I'm at the en of a marathon listening session upon which I embarked when I returned (not too worse for wear) from the pub at 21.00. To round off the evening I revisited John Martyn's seminal album, One World on CD (deluxe edition).
For those that know John and his work, you can skip this bit.
This lifted directly from the liner notes:
" For the new album sessions, Chris Blackwell was keen to assemble a a crack studio team around Martyn, and decided to record it at his country house, Woolwich Green Farm in Theale in Berkshire. The location was to prove magical, it being an old farm house that ended up in the middle of a flooded gravel pit, crossed by a small driveway surrounded by water..... 'The possibility of the place' meant that an intricate system was set up with a live feed across the lake, where the sessions could be recorded in the open air, picking up the full ambience of the surroundings .
"We were all firmly out of it" Martyn recalls. " I don't know who came up with it - I remember thinking, this is F**king wonderful, recording from a speaker a half a mile away across a load of water. It was just a cool thing to do. That was ambience. They talk about ambient music now - that was real ambience"
"It was recorded at 3 a.m. in the morning on the lake", Chris Blackwell said in the BBC documentary Johnny Too Bad. " The main railway line from London to Bristol goes across the land and there were all these geese on the lake, which you can hear at night. John played these slow chords which just hung there for ages"
To hear the sound of these geese and the water lapping and , well, atmosphere throughout the recording, punctuated by Martyn's whispered vocals and waves of Ecoplexed electric is mesmerising. Steve Winwood's discreet Moog, Morris Pert's (from Brand X) simple percussion and Tristan Fry's in fussy vibes, all underscored by the gentle purr of the rhythm box, gives the record a remarkable lambent quality" "
At one stage, on the title track, you can hear a car making its way down the lane, and a train on the previously mentioned railway as well as the sound of gently lapping water and the quiet squawks of the geese. This is such a unique, groundbreaking recording, coupled with superb musicianship. It was the first time, last evening that I heard this album through my D400s. I've heard it countless times before, but through Le ads there was so much see through clarity and,with a glass or two of wine, some dark chocolate and a Morrocan Woodbine or three, the beautiful music washed over me.
On the track Certain Surprise, there is a trombone solo by the late great Rico and upright bass by JM's long time drinking, fighting and playing partner Danny Thompson that left me feeling as if I was levitating above the sofa.
If you've never heard this album, It's a great way to end an early hours music session when the lights are low, the mains are clean, no background noise and everything's good.
Goodnight Devialet buddies all.
Alex.
For those that know John and his work, you can skip this bit.
This lifted directly from the liner notes:
" For the new album sessions, Chris Blackwell was keen to assemble a a crack studio team around Martyn, and decided to record it at his country house, Woolwich Green Farm in Theale in Berkshire. The location was to prove magical, it being an old farm house that ended up in the middle of a flooded gravel pit, crossed by a small driveway surrounded by water..... 'The possibility of the place' meant that an intricate system was set up with a live feed across the lake, where the sessions could be recorded in the open air, picking up the full ambience of the surroundings .
"We were all firmly out of it" Martyn recalls. " I don't know who came up with it - I remember thinking, this is F**king wonderful, recording from a speaker a half a mile away across a load of water. It was just a cool thing to do. That was ambience. They talk about ambient music now - that was real ambience"
"It was recorded at 3 a.m. in the morning on the lake", Chris Blackwell said in the BBC documentary Johnny Too Bad. " The main railway line from London to Bristol goes across the land and there were all these geese on the lake, which you can hear at night. John played these slow chords which just hung there for ages"
To hear the sound of these geese and the water lapping and , well, atmosphere throughout the recording, punctuated by Martyn's whispered vocals and waves of Ecoplexed electric is mesmerising. Steve Winwood's discreet Moog, Morris Pert's (from Brand X) simple percussion and Tristan Fry's in fussy vibes, all underscored by the gentle purr of the rhythm box, gives the record a remarkable lambent quality" "
At one stage, on the title track, you can hear a car making its way down the lane, and a train on the previously mentioned railway as well as the sound of gently lapping water and the quiet squawks of the geese. This is such a unique, groundbreaking recording, coupled with superb musicianship. It was the first time, last evening that I heard this album through my D400s. I've heard it countless times before, but through Le ads there was so much see through clarity and,with a glass or two of wine, some dark chocolate and a Morrocan Woodbine or three, the beautiful music washed over me.
On the track Certain Surprise, there is a trombone solo by the late great Rico and upright bass by JM's long time drinking, fighting and playing partner Danny Thompson that left me feeling as if I was levitating above the sofa.
If you've never heard this album, It's a great way to end an early hours music session when the lights are low, the mains are clean, no background noise and everything's good.
Goodnight Devialet buddies all.
Alex.
Project Eperience X Pack with Ortofon Rondo Red MC, Oppo BDP 105D, 2 x Sonos Connect, QNAP HS251+ NAS with 2 X 6TB Western Digital Red, Mac 5K 32GB running Lifetime Roon, iPad Pro 12.9" for remote control. Etalon Ethernet Isolator, Devialet 440 Pro CI, Sonus faber Olympica ll with Isoacoustics Gaia ll feet, Auralic Taurus Mkll headphone amp., Denon AH-D5000, Sennheiser HD600 and HD800 with Cardas cable, Van Den Hul The First Ultimate and Crystal interconnects, Furutech power cables, GSP Audio Spatia speaker cable.
South Coast England
