John & Beverly Martyn - The Road To Ruin (1970)

John Martyn was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist.

The Road To Ruin was the second album John Martyn released as a duo with his wife Beverly, after Stormbringer from earlier the same year. Like before, the vocals were shared between the two of them, though this time John dominated the songwriting somewhat (only one song is credited to Beverly alone). Again it was produced by Joe Boyd. Stylistically it was more diverse than its predecessor, also being John's most diverse and wide-ranging album to date, mixing different strands of folk, blues, rock and jazz. Many of the songs featured some prominant saxophones, and the two of them are backed throughout by a long list of musicians, including bassist Dave Pegg (of Fairport Convention), keyboard player Paul Harris, and on one song double bassist Danny Thompson (the first instance of his long partnership with Martyn - Thompson had previously worked with Alexis Korner, Davy Graham, Tim Buckley, Pentangle and others).
The album wasn't much of a success, though retrospectively can be seen as an excellent and worthwhile record. Nevertheless Island Records decided that Martyn would sell better as a solo act rather than as part of a duo, so it turned out to be his last album with Beverly, and after its release he resumed his solo career.

Stormbringer (1970) <|> Bless The Weather (1971)
More from John Martyn

Download