John Martyn One World CD - Import

Readers should get one matter out of the way immediately -- this rather mysterious and cryptically annotated double-CD set from Prism Records is not comprised of tracks from John Martyn's 1977 Island album of the same name. Rather, according to its own very small-print annotation, it assembles 27 tracks recorded at Woodhall in 1994, and that's as much hard information as there is here about this set's origins. This is Martyn at his most musically diverse, with various progressive and world music influences, and even elements of soul woven throughout his familiar folk-rooted style, presented here with full amplification and (mostly) a small band accompaniment -- only "John Wayne," the closer for the set, gets into a really big-scale sound at its end. The content is all well-recorded and offers material ranging across a couple of decades of Martyn's history, encompassing several stylistic phases, but one wishes there were more information about the actual recordings and their origins and circumstances -- and especially about the live version of "Easy Blues" late on Disc Two (which, one assumes, is the same cut that opens the John Martyn Live CD from Artful), the parent company of Prism Platinum. As to the musical content, the fact that "Big Muff" and "One World," as well as "Dealer," which are spread all over these two CDs, also happen to be the finest pieces on this set -- though it should be said that everything here is worth hearing -- also speaks to the debt that this collection (whatever its origins) owes to the Island One World album. ~ Bruce Eder

After Sunday's Child, John Martyn took an extended break from studio recording. By late 1975, feeling he was close to going "completely round the bend," he had also stopped touring. To put some distance between himself and the pressures of the business and to recoup his creative energies, he went to Jamaica. There, after meeting dub producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, Martyn sat in on sessions by other artists and contributed to Burning Spear's Man in the Hills. Martyn returned to the U.K. reinvigorated and began recording One World in summer 1977. Produced by Island boss Chris Blackwell and featuring Dave Pegg, Morris Pert, John Stevens, Danny Thompson, and Steve Winwood, among others, One World combines the experimental tendencies of 1973's Inside Out and the more conventional song structures of Sunday's Child. While tracks like "Couldn't Love You More," "Smiling Stranger," and "Certain Surprise" display some continuity with the rootsy, jazzy folk-rock of Martyn's previous albums, this record has a stronger commercial feel than his earlier work, crossing over into pop territory. Especially memorable in that regard is the electrified swagger of "Big Muff," a number co-written by Perry that would become one of Martyn's live staples. But One World's understated explorations of mood are even more compelling; the experimental nature of dub -- of which Perry was a legendary exponent -- clearly resonated with Martyn. Since the early '70s, he had displayed a keen ear for sonic manipulation, using effects like Echoplex and a phase shifter to craft drifting, hypnotic textures. Here, the lazy title track and the synth-pulsing "Small Hours" exemplify Martyn's knack for mesmerizing, smoky grooves. Those looser, atmospheric numbers notwithstanding, most of One World signals the more slick pop direction John Martyn would take in the '80s starting with Grace & Danger (and with increasingly mixed results). [In 2005, Island released a Deluxe Edition of One World that included five live tracks and 10 alternate versions of songs from the initial release.] ~ Wilson Neate

Digitally remastered and expanded two CD Deluxe Edition of the British singer/songwriter's 1977 album including a bonus CD containing rare studio and live material. Although Bless The Weather set his '70s template and Solid Air was his first masterpiece, One World is arguably John Martyn's most important album. Its themes strike a unThe Wire (p.43) - "Martyn practically breathes through his guitar, squeezing stained-glass chords through his tenderly applied volume pedal."