over the hill - john martyn (1948 - 2009)

john martyn died yesterday. he made a lot of records. some of them contain some of the warmest, gutsiest and beautiful music i've ever heard. others aren't very good, and some aren't even half as good as those. i saw jm play live a lot. some gigs were brilliant, but most were indifferent with fleeting moments of greatness; some were just awful. but even if the gig was crap at least you took some comfort from the fact that he was still alive. he was by all accounts a pain in the arse to have to deal with (a self mythologising stoner drunk; unpredictable, occasionally violent, but posessed of an irresistible boyish charm). but he still made those bloody gorgeous records that seemed to fill my ears with warm honey (not literally, you understand. don't try it at home). those records that i've been listening to since the Britannia Music Club sent me a copy of 'one world' by mistake when i was fifteen.

the last time i saw him i left before the end of the gig. it was the first time i'd ever done that in all those years. it's probably a bit sentimental to say it but i wish i hadn't done that now.

i was going to write more but i think my friend colin's post does the job a bit better...goodnight john, and thanks for the music, you mad old bastard.