BBC 4's documentary on John Martyn - "Johnny Too Bad" - full 60 min version

Riaan-Combrink

I was so overwhelmed to find this. Its a fantastic watch. I had read about it for some time - and now BBC appears to have allowed GoogleVideos to host the full program - all one hour of it. Even if you're not a fan - watch it!!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1363850505352360278

Here's the BBC's blurb as an intro:

ORIGINALS: JOHN MARTYN - JOHNNY TOO BAD

John Martyn is one of Britain's originals; a musician whose distinctive, drawling vocals and virtuoso guitar playing have been an inspiration to household-name musicians for decades.

This intimate documentary follows John Martyn as he emerges from a near-fatal encounter with "a dark cow on a dark night", a "hangman's fracture", infected cysts... At the beginning of filming, he's recording a new album in his front room and facing an operation to have his right leg amputated below the knee. With extraordinary behind-the-scenes access, we spend time with him cooking, drinking, recording, trying on silly hats (and latterly his new prosthetic leg) as he makes the painful progress towards getting back on the road.

Along the way, we dip into the past to learn more about his career - from London's folk clubs in the 1960s, to his best-loved album Solid Air, to his continuing musical experimentation.

The programme includes extracts from the following performance archive:

May You Never (1973)
Couldn't Love You More with Danny Thompson (1977)
Outside In (1973) with Danny Thompson
Make No Mistake with Danny Thompson (1973)
Small Hours (1978)
Sweet Little Mystery with band (Alan Thomson, Danny Cummings & Max Middleton) & Phil Collins on drums (1981)
Hurt In Your Heart with band (Foster Patterson, Alan Thomson, Jeff Allen, Danny Cummings) from A Little Night Music (1981)
Johnny Too Bad with band (Foster Patterson, Alan Thomson, Jeff Allen & Danny Cummings) on A Little Night Music in 1981
Couldn't Love You More on Jock and Roll (1982)
Gun Money with band (Ronnie Leahy, Alan Thomson, Jeff Allen and Danny Cummings (1982)
Step it Up with band and backing singers (Emma Heywood, Ernestine Pearce, Jerry Underwood, Alan Thomson, Miles Bould, Spencer Cozens) on Later With Jools (1996)

Unless otherwise indicated the performances are taken from The Old Grey Whistle Test.

And reviewer Alison Graham:

John Martyn: Johnny Too Bad 11.35pm BBC2

When one of the contributors to this absorbing profile, first shown on BBC4, says of John Martyn's music that "it stops the world" , you know just what he means. There's something about a John Martyn song that takes the listener to a rather lovely place...
But, in stark contract, Martyn's life has been blighted by difficulty and tragedy. His first marriage ended badly, his second wife was killed in a car crash, he's been dogged by ill health, and last year surgeons removed part of his right leg below the knee.

This affecting and revealing documentary follows Martyn at home in Ireland as he prepares for surgery, and afterwards during his recovery towards a comeback gig and another tour. Despite his surgery, he's determined to get back on the road.
He's an engagingly straightforward man who talks candidly about his extraordinary life and its various struggles and successes. After decades of hard living, he's now living peacefully as a Zen Buddhist with his girlfriend.

Many of the people interviewed here -band members past and present, and those whom Martyn has influenced, including Phil Collins, Ralph McTell and Beth Orton- have fond things to say about this complicated man. But his first wife, Beverley Martyn, herself a singer, saw his dark side when his excessive drinking put paid to their marriage. She comes up with perhaps the most revealing comment of the program: "Lots of people love John Martyn, but hate him as well."

If you'd prefer to concentrate on the music rather than the man (though it's hard to see how you can separate the two), there are vintage clips here from the Old Grey Whistle Test and footage of concert appearances.
It's a well-rounded and affectionate portrait, full of those gorgeous, bittersweet songs that wrap themselves around your heart.

Alison Graham

Bob-Dubery

Three things

1)The BBC has some priceless stuff in the archives. I'm pleased that they're making it available these days, relicensing to record labels or whatever. They're not just sitting on all of this.

2)Danny Thompson is right on when he talks about a “special relationship”. Danny has played with a lot of people, many of them great artists, but there was a special magic that he had with Martyn that he never had with anybody else.

3)The more I listen to Martyn the more I think the real magic is in the vocals. The timing, that slur, the soul... I got into him via the solo on "Johnny Too Bad" which I thought was one of the most perfect things I'd ever heard, but I think it's the vocals that keep me hooked.