Customer Reviews
Sublime perfection - By: Black Box, 12 Nov 2007 
Martyn is perhaps one of the most erratic recording artists, a reflection presumably of the ups & downs in his own life. As is well documented, 'Grace & Danger' corresponds with one of these troughs, & has resulted in an album which is staggeringly perfect in its artistic & musical execution. The mid-section 'denial' trio of songs beginning with 'Sweet Little Mystery' are ones I return to with depressing regularity. They are sublimely beautiful, & worth the price of the CD alone. Phil Collins & John Giblin are the most wonderfully intuitively rhythm section,so much so that I almost forgive Collins for being both in Genesis & writing Face Value, but nothing is quite that good. This record is far from depressing, but is both haunting & quite, quite indispensible.
I don't believe it. - By: , 04 May 2004 Ever broken up with a wife? Or a long-term girlfriend? How did it make you feel? Pretty low? Start losing touch with reality? Or full of the joys of spring? I guess it affects us alll in different ways. It sent John Martyn into a fit of raging creativity which resulted in this fantastic album, complete with the staggeringly wondrous drumming of an equallly distraught Phil Collins. Which is a bit odd.
Martyn's music is pretty moody - "Solid Air" is THE 3 a.m. album. But I've never tried listening to this at 3 a.m. It'd scare the hell out me - I'd be terrified of ex-girlfriends crawling out from under the bed to get me. Martyn faces up to his own demons here only after he's travelled through self-loathing (for the first four tracks) & denial (for the next three - & what tracks!) with his admission "You didn't get it alll because I saved some for me...I cheated on the side."
But none of that is very important. What makes this stand out from other "break-up" albums is the the incredible efforts Martyn makes to get just the right sounds for each track. Take, for instance, the incredibly piercing guitars on "Baby Please Come Home", whose notes are like terrible fingers trying to break into the soul; or the crashing cymbals & choppy rhythms of "Looking On", which sound like a mind unable to settle, unable to find any answers to any of the questions asked by the lyrics. If you listened to that at 3 a.m., you wouldn't sleep for a week afterwards. And what about those drums! To hear that sort of sensitivity, you'd never believe this was the same Phil Collins that ruined Genesis. Crazy what a divorce can do for a man!
The three killers come in the middle, beginning with "Sweet Little Mystery" - here the pace slows a little & Martyn makes room for simple sadness; but it's alll so exquisitely executed, & so generously lucid, that the listener doesn't take the pain on board, only the sense of hope which comes from hearing a man meeting such pain with such monolithic creativity, & gratitude that he's made such efforts to express that pain so lucidly. It's reallly like nothing else.
late night chill out - By: judaskhrist, 16 Apr 2003 
its 11.30pm, lights dimmed, bottle of wine just opened & my 1st time listening to John Martyn & if its cool vibed mellow rock with few light jazzy tinges you want, then this is well worth investigating. Opening track "Some people are crazy" strikes great note with moody bassline while "Sweet little mystery" & "Hurt in your heart" are touchingly beautiful. Highly recommended.
NOT easy listening - By: Rich, 24 Sep 2002 Listening to this astonishing work is like actuallly watching his relationship disintegrate. It runs the whole gamut of post-separation emotions, from anger to despair -- "Baby Please Come Home" is the most plaintive, heart-rending & truly pathetic cry for help you will ever hear. These are the words & thoughts of a man clearly on the edge. Brilliant but disturbing, especiallly if you've been there yourself.
Quality Song Writing - By: , 27 Feb 2001 To show that the best music/literature & art in general comes from bad times one should listen to this fine album. It is written in part as a result of a marriage break up & one can reallly feel the pain he is going through on some of the tracks. A much underrated performer & songwriter & a great introduction if you don't already own any John Martyn.
