Search - Martyn Joseph :: Whoever It Was that Brought Me Here Will Have to Take Me Home

"Whoever It Was . . ." is award-winning Welsh singer-songwriter-humanitarian activist Martyn Joseph?s first US-released CD since Epic?s "Martyn Joseph" in 1995, and the 17th release of his 20-year career. Described by two of England?s most influential music magazines as "one of acoustic music?s most original voices" (Q Magazine) and as "an artist of enduring worth" (Mojo), Joseph left Sony/Epic after 5 highly produced Top 50 UK hits in the mid-?90s, but continued to record and release CDs steadily, eventually through his own British-based label, Pipe Records. For his first full-length new studio CD in five years, following several EPs for international social justice causes, Martyn recognized that he?d "made a number of political points on various projects in the last few years, and this record just began to form in a more reflective way." So rather than dwell on the specific, his themes here are universal ? love and its bittersweet realities, the need for personal activism and faith despite the limitations of human nature ? and winningly conveyed by his strong, yearning vocals and intimate acoustic accompaniment. Each of the eleven songs was recorded live in the studio by Martyn on vocals and acoustic guitar, then a little coloration ? keyboards, a second guitar, cello, harmonica, occasional backing vocals ? was sparingly added. With nine original songs (four of them co-written by longtime Joseph collaborator Stewart Henderson, a Liverpudlian poet), there is a unity of voice, lyrical outlook, and instrumental approach that links! each track into an emotionally satisfying and thought-provoking whole. For a glimpse of the political side of Martyn?s music, Appleseed has appended to this CD two tracks from one of his benefit EPs ? "The Great American Novel," written in the ?70s by Larry Norman, angrily laments the death of the American Dream, and "The Good in Me is Dead" is a Joseph original from the standpoint of a young Kosovan refugee looking for his family at the country?s border. Joseph, named "Male Solo Artist of the Year" in the 2004 Welsh Musical Awards, combines intelligence, passion and profundity in each of his songs, and his live performances (described by the Boston Globe as "a profound live experience") also display an extemporaneous, crowd-winning sense of humor.