I met John at the 1981 Glastonbury festival when he was camping next to us - Beverley his ex wife was playing on the main stage and he'd come to see her. He was lovely to meet in such an unexpected situation and really sociable, he'd join us around our fire and share a few beers in the evening and his humour was so dry and understated, I'll never forget that weekend - Roy Harper, Gong, Hawkwind, Ginger Baker, John Cooper Clark and of course Beverley Martyn...those really were the days!
Actually I think I might have been at that Glastonbury? But my memory is a bit dodgy now! I thought it was late 70s, still a free concert?!!... But I was so wasted back then!!
WOWIE ZOWIE!! HOW AMAZING & SOUNDS LIKE " IT WAS MEANT TO BE" IM 66 HUNGARIAN GIRL LIVING IN MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA IVE TOTALLY ADORED HIS VOICE, HIS SPIRIT, HIS SOUL FOR MANY MANY YEARS! BLESSINGS AND SO MUCH LOVE FROM HERE TO THERE ~ IN OUR CRAZY WORLD TODAY!! 🌹🌿
Absolutely sublime! I've always loved 'Solid Air' since I bought the album back in about 1971, but this version beats the lot. Unhurried, relaxed and totally together. Danny really takes it somewhere in that beautiful bass solo and John's voice coming back in afterwards scores a 5 star dog's bollocks rating. Brilliant!
Three great versions of Solid Air : the Live at Leeds, the 8,38 mn version at Rockpalast in Germany in 1978, with the episode of string breaking. He don't panic, humor, keeps in touch with the audience and the string placed, he plays has if nothing had happened. And this probably the coolest version. We could think many moore...
Hard to imagine anyone stealing the show from Martyn, but the bass here is badass genius, and this may be Martyn's best vocal performance ever. The man kept getting better as he got older.
Easily the best rendition of this on You Tube, Compare with when he was younger.This is like a single malt allowed to mature to really know its properties.
My son is 9 months old and has listened to this every night as his sleep tune. It's just that GOOOOOOOOOOOD. Hopefully also giving him a solid music foundation to fall back on once he is over the normal rubbish.
This is the most heart-breakingly beautiful version of this beautiful song. John's voice brings tears to my eyes with it's profoundly expressed emotion and the bass playing of Danny Thompson is superb. What a sublime combination!! Unbeatable.
Maybe the most beautiful version of "Solid Air". John's voice is full of incredible tenderness and warmfull humanity. What a singer ! And Danny's accoustic bass is round and warm as well. Very very emotional versionl. RIP John, I love you as one of the best artists ever. Une des plus belles versions de "Solid Air". La voix de John est remarquable de tendresse et de chaude humanité. Et la contrebasse de Danny Thomson ronde et chaude à souhait. Très très émouvante version. Repose en Paix, John, je te considère comme l'un des meilleurs artistes.
The chemistry between these two is stunning, you cannot recreate that with modern studio tech however clever the tech … this is pure human musical emotion
It's been many, far too many decades now, since a guitar-playing friend told me/made me want to buy the album. I never appreciated just how devastatingly influential that John Martyn happened to be, influential opon acoustic guitarists at that time, until much more recently when the likes of Nic Jones, my friend Dave Ellis and Bridget St. John all turned out to have confessed to John as having brought them to wanting to master the instrument. Ironically, looking back, it was actually John's singing (and maybe, with that album's 'May you never', his songwriting) that was ultimately the most exceptionally distinctive and mesmerisingly unforgettable thing about that album to a non-guitarist. Yes, now I think about it, it might actually have been the track 'I'd rather be the devil' that was the thing that made me cough up a hard-saved handful of 1970s fivers on a WEM CopyCat echo unit that made my virtually unplayable Woolworths-era Fender Jazzmaster copy sound just a tiny bit less pathetic. So even though that voice and those words were actually the most enduringly memorable thing about Solid Air, I too, as a one-time wannabe but never-was guitarist, was ultimately led astray by what turned out to be things that might just possibly have been of lesser importance. Such was the magical and mysterious magnetism of this man's unique talents.
I’ve been watching this absolutely mesmerizing video of John & Danny over and over, and I still marvel at the depth and soul these two men are displaying. John was truly one of a kind.
I must have heard dozens of versions of this song over the years, but i think this one may be the best.. What an amazing combination John and Danny were!
Saw John twice at Leicester University, I think the first time was late 90's (98 maybe). He promised a request from the audience that he'd play Solid Air then went on to play a magnificent set without touching Solid Air. Second time I saw him about 2000 same place he played a lot of the Solid Air album including the title track, just said he wrote this about a guy he once knew. I feel whenever he played this he felt a lot of love & loss about Nick. If you listen to the words 'I love you, I love you I will be your friend I will follow you anywhere, even through solid air' that says it all. Miss you John, fantastic talent.
Fukin awsome. As the late, great "Big John" fans would say. Danny was also an incredible double bass player with John. Let us appreciate such greatness and hope that future generations will hear it. I don't think many of our young are as blind as we presume, or fear, from my experience. In fact many young ppl are very informed & tuned to this time period & music.
i never heard of john martyn before, but a week ago while in my car i was listening to bbc 2 on the radio and heard this song , wow what can i say i i had to find out who john martin was and why, i'd never heard of him before, any way its a fantastic song, i got alum from amazon solid air for £3.00 what a bargain. plz go get this album you won't be disapointed:)
Solid Air...........the LP that brought most students to John Martyn in 1973 & what an Album it was!!.......Good Old John!! WE remember him when he was 25!! & that's always how we will remember him..Young, Vital & scary!! I feel loss at this time but having met Him I also feel that his Music speaks for itself We will never replace John........He was a superb musician I only wish that I could be at his funeral to pay my last respects, Doug Reid
One world too. It’s sad not many of us bought into his later stuff. It’s like if we only bought hunky dory and Ziggy stardust and ignored him after. Money and reinvention. Sogh
Aye, takes me back to days at Edinburgh Uni late 70's...the excitement of a John Martyn concert. The creative genius can never be understated. According to auntie Kitty , he had the IQ of a genius...a dinae doubt it!
As a Yank who only got into these guys as a teenager in the late 1980s, I am very jealous of your good fortune to hear them in their natural setting. Fortunately, I've been able to catch Roy and various lineups of Gong over the past few years. I hate that I never got to see Martyn, but always will treasure his recordings. "Solid Air" and "Live at Leeds" are my favorites.
There's a video of Danny chatting from the Cat Club on RUclips. He talks about this performance in particular. Of all the versions of Solid Air that he and John did together, Danny reckons this is the one. Hard to disagree with him. Stunning. The version of May You Never from the first Transatlantic series, with Kathy Mattea, is amazing as well.
beautifulll, theres only 1 john, no one sings like that,............cept me,saw him at the free trade hall in manchester,70s, still one of the most mezmorising concerts , agree with u scooternerd,
Yes I was very lucky to see him live so many times and in better days before his health deteriorated, I actually had an original signed vinyl copy of his 'Live at Leeds' albumn which he produced and sold from his Hastings home which was only a few miles from me and I foolishly lent it to a 'friend' who never returned it ..it would be worth a small fortune now as he only made a few because the record company refused to release it! Grrrr, I still feel the pain since last seeing it in 1982. : (
Outstanding! Danny's Bass work during the break are just incredible. John Martyn was a genius no doubt about that, no one felt it or payed their dues like He did.
Sadly I'm only just discovering John Martyn (and I've been on the planet 21 years, I blame my parents). This is truly incredible music, his voice is utterly magical and isn't just a superfluous addition to his sublime guitar playing; he really understands the way in which his vocal melodies compliment what he's playing and work as a composite. I truly think that this is rare these days. Anyone have any recommendations where I can go next with his music? He has a very overwhelming back catalogue
This "ooooozes" John Martyn soul/blues...it's almost painful, in a good way. Don't be down about John's passing. He's getting serious amount of views since his body died...& he's fast becoming an immortal music legend. I think John is well pleased with his life work. Still, I miss the big hard man..who had a soul as gentle as "butterfly wings in a soft breeze..." Thanks John.
They ate, drunk and played together for a long time... RIP John, (I am John Wayne :-)) Danny made magic with John and also with the-other-Thompson Richard, on Mock Tudor. His bass playing on the live version of Cooksferry Queen on Later is... you just wanna kill him:-)
I used to absolutely love Roy Harper, I actually sat on the old pervs lap when I was seventeen after managing to sneak backstage when he performed at the 'London School of Economics' He was so letcherous but charming & I still remember his last words to me which were "See you in a dream or two" -really corny but I floated home on a cloud! I must have seen him about thirty times over the years, I even roller skated with him at Keele university's student union bar in about 1984/5 what a character!
t's a comment on the man's brilliance that my sense of loss is equally that I wont be able to hear any more new music from him as for the sadness that someone with a incredible body of work that I savour on a regular basis is no longer with us. While in many ways the news was not surprising because of the well known demons of his life - it did nevertheless make my eyes water. 'Bless the Weather that brought you to me Curse the Storm that takes you away ' That sort of says it for me..........
John Martyn publica el álbum Solid Air en febrero de 1973, dedicado a Nick Drake que se encontraba sumido en una profunda depresión (moriría de sobredosis el año siguiente). En este largo explora por primera vez el jazz, con la colaboración esencial de Danny Thompson al contrabajo, Tristan Fry al vibráfono y John "Rabbit" Bundrick con el piano electrónico, y por supuesto, el propio Martyn a la guitarra acústica.
The razors edge. I think he saw in Nick the way he could go and in the end did go. More than that I think he he saw a kindred spirit he wanted to sing for.
I met John at the 1981 Glastonbury festival when he was camping next to us - Beverley his ex wife was playing on the main stage and he'd come to see her. He was lovely to meet in such an unexpected situation and really sociable, he'd join us around our fire and share a few beers in the evening and his humour was so dry and understated, I'll never forget that weekend - Roy Harper, Gong, Hawkwind, Ginger Baker, John Cooper Clark and of course Beverley Martyn...those really were the days!
Chance encounters! Life's glittering gems!
Man what great recollections of a different time!
You lucky B*stard !!...
Yes okay ! I would love to have those personal memories!!!.....
Actually I think I might have been at that Glastonbury?
But my memory is a bit dodgy now!
I thought it was late 70s, still a free concert?!!...
But I was so wasted back then!!
WOWIE ZOWIE!! HOW AMAZING & SOUNDS LIKE " IT WAS MEANT TO BE" IM 66 HUNGARIAN GIRL LIVING IN MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
IVE TOTALLY ADORED HIS VOICE, HIS SPIRIT, HIS SOUL FOR MANY MANY YEARS! BLESSINGS AND SO MUCH LOVE FROM HERE TO THERE ~ IN OUR CRAZY WORLD TODAY!! 🌹🌿
I can imagine ... especially when one is younger ~ there are No Controls lighting Up in ones Brain telling You " This ain't a good idea mate!!" 😂
Only a quarter million views? Where is everyone? Wake up people and discover the beautiful genius of JM.
I could listen to this forever. This is taking music to another dimension.
Always come back to this
Absolutely sublime! I've always loved 'Solid Air' since I bought the album back in about 1971, but this version beats the lot. Unhurried, relaxed and totally together. Danny really takes it somewhere in that beautiful bass solo and John's voice coming back in afterwards scores a 5 star dog's bollocks rating. Brilliant!
Three great versions of Solid Air : the Live at Leeds, the 8,38 mn version at Rockpalast in Germany in 1978, with the episode of string breaking. He don't panic, humor, keeps in touch with the audience and the string placed, he plays has if nothing had happened. And this probably the coolest version. We could think many moore...
Danny Thompson. I love his bass playing. I still have the Solid Air vinyl LP.
John and Danny at their best, feeding off each other, it couldn't get any better could it. Thanks for posting these sessions. Makes me very happy.
Can anyone put into words how amazingly breathtaking this is?
Do we even have words in our language to describe such dynamic beauty?
Hard to imagine anyone stealing the show from Martyn, but the bass here is badass genius, and this may be Martyn's best vocal performance ever. The man kept getting better as he got older.
Danny Thompson of course…
That’s Danny Thompson. It was the first time they’d played together in 5 years. Amazing duo
They're old friends/sparring partners
They both raise each others game!!..
Two people totally in sync with each other a mesmerising performance,Danny Thompson i salute you
1:01 when John sings that baritone, almost Tibetan throat singing note it really is amazing!
John and Danny an truly truly exceptional pairing !!
Somebody tell me different?!!!...
Incredible ❤
Easily the best rendition of this on You Tube, Compare with when he was younger.This is like a single malt allowed to mature to really know its properties.
Beautiful and deeply moving!
My son is 9 months old and has listened to this every night as his sleep tune. It's just that GOOOOOOOOOOOD. Hopefully also giving him a solid music foundation to fall back on once he is over the normal rubbish.
and at 5 whats his music choice ? :)
@@popyasmurf Dexter Gordon?
Danny Thompson, Oh Man!!!!....
And of course John !!!.....
Absolute genius from two of the world's greatest musicians
Sometimes I think I should find some new music. But somtimes I find this new old music, and wonder.
So long ago so beautiful
This is the most heart-breakingly beautiful version of this beautiful song. John's voice brings tears to my eyes with it's profoundly expressed emotion and the bass playing of Danny Thompson is superb. What a sublime combination!! Unbeatable.
Maybe the most beautiful version of "Solid Air". John's voice is full of incredible tenderness and warmfull humanity. What a singer ! And Danny's accoustic bass is round and warm as well.
Very very emotional versionl. RIP John, I love you as one of the best artists ever.
Une des plus belles versions de "Solid Air". La voix de John est remarquable de tendresse et de chaude humanité. Et la contrebasse de Danny Thomson ronde et chaude à souhait. Très très émouvante version. Repose en Paix, John, je te considère comme l'un des meilleurs artistes.
The chemistry between these two is stunning, you cannot recreate that with modern studio tech however clever the tech … this is pure human musical emotion
Wow, this is just beautiful...really!
It's been many, far too many decades now, since a guitar-playing friend told me/made me want to buy the album. I never appreciated just how devastatingly influential that John Martyn happened to be, influential opon acoustic guitarists at that time, until much more recently when the likes of Nic Jones, my friend Dave Ellis and Bridget St. John all turned out to have confessed to John as having brought them to wanting to master the instrument. Ironically, looking back, it was actually John's singing (and maybe, with that album's 'May you never', his songwriting) that was ultimately the most exceptionally distinctive and mesmerisingly unforgettable thing about that album to a non-guitarist. Yes, now I think about it, it might actually have been the track 'I'd rather be the devil' that was the thing that made me cough up a hard-saved handful of 1970s fivers on a WEM CopyCat echo unit that made my virtually unplayable Woolworths-era Fender Jazzmaster copy sound just a tiny bit less pathetic. So even though that voice and those words were actually the most enduringly memorable thing about Solid Air, I too, as a one-time wannabe but never-was guitarist, was ultimately led astray by what turned out to be things that might just possibly have been of lesser importance. Such was the magical and mysterious magnetism of this man's unique talents.
This is absolutely brilliant, Rips me apart, fucking brilliant.
I'm here to hear Danny Thompson... SUBLIME!
just an incrediblel version of the eternal 'Solid Air" , one of the latest..
RIP John,I love you.
And a beautiful acoustic bass as well. Makes me fly
spellbinding talents both; together deep magic
I’ve been watching this absolutely mesmerizing video of John & Danny over and over, and I still marvel at the depth and soul these two men are displaying. John was truly one of a kind.
I must have heard dozens of versions of this song over the years, but i think this one may be the best.. What an amazing combination John and Danny were!
Absolutely amazing.. I'm so glad I saw both of them once preform together in '87.. R.I.P. John
The most beautiful song, performance, duet, experience ever.
My friend Boris is crazy about British "folk", i was all about punk,noise and simmilar stuff. Now,i'm Richard Thompson and Pentangle fan
Saw John twice at Leicester University, I think the first time was late 90's (98 maybe). He promised a request from the audience that he'd play Solid Air then went on to play a magnificent set without touching Solid Air. Second time I saw him about 2000 same place he played a lot of the Solid Air album including the title track, just said he wrote this about a guy he once knew. I feel whenever he played this he felt a lot of love & loss about Nick. If you listen to the words 'I love you, I love you I will be your friend I will follow you anywhere, even through solid air' that says it all. Miss you John, fantastic talent.
Fukin awsome. As the late, great "Big John" fans would say. Danny was also an incredible double bass player with John. Let us appreciate such greatness and hope that future generations will hear it.
I don't think many of our young are as blind as we presume, or fear, from my experience. In fact many young ppl are very informed & tuned to this time period & music.
i never heard of john martyn before, but a week ago while in my car i was listening to bbc 2 on the radio and heard this song , wow what can i say i i had to find out who john martin was and why, i'd never heard of him before, any way its a fantastic song, i got alum from amazon solid air for £3.00 what a bargain. plz go get this album you won't be disapointed:)
Solid Air...........the LP that brought most students to John Martyn in 1973 & what an Album it was!!.......Good Old John!!
WE remember him when he was 25!!
& that's always how we will remember him..Young, Vital & scary!!
I feel loss at this time but having met Him
I also feel that his Music speaks for itself
We will never replace John........He was
a superb musician I only wish that I could
be at his funeral to pay my last respects,
Doug Reid
One world too. It’s sad not many of us bought into his later stuff. It’s like if we only bought hunky dory and Ziggy stardust and ignored him after. Money and reinvention. Sogh
Aye, takes me back to days at Edinburgh Uni late 70's...the excitement of a John Martyn concert. The creative genius can never be understated. According to auntie Kitty , he had the IQ of a genius...a dinae doubt it!
Quintessential John Martyn. There's nothing like this.
Heartbreakingly beautiful. Two fantastic musicians at their best.
This is my favourite kind of John Martyn, his acoustic and DT's bass are perfect together, and his voice, oh his voice.
this bass solo brings me to tears
Really ? I thought it was ok .
Pure magic.
Two acoustic instruments and a voice . Like an orchestra.
As a Yank who only got into these guys as a teenager in the late 1980s, I am very jealous of your good fortune to hear them in their natural setting. Fortunately, I've been able to catch Roy and various lineups of Gong over the past few years. I hate that I never got to see Martyn, but always will treasure his recordings. "Solid Air" and "Live at Leeds" are my favorites.
Bless you, John. Thanks for being an inspiration. Now you can teach the angels the blues.
this just my soothed my soul..so beautiful
There's a video of Danny chatting from the Cat Club on RUclips. He talks about this performance in particular. Of all the versions of Solid Air that he and John did together, Danny reckons this is the one. Hard to disagree with him. Stunning. The version of May You Never from the first Transatlantic series, with Kathy Mattea, is amazing as well.
Don't these two just compliment each other to the most exquisite and most beautiful level...DT & JM,.......... wonderful...!!!
Perfect.
Have to agree john and danny are so bluesy, jazzy, folky together, john martyn's music comes from the soul
beautifulll, theres only 1 john, no one sings like that,............cept me,saw him at the free trade hall in manchester,70s, still one of the most mezmorising concerts , agree with u scooternerd,
Wise words fortunesfool. Great version of the classic. Go Down Easy John.
Thx for posting mnemonyxx.
this is just so wonderful♫
John . . . you have taken my breath away since I first heard you all those years ago. And you continue to do so. An amazing performance!
Yes I was very lucky to see him live so many times and in better days before his health deteriorated, I actually had an original signed vinyl copy of his 'Live at Leeds' albumn which he produced and sold from his Hastings home which was only a few miles from me and I foolishly lent it to a 'friend' who never returned it ..it would be worth a small fortune now as he only made a few because the record company refused to release it! Grrrr, I still feel the pain since last seeing it in 1982. : (
what an influence on my life,both danny and john,big big up for your sharing of beauty
thank you JM and Danny for beautiful music
Great artists like John dont die....they just become immortal.
It doesn’t get any better
Then I suggest you see your doctor as soon as you can. . . . .
what a truly beautiful version of this classic track,john and danny worked together so fluidly,rip curly haired boy
Beautiful, even more sorrowful and pained than the recorded version. A truly unappreciated genius.
How absolutely wonderful.
Outstanding! Danny's Bass work during the break are just incredible. John Martyn was a genius no doubt about that, no one felt it or payed their dues like He did.
The legendary missing Transatlantic Sessions Series Two is at long last available on DVD
Holy Jeebus, possibly the most soulful performance ever. Love you still JM
top tune ! love it :) dont know what else to say except it`ll always be a part of me :) :) . . . . john martyn you`ll not be forgotten :)
Solid gold.....Danny still givin it laldy....saw him at Transatlantic sessions last week
solid air blows me away.....
A big man and musican and big music!
Fantastic, sad about his dead!
Just awesome performances.
Sadly I'm only just discovering John Martyn (and I've been on the planet 21 years, I blame my parents). This is truly incredible music, his voice is utterly magical and isn't just a superfluous addition to his sublime guitar playing; he really understands the way in which his vocal melodies compliment what he's playing and work as a composite. I truly think that this is rare these days.
Anyone have any recommendations where I can go next with his music? He has a very overwhelming back catalogue
Couldn't agree more with Mouldytone's comments. Saw him on his last tour - still magical but this clip shows him at his magnificent best.
Genius at work!
never heard a better version of this before
and what a bass player ??????
Thanks John, for being there when I needed you. Eternally sorry now that I missed your last date at Barbican last november. Rest in peace, mate.
Just sublime.
Legends and a legendary song
This "ooooozes" John Martyn soul/blues...it's almost painful, in a good way.
Don't be down about John's passing. He's getting serious amount of views since his body died...& he's fast becoming an immortal music legend. I think John is well pleased with his life work.
Still, I miss the big hard man..who had a soul as gentle as "butterfly wings in a soft breeze..."
Thanks John.
great !!! super quality Thanks so much mnemonyxx
They ate, drunk and played together for a long time... RIP John, (I am John Wayne :-))
Danny made magic with John and also with the-other-Thompson Richard, on Mock Tudor. His bass playing on the live version of Cooksferry Queen on Later is... you just wanna kill him:-)
It doesn't get much better than this!
astonishing...LOVE IT!!
I used to absolutely love Roy Harper, I actually sat on the old pervs lap when I was seventeen after managing to sneak backstage when he performed at the 'London School of Economics' He was so letcherous but charming & I still remember his last words to me which were "See you in a dream or two" -really corny but I floated home on a cloud! I must have seen him about thirty times over the years, I even roller skated with him at Keele university's student union bar in about 1984/5 what a character!
perfection - thanks.
John surrenders himself to the music (which is usually the case) and he and Danny explore a universe or ideas and sound. Stunning!
I Love this song -----
God rest the man.
Never have a pair worked so well together.
so cool ! so sweet
Wonderful💚
Saw John a Danny play in Glasgow few years back...i was gobsmacked
Such good music.
perfection, perfect pair.
t's a comment on the man's brilliance that my sense of loss is equally that I wont be able to hear any more new music from him as for the sadness that someone with a incredible body of work that I savour on a regular basis is no longer with us.
While in many ways the news was not surprising because of the well known demons of his life - it did nevertheless make my eyes water.
'Bless the Weather that brought you to me
Curse the Storm that takes you away '
That sort of says it for me..........
Oh my word. Exceptional.
saw them last night, amazing
John Martyn publica el álbum Solid Air en febrero de 1973, dedicado a Nick Drake que se encontraba sumido en una profunda depresión (moriría de sobredosis el año siguiente). En este largo explora por primera vez el jazz, con la colaboración esencial de Danny Thompson al contrabajo, Tristan Fry al vibráfono y John "Rabbit" Bundrick con el piano electrónico, y por supuesto, el propio Martyn a la guitarra acústica.
The razors edge. I think he saw in Nick the way he could go and in the end did go. More than that I think he he saw a kindred spirit he wanted to sing for.
the Greatest Video, please come back to New Zealand,it has been far to long!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks for this - an under appreciated genius, er..two in fact.
Johns soul is coming out as always simply the best love it to thanks for your great comment