page_title: One World (John Martyn album)
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: One World (John Martyn album) / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: John Martyn lights up a "funny cigarette" at the University of Bristol Students' Union, 1978.
context_page_description: One World is the seventh studio album by 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 a myriad of 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, who Martyn worked with during the trip to Jamaica and co-wrote the song "Big Muff" with. 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.
context_section_description: One World is considered one of Martyn's best-loved albums. The musician, who had a noted distaste for some of his previous records, was pleased with the album, and continued to play some of its songs live for the rest of his life. He later said: "You can really tell we were somewhere else when we made it. I was really pleased with it." The album's more pop-oriented songs signalled the slicker pop direction Martyn began exploring with Grace and Danger (1980), an album which expanded on the personal themes of One World following John and Beverley's divorce. Easlea considers One World to bridge the more simple folk-based music of Martyn's earlier career with the "strutting, jazz-inflected rock" he began exploring in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2004, Island Records released a "Deluxe Edition" of the record with bonus material, including alternate versions of tracks from the album and five live performances.
  Due to its dubby, "echoing soundscapes" and experimental nature, One World has been cited as originating trip hop music, which emerged in earnest in the 1990s with groups like Portishead, whom Martyn later covered. According to Brian Boyd of The Irish Times, the "weirdly experimental" album – which he considers possibly Martyn's most underrated – is regarded as the first album in the genre. "Smiling Stranger" has been described as a forerunner to the sound of Massive Attack and was called "one of the great moments in dub" by world music pioneer Jah Wobble. In The Guardian, Reynolds credited "Small Hours" for anticipating the Durutti Column, feeling this possibly exemplified Factory Records's "hippy-dippy side" – the staff had been fans of Martyn – for returning "after the rupture of punk". In his liner notes for the reissue, Easlea credits the album's sonic developments, namely being able to operate a live feed across a lake so sessions could be taped in the open air, "picking up the full ambience of the surroundings", as an innovation which would prove as important as Giorgio Moroder's contemporary production of "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer.
  One World was ranked number 948 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000), comparing its lack of indifference to Martyn's temperament. It is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2008), where Easlea describes it as "an almost perfect piece of work, a smart album made by one very smart hippie." In 2005, The Word included the album in their list "Hidden Treasure: Great Underrated Albums of Our Time", having been chosen for inclusion by Anton Corbijn, who directed music videos for Martyn. When selecting Martyn as part of a "100 Great Voices" feature, Mojo chose the title track as an example of his talent. "Small Hours" was later reworked by Martyn into the track "Anna" as the backdrop for Esben Storm's 1978 Australian film production of In Search of Anna. Martyn later re-recorded the acoustic ballad "Couldn't Love You More" for Glorious Fool (1981). In 2007, the song was covered by Lisa Hannigan in collaboration with Faultline.
caption: Martyn on tour in Bristol, 1978
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