Description

Recorded at Sound Techniques Studio in Chelsea during 1972, John Martyns seminal album Solid Air was originally released in February 1973 and is now available again on vinyl.

He began as a folksy minstrel but seemed drawn to experimental, free form improvisation. Solid Air is where John Martyns love affair with effects and echoplex became serious. The title track, dedicated to his close friend Nick Drake, became a eulogy, while the breezy Over The Hillone of the greatest songs ever written about a train journeyis a feathery delight. May You Never and Dont Want To Know continued the simple, stoned ballad approach, although it is his interpretation of Skip James Id Rather Be The Devil, totally reshaped with hypnotic shifts, tidal echoes, and a slurred growl, which broods over the whole album. A record that remains Martyns youthful zenith.