Article: The Best Version Of ... Nick Drake's Bryter Layter

[The Computer Audiophile]

Wow, thanks so much @JoshM! Of all the music I listen to every day. I'd never heard this album. Now, I can't stop listening. Fantastic article! I can only dream of writing this good. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

13 minutes ago, Jud said:

I've now read the very fine and enjoyable article, and wanted to mention someone who's noted in passing there: John Martyn. He's not that widely known, at least in the US, but had an absolutely prodigal career of about 40 years. I had the pleasure of seeing him live a very long time ago. He might be the second best acoustic guitar player I've ever seen after John McLaughlin, and I've seen Clapton among others. His unique vocals were better than the guitar playing as far as I'm concerned. They were half-jazz-scatted, half-sung, and a bit mumbled, especially in his mid to late career. One of my favorite albums is his No Little Boy from 1993, a reworking of some of his own material. (He liked reworking material, never doing one of his songs the same way twice, and he went through various labels, so his discography is, to put it politely, a bit disordered.)

 

If you find yourself liking Nick Drake, check out Martyn.

Absolutely! I love Martyn’s Grace & Danger album. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

12 minutes ago, JoshM said:

Thank you for the kind words everyone! I just updated the article to fix a few typos and grammatical errors that I missed in my submitted draft. (Many were caught by my lovely wife, who's a much better writer than me.)

 

@Jud, @The Computer Audiophile, and @Superdad, I completely agree with you about Martyn. My interview with Wood was much longer than printed here. We got into his whole career, including his work with Martyn and Fairport, among others. Part of that will go towards an Interview Series entry (which I hope to have ready soon), and part of it will go towards future TBVOs, including one on Solid Air (one of my all-time favorite albums).

 

@Superdad, I'd definitely like to do one or more Crimson and Tull albums. I'm a big prog fan. I suspect the thorough Steven Wilson reissues will remove some of the suspense, in terms of which version is best. But they'll still be worth a TBVO for recording history. I'm also a big Nina fan, too. (Her cover of "My Sweet Lord" on Emergency Ward is one of the most transcendent performances I've ever heard.)

 

I'm very jealous that you saw Martyn live at his peak, @Jud. Apparently he self-released Live at Leeds and signed most of the original pressings. I've always been on the lookout for one of those to turn up on Discogs, but I haven't come across one yet.

 

That book by Gabrielle that you mention @blue2 is a must-have for Drake fans. It's a really lavish product. For space reasons, I've leaned towards Ebooks lately, but Remembered for a While is one of those books that having a hard copy is a must.

Your wife catches grammatical errors that I not only missed, I had no clue they were errors. Way smarter than me. 
 

I didn’t know you were a a big John Martyn fan. Solid Air is a gem.