John Martyn’s Solid Air, released in 1973, is one of those timeless albums, an album that stands outside of time but also brings me back to those free-spirited years when I was a college student living at UC Santa Cruz.

I saw Martyn once, opening for Traffic, but that tour didn’t launch a career for him in the U.S.

Now a mammoth multi-CD box, The Island Years, has been released and Rob Young has written an informative review that provides a great overview of the late folk-rocker’s music.

Check it out at Uncut.

Here’s what might be his best song, “May You Never.” A live version from 1973:

Here’s the album version: