Laurent wrote: > I've got that Stormbringer album on vinyl. If I recall it was John's 1st > album ever and IMHO quite disappointing for hardcore fans as we are.
As a teenager I went regularly to a couple of local folk clubs in my hometown of Oxford. A UK folksinger, Derek Brimstone, came through quite regularly and he used to do this song called 'Fairy Tale Lullabye' written by a young Scottish guitarist named John Martyn. I liked the song, so next chance, I caught a train to London to see him play - at a college gig in Leicester Square. He had released his first album, 'London Conversation' and his second, 'The Tumbler', was just about to be released. At the time he'd just got back from Woodstock in the US where he'd been recording early tracks for 'Stormbringer' with Levon Helm and others. I could not believe his guitar playing - -knuckledy crunch and slippledee-slee --and after, when I met him in the corridor, he ended up teasing me mercilessly when I asked him if he knew where the bog was. "THE BOG!!!", he bellowed in his then broad Scottish accent and curly hair - I was not long out of school and I blushed easily (haven't ever called it the bog since). I never saw him with Beverley, but loving both his first two solo albums, I welcomed her warm voice and feel, with his brilliant guitar style - and still really rate 'Stormbringer' - and not just for the happy memories it conjours up - especially his song, 'Woodstock' (no relation) I've seen John solo several times since then - some way too scary for a family list - most recently in a field in Suffolk a couple of years ago at a festival - he was doing his funky stuff and singing like a sax solo. PaulC
