanent took a swathe of in-progress re-recordings of his old Island year’s material and naughtily released it as the compilation “Couldn’t Love You More” in October 1992 on PERM 9. Martyn was understandably furious and denounced it. But in a strange quirk of fate, the public largely embraced it (charted at 65) - and the album even opened up a whole new audience for him.

Back in the UK and determined to do it ‘properly’, he put out this 2nd compilation of re-recordings on PERM 14 in July 1993 and called it “No Little Boy” (a lyric from “Ways To Cry”). Seven of its 13 songs were NOT on the “Couldn’t Love You More” compilation and some of the other ‘duplicate’ titles turned out to be radically different versions too (even though it didn’t say this on the artwork)…

Which brings us to this March 2008 reissue; One World OW128CD is the original 13-track compilation upped by three bonus songs, the music is newly remastered and the booklet expanded and annotated better. It breaks down as follows (78:35 minutes)

1. Solid Air (originally on "Solid Air", February 1973)
2. Ways To Cry (originally on "Inside Out", October 1973)
3. Could've Been Me (originally on "Well Kept Secret", 1982)
4. Don’t Want To Know (originally on "Solid Air", February 1973)
5. Just Now (originally on "Bless The Weather", 1971)
6. One Day Without You (originally on "Sunday's Child", 1975)
7. Sweet Little Mystery (originally on "Grace & Danger", 1980)
8. Pascanel (originally on “Glorious Fool”, 1981)
9. Sunday’s Child (originally on "Sunday's Child", 1975)
10. Head & Heart (originally on "Bless The Weather", 1971)
11. Fine Lines (originally on "Inside Out", October 1973)
12. Bless The Weather (originally on "Bless The Weather", 1971)
13. Man In The Station (originally on "Solid Air", February 1973)

BONUS TRACKS
14. One World (originally on “One World”, 1977)
15. Rock, Salt And Nails (see Notes below)
16. Hole In The Rain (a REMIX of a track originally on “Cooltide”, 1991)

Notes: 2, 3 and 7 feature PHIL COLLINS on duet vocals, 2, 3 and 14 feature DAVID GILMOUR of PINK FLOYD on Guitar while LEVON HELM of THE BAND provides duet vocals on “Rock, Salt & Nails” (a cover version written by BRUCE ‘UTAH’ PHILLIPS)

Although the booklet doesn't advise who remastered the tapes, the website seems to say it was done by DALLAS SIMPSON – it’s far better than the 1993 version I’ve had all these years.

As you imagine, some of the re-recordings work and some don't. Some to my ears – are incredible – just as lovely as the originals, but more soulful (even if they are a bit over produced in places). Special mention should also go to PHIL COLLINS for his heartfelt vocal contributions - especially on "Ways To Cry" - it's a track where both their hurting personal lives seem to seep through their voices.

I derided the versions of "Head & Heart" and "Man In The Station" on the “Couldn’t Love You More” compilation, but the versions here are much better. “Fine Lines” is truly beautiful – my personal favorite - a fabulous version, while “Pascanel” gets a superb update with the girly vocals of Shaun Christopher and Rene Stewart and the piano work of Fred Nelson. The bonuses are exceptional too – the new version of “One World” is wicked as is the remix of a song I never tire of - “Hole In The Rain”. But ‘the’ piece is “Rock, Salt & Nails”, a cover version, which sees Martyn duet with Levon Helm of The Band to amazing effect – so, so good.

Both collections have been re-packaged to buggery by other labels since then - which hasn't helped - so fans have all but ignored them or forgotten them entirely. Personally - John Martyn could fart in a bottle - and I'd still want to hear it. Which is one of the reasons for this review - this lovely and muscular 2008 REMASTER of that 2nd set has finally brought out just how good many of these re-recordings were and still are. And I would urge fans and newcomers to give these re-makes another chance.

Recommended.

PS: see also reviews for the 2007 One World remasters of "The Apprentice" (1990) and "Cooltide" (1991), “Couldn't Love You More" (compilation from 1992), “Solid Air” DELUXE EDITION from 2009 and the live set "The Simmer Dim" (2008)

“The Simmer Dim” by JOHN MARTYN. A Review of the June 2008 One World Records CD.

"…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.

It was recorded at the Garrison Theatre in Lerwick in Shetland in furthermost Scotland (the most Northerly town in Britain). 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.

To the bad news first…

The rear sleeve rather vaguely states "A Restored Recording" but of course offers no further explanation as to where it was 'restored' or from ‘what’. It isn’t unlistenable by any means, but the best approximation is that it’s an audience tape – it’s 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… 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 using 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 tight pinch – it’s recommended.