Grace and Danger

Grace and Danger (1980) is an intimate, often melancholic album by John Martyn that blends his British folk rock roots with jazz-pop and reggae-inflected rhythms. The record foregrounds warm electric guitar textures, restrained but driving percussion and Martyn's expressive, weathered vocals, with lyrics that frequently address the breakdown of a relationship, giving the songs a candid, confessional tone. Compared with his earlier, more acoustic work, the production is relatively polished and atmospheric, bringing a late 1970s to early 1980s pop-jazz sensibility to his singer-songwriter approach.