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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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You learn something new every day
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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Jul 03, 2006, 18:16
Re: You learn something new every day
Jul 03, 2006, 13:33
Indeed. And a sizable (if slightly pissed up) shadow it is too.

Michael Chapman pretty much paved the way for John Martyn in terms of opening up the more progressive end of the Folk Rock street. Especially when you think that MC's Harvest career was pretty much over before 'Inside Out' had even come out and Chapman ended up on Deram of all places.

I think John Martyn saw a huge benefit in PR terms from being on Island and having the latitude to make records for them without really hitting his stride until the fifth album (if you count the two he made with Beverley).

JM also had a lightness of touch and (up to One World) an airy optimistic air to his work that was much more obviously marketable than Chapman's more dour and gloomy efforts. Martyn wrote mainly about love affairs real and imagined while Chapman was as much an observational writer and he never had a rhythm section as good as Danny Thompson and John Stevens - which counts for a hell of a lot - though Rick Kemp was no slouch.

Martyn was great until he started playing electric with his jacket sleeves rolled up around the elbows. Never a good sign!

The older I get the more the Harvest - Harper / Chapman axis impresses me more than the fabled Island / Joe Boyd stable of singer songwriters.

If Martyn was the DH Lawrence of Folk Rock then Chapman was the Arnold Bennett. If that makes any sense. Not sure if that quite makes Roy Harper the James Joyce of the scene. Possibly more of a Joseph Conrad!
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Re: You learn something new every day (Rolling Ronnie)		 Replies:
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