One World is the seventh studio album by the British guitarist and singer John Martyn, released in November 1977 by Island Records. The album, produced by Island owner Chris Blackwell at his Berkshire farm, was recorded with myriad musicians, including Steve Winwood, Danny Thompson, John Stevens, Hansford Rowe and Rico. The album followed a sabbatical where, at Blackwell's invite, Martyn holidayed in Jamaica in 1976 with his family, having become disillusioned with the music business. The trip helped revitalise his interest in music.
The album combines Martyn's experimental tendencies with more pop-leaning material, with influences from the dub music of Lee "Scratch" Perry, with whom Martyn worked during the trip to Jamaica and co-wrote the song "Big Muff". The record features a relaxing, echoing sound with usage of Martyn's distinctive Echoplex guitar effects, while his lyrics discuss love, specific people and his disintegrating marriage. Some of the recording was achieved outdoors, with Island's mobile recording studio being used to operate a live feed across the farm's surrounding lake; microphones picked up the full ambience of the area, including natural reverb and surrounding geese and trains, helping contribute to the album's sweeping sound.Munro JN (2008): Some People Are Crazy – The John Martyn Story, p. 125, Polygon.
Upon its release, One World received acclaim from music critics who hailed its inventive, unique sound and lyrics. Martyn toured in promotion of the album in late 1977, whilst a televised performance at the Collegiate Theatre, London in January 1978 helped the album become Martyn's first chart success, reaching number 54 on the UK Albums Chart. "Dancing" was released as the album's sole single a month later. In later times, the album has been credited for helping develop trip hop music. In 2004, a deluxe edition of the album was released by Island, containing bonus live material. The album is included in the music reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Background John Martyn's sixth album Sunday's Child (1975) was more conventionally song-oriented than his previous works, particularly its more adventurous direct predecessor Inside Out (1973). He spent 1975 touring to an excessive schedule, but by the end of the year had become disillusioned with the music industry, particularly session musicians who he believed prioritised finance over creativity in their decisions, deceitful managers and agencies, and threatened to end his career. He felt he needed to tour excessively to help aid his wife Beverley Martyn and their children. A live album from the tour, Live at Leeds (1976), was released through mail order from the Martyns' home and sold successfully, but Martyn's bad moods, drinking problems and poor relationship with his wife continued, later worsening when Paul Kossoff, the guitarist on tour with Martyn in 1975, died. His death, combined with the earlier death of Nick Drake, caused Martyn to lose two of his closest friends in close succession, and expanded the musician's weariness of the music industry.
Tired of his incessant "tour-record-tour-record" cycle, Martyn spent his savings on a year-long sabbatical where he could reassess his career. As part of this break, Chris Blackwell, founder of Martyn's label Island Records, invited the musician and his family to his home in Jamaica, a trip during which Martyn's enthusiasm for music was generally regained. The length of his trip is unknown; Martyn later said "I may have been there for seven weeks; it may have been seven months. I stayed rather longer than my visa extended." The trip has been seen as a busman's holiday, as the artist socialised with reggae musicians Burning Spear, Max Romeo and Lee "Scratch" Perry, the latter of whom co-wrote the One World song "Big Muff" with Martyn. Blackwell introduced Martyn to Perry at the latter's Black Ark Studios due to the musicians' similar recording techniques involving echo. Martyn said: "I was using rhythm boxes and Echoplex, and my man Scratch was into the same effect, a dub thing, man. It was the echo thing that invented dub for Scratch – and I just came across my version of it by accident." While at the studios, he appeared on Spear's Man in the Hills (1976), and recorded a cover of "Johnny Too Bad" by reggae band the Slickers from The Harder They Come soundtrack (1972).
After returning home from Jamaica, Martyn began recording demos of the songs on One World at his home near Hastings, having set up a "little thing in the conservatory", which included black curtains for sound insulation and two rhythm boxes. Martyn's song structures became tighter in this era, a result of him becoming disillusioned with the attitudes of jazz musicians, who he found more competitive than folk singers. He later said: "I found them even more hustly, and even more petty. And I've never been one for coteries; I don't like scenes. Fuck the scene — there ain't no 'scene' — the whole thing's a scene." The new compositions downplayed acoustic guitar and instead focused on rock, world and jazz fusion. He began performing live again in 1976, with gigs including a solo benefit performance in Nottingham, and in early 1977 Island released the compilation So Far So Good – dedicated to Martyn's first decade as an Island artist – which was later certified Gold, although it did not chart. Despite Martyn's general low sales, Blackwell did not lose faith in him, having started to view him as "more of a jazz artist", and offered to produce One World, a comeback record for the singer. Music writers have described One World as the result of Martyn's sabbatical.
Recording
One World was recorded during July–September 1977 at Blackwell's Woolwich Green Farm in Theale, Berkshire. According to Martyn, the location was chosen because Blackwell did not want to travel to and from London on a daily basis to record the album. The musician said of the farm: "Vast grounds, lovely lake, a fine environment. It was my way of saying, it's not all rock'n'roll and mirrors". While at the farm, Martyn and engineer Phill Brown resided in two converted stables. Although Martyn had said he brought his wife and children to the cottage, he also claimed that Beverley did not attend the sessions and felt she may have erroneously thought he was living a hedonistic lifestyle at the farm. Martyn trusted Blackwell, a personal friend of his, with choosing which songs he should record for the album, later explaining: "he has what I call 'cross-over ears,' he'd as soon listen to Coltrane as anyone else. He knows what people will dig, right, which is something I've lost sight of. I don't honestly know what's strongest of my material."
Island Records' mobile recording unit was operated in a courtyard over half a mile away from the main farmhouse. Brown recalled that a typical day's recording would begin at 2pm, occasionally working through to 4 or 5am. At Blackwell's recommendation, microphones were used to record the lapping sounds of the lake and the resident geese, with speakers shipped out onto a punt at the centre of the water, creating what Martyn deemed a unique sound. As an engineer, Brown had developed the idea of outdoor recording when working with Murray Head in 1973, but it was when using these techniques on Robert Palmer's Pressure Drop (1975) that he inspired Blackwell. Brown later recalled: "That was possibly the seed of recording One World that way. I don't think at this point there was any great plan about using the water. That just kind of evolved once we got set up and realised the possibility of the place." He credited the outdoor recording, "pumping whatever John was playing through a PA system and across the lake and miking it up", for making the sessions seem "magical".
Blackwell booked a large array of musicians to play on One World, resulting in what biographer Daryl Easlea compared to an "underground supergroup" with members and ex-members of Gong, Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Brand X, John Stevens Away, Gilgamesh and Traffic, among them Martyn's regular collaborators Danny Thompson, Steve Winwood, Dave Pegg, John Stevens and Kesh Sathie. Stevens, a drummer, brought jazz influences, and Winwood was responsible for a variety of instrumentation, whilst reggae trombonist Rico also makes an appearance. Rhythm sections vary between songs, with Winwood, Hansford Rowe, Thompson and Pegg variably appearing as bassist while Andy Newmark and Bruce Rowland appear as drummers. When not working, Martyn and the musicians spent time relaxing on a rubber dinghy on the lake or sunbathing; a large supply of opium also fuelled Martyn's drug habits during the stay at the farm. Brown felt that the opium generally helped keep Martyn's moods up during recording, with only occasional times when he would become drunk and difficult.
Composition
One World features an echoing, meditative sound with heavy usage of guitar effects. According to writer Wilson Neate, the album combines the experimental nature of Inside Out with the traditional song structures of Sunday's Child, with subtle explorations of mood influenced by the experimentation of dub music. Particularly, the dub recordings made by Perry at Black Ark influenced the album's usage of space, especially on "Smiling Stranger" and "Big Muff". Martyn's aim for the record, relative to earlier efforts, was for "the nasty bits to get nastier and the gentle bits to get more gentle." While some songs are in the vein of the "rootsy jazzy folk-rock" of Martyn's earlier work, others move into pop territory. The album's rhythm tracks feature a jazz-funk base of bass and drums overlaid with chiming guitars and intricate, delicate cross-rhythms; a Rhythm Doctor drum machine is used on "Small Hours" and "One World". Hubert Adjei-Kontoh of Pitchfork describes One World as an experimental pop record.
Martyn sings on the record in a breathy, laid-back style, ranging from smooth, warm tones to a more abrasive, bluesy style; however, his voice bore a new huskiness, described by Rob Young of The Wire as "a weary grinding of words in the throat's mill." Martyn's lyrics, which highlight universal themes of love and people and occasionally social commentary, were described by journalist Monty Smith as "sensitive, sly, obsessional and elliptical, but always passionate." The lyrics also reflect the musician's troubled personal life, particularly the disintegrating relationship with his wife. "Dealer" and "Smiling Stranger" were written about Martyn's experiences with people "of dubious legality," and more explicitly divulged Martyn's drug habits than earlier songs.
Side one "Dealer" features heavy usage of Echoplex-created reverb, blending echoing guitar with heavy drums and sinuous Moog synthesizer work to create a "dub-soaked" sound. Among the gentler songs, the title track is ethereal in style with febrile guitar, multitracked flutes and a walking bass line, eventually fading with a breathy wail. Martyn felt the theme of the title track did not need an explanation, adding: "regardless of political boundaries it is one world whether you like it or not, just because people look different on the other side of the world doesn't mean to say that they are different." In the song, the realisation that people share "one world" leaves Martyn "cold and lonely." The "dubby suspension" of "Smiling Stranger" features a complex, layered bed of voice, guitar, bass, drums, Moog synthesizer, tabla, saxophone and strings, in which George Lee's brief modal saxophone solo disrupts the shifting melody lines. Inspired by "gangsters and lowlives", the song was described by Martyn as "a piece of advice to the public", adding "I've always distrusted a smiling stranger".