Bournemouth Folk Club

MARTYN JOSEPH

The Centre Stage, Bournemouth

March 11, 2010

In a career spanning some twenty five years, Welsh superstar Martyn Joseph has developed into one of the foremost folk singer/songwriters of his generation. He has captivated audiences on both sides of the Atlantic with his earthy vocals, delivering songs of protest and championing the downtrodden or the underdog. Just when the listener thinks things could not get darker, Martyn surprises everyone with a beautiful ballad. Fresh from a five week tour of the US and Canada Martyn and his four guitars were making their first visit to the Bournemouth Folk Club.

It was fitting therefore, that the BFC were rewarded with a healthy gathering of devotees and regulars who listened spellbound to a wonderfully structured evening of great music. Drawing largely on material from his more recent albums VEGAS and EVOLVED, on which he has revisited his most significant songs from the past, Martyn was quickly into his stride and after Lonely in America, quickly had the audience involved on the gorgeous Between the Raindrops. Love is was followed by the unfinished new number, Song of the Seahorse which he explained was the only male creature to get pregnant, the theme being of course, that he would ‘carry for you’. The Good in Me Is Dead was followed by the beautiful Things That We Have Carried Here which again had the audience singing along. An excellent first set drew to a close with Kindness which Martyn wrote after witnessing the homeless on the streets in Canada, and the poignant This Being Woman about the plight of the old.

The second set opened with the powerful I Have Come to Sing which encouraged yet more audience participation. The more they sang the more he loved it! The lovely Invisible Angel was followed by Proud Valley Boy which documents the amazing relationship between bass singer Paul Robeson and the Welsh miners. After another new song Brothers in Exile, Martyn delved into the past with People Crazy as Me from his FAR FROM SILENT album and then launched into the title track from VEGAS on which he included a few bars of That’s All Right Mama and a superb Elvis impression to go with it! A devoted fan of Bruce Springsteen, Martyn then included the classic One Step Up after which he narrated the words to the song explaining exactly what Springsteen, who he regarded as pure genius, was meaning. An audience request, the superb Cardiff Bay was followed with the beautifully mellow Turn Me Tender from DEEP BLUE allowing Martyn to close the set with Change Your World, a never ending song on which he included a long and extremely clever narrative of the journey from his previous show in Topsham, Devon all the way to Bournemouth. This was amazing stuff and Martyn returned to crown a wonderful evening with On My Way on which the audience were again in full voice with the chorus ‘everyday a little closer, on my way’.

Martyn Joseph’s albums and live performances seem to get better and better and his mixture of grief, passion, humour and protest suit perfectly his gravelly voice. This was another major coup for the excellent BFC and was certainly a show not to be missed. Eighty minutes of pure magic.

John Roffey