John Martyn

Bologna 1977

Never mind any hullabaloo elsewhere, here's a treat from Big O. Haven't come across a boot of John Martyn for a long time now so this is a welcome addition and fine fine recording worthy of anyone's collection

John Martyn - Bologna Spain 1977

Big O says 

Notes by nobody:
Here’s this, an essentially complete, apparently-largely-uncirculated and furnace-like hot night in Bologna… at first I thought it was mono but there are stereo aspects evident if you look at the waveforms and pay attention. From John’s asides between songs it is clearly above 100 degrees Fahrenheit onstage and how he keeps the guitars within a semitone of in-tune is a feat worthy of the musical Hercules that we all know he was, whether we heard him for the first time last week or last century. Other than dialing back some clipping issues in the electroacoustic songs, a few minor dropout repairs plus subtle little tweaks for continuity, I did nothing to further alter this… it seemed like leaving it unvarnished was the thing to do, raw and unadulterated like the man, born with his soul hanging out on his sleeve, you hear on the tape.
If anyone wants to remaster it further so as to noiseprint some more of the hiss out, you are welcome to do so as long as you leave the music up there around 22,500 Khz intact. It sounds to me like what the original notes say it is, a 1st generation feed direct from the desk onto what sounds to me like a chrome cassette situation, probably done by the soundman himself or an accomplice, with the digitization made probably by the original taper. Whether he used the original deck and/or adjusted the azimuth and all that stuff is not specified, but it sounds pretty damn fine in the cans and I am pretty darn picky about these things.
Anyway, celebrate always the life and extraordinary music of JM; roll up a cone, have a good time and share this with the people you love as its author, the likes of which we may never see again, surely would have wanted you to do

 If you are Martyn fans you will know about his sad sad descent into alcoholism and losing his limbs and eventually death. Some of his wonderful songs became family talismans although I had discovered John and Beverley on the compilation disc 'You Can All Join In' with their 'Go Out and Get it' and much later I wanted 'May You Never' at my brother's funeral for it always reminds me of him and he was a lifelong fan although Martyn outlived him.  Martyn came to college when I was at Art school and he knew one of the painting schools lecturer's sons so we got close hand experience and while the gig was the expected brilliant, nay incandescent, performance he turned out to be a coke fuelled arrogant twat to us sycophants. "Sorry"! Never meet your heroes, especially if they are coke heads!
Here he is the beautiful incandescent golden child genius however. . . . . .

 "You are just like a sweet crazy brother to me and you know I love you true,

 you never talk dirty behind my back and I know there's those that do"

Enjoy!

"May you never lay your head down without a hand to hold

may you never make your bed out in the cold"

 John and Danny Thompson and Kathy Mattea "May You Never"
for my brother Stephen Richard Swapp 1949 - 1987

 "It's yours go out and get it......... "