Following a short layoff, John Martyn returned with his 12th record (including
two with wife Beverley and a best-of collection), Grace & Danger.
The album, which finds Martyn fronting a tight quartet featuring Phil
Collins on drums and backing vocals, paints a stark, painful portrait
of Martyn and Beverley's crumbling marriage. Close friend and Island Records
president Chris Blackwell reportedly found the songs so personal and unsettling
that he delayed its release for a year. Martyn sets a somber feel right
from the start with the seductive opener "Some People Are Crazy"
and carries it, for the most part, throughout the record. The hushed,
tormented blues of "Hurt In Your Heart," the beautiful "Sweet
Little Mystery," and the heartbreaking closer "Our Love"
are a few of the highlights. With some of his clearest, strongest singing
in years and a collection of terse, honest originals, as well as a cover
of the Slickers' reggae classic "Johnny Too Bad," Grace &
Danger shows John Martyn at the top of his game.
(by Brett Hartenbach, All
Music Guide)
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