Released - October 1973
Genre - Folk Jazz
Producer - John Martyn
Selected Personnel - John Martyn (Vocals/Guitar); Danny Thompson (Bass/Double Bass); Chris Stewart (Bass); Steve Winwood (Bass/Keyboards); Chris Wood (Flute/Horns); Remi Kabaka (Percussion); Keth Sathie (Tabla); Bobby Keyes (Saxophone)
Standout Track - Ain't No Saint
First of all, let me reassure on one point - I haven't suddenly decided to just make this blog all about John Martyn. He is a recent discovery of mine, but his sudden prevalence in the last few days is largely just down to the fact that he happened to release two great albums in 1973, which is where we're up to now. Unless I listen to Sunday's Child and really love it, chances are I won't cover him again until I get up to One World in 1977, so enjoy this while it lasts. So, Inside Out is the second (and, admittedly, lesser) of the two records Martyn recorded in that year, following on from the phenomenally successful Solid Air, which would become a cornerstone of British folk music. The temptation in the face of such sudden success is either to lazily replicate the formula in the hope of repeating the success, or to make an artistic stand and do something completely different that may polarise fans but will at least keep any sense of creative stagnation at bay. In a way, Martyn did neither - Inside Out is another folk jazz album very much in the same vein as Solid Air, and hardly represents a totally new direction, but it also sees him being far more experimental and innovative with the same musical territory than he had been previously, so perhaps it sees him trying to have the best of both worlds. For the most part, he gets away with it too. Although it's ultimately the least successful of the four Martyn albums I've heard at present, it's still undeniably bold and exciting and fresh and shows no signs of the man running out of ideas. Also, in its more sedate and traditional moments, it shows him as adept as ever at writing a beautiful and simple tune.
Musically, it found Martyn collaborating with a largely new collective of backing musicians, with the exception of his regular bassist Danny Thompson (among the new recruits were keyboardist Steve Winwood of Traffic). Surrounding himself with new people presumably kept Martyn feeling the need to innovate and to try new things rather than comfortably relying on people, and there are certainly moments on Inside Out that feel radically new for him, despite there being examples of precedents being set on his earlier work. "Fine Lines" is a deceptively traditional way to kick things off - it's a lovely, simple acoustic folk piece that harks back to Martyn's earlier work like Bless The Weather, and perhaps serves to reassure those new listeners who only bought the record because of Solid Air. Things quickly get weirder, though.
"Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Cherbhail" is an arrangement of a traditional folk piece that's rendered totally alien and weird by Martyn's heavily distorted guitar. It's not one of the album's high-points but serves as a nice appetiser for some of the other stranger instrumental moments to come. "Ain't No Saint" is perhaps the album's finest song, a frenetic piece of acoustic fingerpicking that starts almost menacing in its intensity before erupting into a gloriously urgent chorus. The almost-title track that is "Outside In" is a very different beast, however, with none of the immediate catchiness or brevity of that great song, not that this robs it of any of its power. It's an epic free-form jazz improvisation that sees Martyn experimenting with the Echoplex effect on his guitar more than ever before, creating a piece of urgent, endlessly shifting soundscapes over which he periodically scats or mumbles, climaxing in a monstrously bear-like roar of "It must be love" as the musicians reach exhaustion. "The Glory Of Love" is a pleasant but easy-to-dismiss novelty number, perhaps the only way to come down after something as epic and strange as "Outside In."
"Look In" is another insistent distorted guitar work, with Thompson's resonant bass anchoring things under Martyn's alien guitar scratching. "Beverley" is perhaps the album's low point, a forgettable piece of further distortion experiments and instrumental noodling that seems to further illustrate a point that's already been made, and far less well than the earlier attempts at exploring the same territory (Beverley Martyn herself must have been disappointed with how the track named after her turned out). Things pick up again massively with "Make No Mistake," which starts as a genuinely beautiful acoustic piece about hard living (Martyn's passionate rendition of the line "to be dead drunk on the floor, to get up and ask for more" is hair-raisingly powerful) that then extends into a lengthy free-form coda. The final two songs are more traditional, with "So Much In Love With You" being a particularly lovely piece that's particularly notable for its jazzy piano part.
Unfortunately, not one of the songs is anywhere close to the brilliance of some of the best songs on Solid Air, and it also lacks the pretty simplicity of Bless The Weather - there are moments where its iconoclastic spirit and desire to experiment and break new ground becomes wearing rather than exciting. But very little of the music is actively difficult to listen to ("Beverley" is the only moment where I mentally tune out), and much of it is actively really beautiful or powerful or, at its very least, representative of a sense of innovation that's to be hugely commended. It takes a special talent to continue pushing themselves into new territory at a time when they could have gone the easy route and gotten away with it, so for that at least John Martyn should be applauded. That he managed to produce a genuinely great album while pushing himself is all the better. The path from Inside Out to One World is one I'm yet to explore - Sunday's Child was to come in between in 1975, and I've yet to work out whether it's an album that's essential listening. But suffice to say, whether or not it was his very next release or the one after, further greatness was still to come.
Track Listing:
All songs written by John Martyn except where noted.
1. Fine Lines
2. Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail (Traditional, arranged by John Martyn)
3. Ain't No Saint
4. Outside In
5. The Glory Of Love
6. Look In
7. Beverley
8. Make No Mistake
9. Ways To Cry
10. So Much In Love With You
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