Live

Rip It Up, Issue 67, 1 February 1983, Page 18

Live

Peter Thomson

John Martyn Mainstreet, Jan 31. In 1977 John Martyn, speculating about future directions for his music, commented: "I'd like the nasty bits to get nastier and the gentle bits to get more gentle." In 1983 he looked back on that prediction as "definitely accurate." If his recent records have, perhaps, veered more towards the gentle particularly considering the progressively lush productions then his Mainstreet performance was definitely nasty. The once acoustically gentle 'Bless The Weather' and 'Solid Air' received fierce electric reworkings, echo-plex full frontal. And delicate instrumental colourings of recent ballads such as 'Could've Been Me' were reduced to harsh primaries by the power trio treatment. Tougher numbers, especially in the prolonged guitar solos, at times approached the grossness of heavy metal. 'Didn't Do That' lost its exhilarating swing (if not its pace) while 'Johnny Too Bad', always a mean one in Martyn's hands, had every last vestige of lilting reggae beaten flat. There were exceptions 'Glorious Fool' utilized space and subtlety but on the whole the sound was thick, raw and angry. Martyn's vocals mostly growled, rarely purred.. A murky sound, overall was further deteriorated by Martyn's feedback problems early in the set. Consequently the lovely floating basslines of Allan Thomson were often swamped. John Martyn has expressed himself well pleased with his current performance approach. That some of his fans did not feel so happy after this gig is, I guess, our problem.