John Martyn - Dead On Arrival (1980)

Iain David McGeachy, known professionally as John Martyn, was born on 11th September 1948 in New Malden, Surrey, England, to a Belgian Jewish mother and a Scottish father, and began his musical career when he was 17, being mentored by renowned folk singer Hamish Imlach. He played a fusion of blues and folk, resulting in a distinctive style which made him a key figure in the British folk scene during the mid-60's, and he signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in 1967, releasing his first album 'London Conversation' the same year. This was soon followed by 'The Tumbler', which moved towards jazz, and by 1970 Martyn had developed a wholly original and idiosyncratic sound: acoustic guitar run through a fuzzbox, phase shifter and Echoplex. This was first apparent on 1970's 'Stormbringer!', which was written and performed by Martyn and his then-wife Beverley, who had previously recorded solo as Beverley Kutner. Their second collaboration was 'The Road to Ruin', also released in 1970, but then Island Records felt that it would be more successful to market Martyn as a solo act, and so this was how subsequent albums were promoted, even though Beverley continued to make appearances as a backing singer, as well as recording as a solo artist herself. In 1973, Martyn released the album 'Solid Air', with the title song being dedicated to close friend and label-mate Nick Drake, who died from an overdose of antidepressants 18 months after the album came out. Following the commercial success of 'Solid Air', Martyn quickly recorded and released the experimental 'Inside Out', an album with the emphasis on feel and improvisation rather than song structure, but for 1975's 'Sunday's Child' he moved back to his more popular song-based style. In September 1975 he recorded a live album 'Live at Leeds', but as he was unable to persuade Island Records to release the record he had to resort to selling individually-signed copies by mail-order from his home in Hastings. 
After 'Live at Leeds' Martyn took a sabbatical, including a visit to Jamaica where he spent time with reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, and in 1977, he released 'One World', including a collaboration with Perry on 'Big Muff'. Martyn's marriage broke down at the end of the 1970's, resulting in a very dark period in his life, but out of that came the album 'Grace and Danger', released in October 1980. The release of the album had actually been held up for a year by Chris Blackwell, who, being a close friend of both John and Beverley, found the album too openly disturbing to issue. Only after intense and sustained pressure from Martyn did Blackwell agree to release the album, and in the late 80's Martyn actually cited 'Grace and Danger' as his favourite record, saying that it was 'probably the most specific piece of autobiography I've written. Some people keep diaries, I make records'. During the recording sessions for most of his albums there have been tracks laid down that didn't make the final cut, and so this collection starts with a cover of 'She Moved Through The Fair' which was left off his debut album, and carries on with some 1969 demos with Beverley which didn't make 'Stormbringer!', the Australian-only single 'Anna', taken from the score of the 1978 Ebsen Storm movie 'In Search Of Anna', and various out-takes from his other albums up to 'Grace And Danger'. Martyn died from acute respiratory distress syndrome on 29 January 2009, having been in poor health for a while due to his life-long abuse of drugs and alcohol. He was survived by his partner and his two children. Following his death, Rolling Stone lauded his 'progressive folk invention and improvising sorcery', and it's undeniable that he invented a unique form of folk music for which he will always be fondly remembered.  

Track listing

01 She Moved Through The Fair (previously unreleased 1967)
02 Here I Am Now (previously unreleased 1969)
03 One Of Those Days (demo 1969)
04 I Don't Know (demo 1969)
05 Ellie Rhee (previously unreleased 1975)
06 Black Man At The Shoulder (previously unreleased 1977)
07 Anna (Australian only single 1978) 
08 Small Hat (previously unreleased 1980)
09 Running Up The Harbour (previously unreleased 1980)
10 Dead On Arrival (previously unreleased 1980)
11 After Tomorrow Night (previously unreleased 1980)
12 Lilo Blondino (previously unreleased 1980