John Martyn - Solid Air (Classics Revisited)

Two CD set. John Martyn is the legendary British singer-songwriter and guitarist, once described by The Times as "an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues". With a career spanning over 40 years, he released 21 studio albums, working with such luminaries as Eric Clapton, David Gilmour and Phil Collins. Solid Air (Classics Revisited) contains 28 of Martyn's classic tracks in celebration of a legend. The selections date from the early 90s, but it's a testament to both singer and songs that you'd be hard-pressed to pin a date on them. Just to make life more complicated, all but the last five (which come from 1990's The Apprentice) appeared on a pair of albums from '92 and '93 in which John revisited two decades' worth of back catalog in the company of such long-time pals as Phil Collins, Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and the Band's Levon Helm.