More so than live CD’s and DVD, what ties this whole collection together is the extensive sleeve notes booklet written by John Hillarby. He knows his subject well. Historical details are doled out, snippets from interviews gone by and anecdotes by others are present and correct. a b c John Neil Munro, Some People Are Crazy— the John Martyn Story; ISBN 978-1-84697-058-0, Polygon, 2007 p.125 Self-penned, bar Foster Patterson’s Patterns In The Rain, The Apprencice itself was superior to his preceding Island output, without quite supplanting the magnificence of his glory days. The synth wash dates it, but Martyn’s vocals are clear, and the songs are carefully crafted. He’s unusually upbeat in Live On Love, but he’s quietly angry on Income Town and Upo glides serenely, propelled by his trademark hidden, nagging melodics.

UK | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Songwriter Martyn dies, aged 60". BBC News. 29 January 2009 . Retrieved 16 August 2015. If 1990s The Apprentice was a landmark for John Martyn, it was primarily because Island Records’ rejection of it even after he had re-recorded it at his own expense marked the end of his two-decade tenure at the label. With hindsight, it’s hard to fathom why they passed on a record later seen as a return to form after some decidedly uneven 80s output, but John Hillarby’s liner notes for this three CD plus DVD clamshell box reissues are revealing. Apparently,the label had designs on re-styling Martyn as the next Chris Rea – a fool’s errand, really, given his notorious recalcitrance and reputation as a stylistic moving target.John signed to Permanent Records and The Apprentice was released. A confident and fresh sounding album of varied material from the fierce funky disco beat in Deny This Love with crashing synthesizers and samples, to the more understated instrumentation on The River, Send Me One Line, Look At That Girl and the vastly underrated The Moment (only available on CD having been left off the vinyl release). Look At The Girl is written about John’s now grown up My Baby Girl Mhairi and Income Town, apparently live from the mythical The Green Banana in Toronto is in fact dubbed. Typical of the man’s sense of humour! The only child of two singers who separated shortly after his birth in 1948, Martyn was raised by his grandmother and his father in urban Glasgow, spending his annual holidays touring the waterways of Southern England with his mother. Striving to be ‘different and Bohemian’, the adolescent Martyn took up the guitar, and was noticed by Hamish Imlach, who taught him much and showed him the possibilities of combining traditional and modern approaches to music whilst sounding contemporary. To celebrate Martyn’s 20th anniversary as a performer Island began 1986 with the release of “Classic John Martyn,” hailed as the first commercially available Compact Disc single. It featured a new ballad ‘Angeline’. Sadly the single failed to give Martyn the hit that Island were looking for. As a child he started with the clarinet, but soon changed to percussion. “My path as a percussionist was set when I was given three congas from close family friend Dizzy Gillespie, together with strong words ‘Go for it’ from the wonderful and greatly missed Gil Evans. I went for it.”

To mark Martyn's 60th birthday, Island released a 4 CD boxed set, Ain't No Saint, on 1 September 2008. The set includes unreleased studio material and rare live recordings.One World One John (John Martyn & Band recorded mostly at Vicar Street, Dublin in 1999, 2000 & 2003) (February 2012) John Martyn's final recordings to be released". The Guardian. 27 April 2011 . Retrieved 19 July 2020. Edwards, Mark (15 May 2011). "John Martyn Heaven and Earth". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 19 July 2020. Angeline" / "Tight Connection to My Heart" / "May You Never" / "Certain Surprise" / "One Day Without You" (Island 12 IS 265, February 1986) Review: Grace & Danger, A Celebration of John Martyn, Celtic Connections 2019". The Fountain. 1 February 2019 . Retrieved 25 June 2020.