John Martyn

Sporting one of the truly terrible album covers in rock history, Couldn't Love You More unfortunately doesn't redeem itself much with its musical content. Primarily the unfinished tracks which were eventually released as the (slightly) better album No Little Boy, it was released without Martyn's approval by the record company he was signed to at the time. The selections are all re-recorded versions of his own songs which rarely match the originals. Yet, they're strong songs, so the album isn't a total loss. In fact, "Solid Air" comes close to the moody atmospherics of the original, and "Over The Hill" breaks some new ground, with an added violin part. Though Martyn is quoted as saying of the album "I hate it. It sucks. It's horrible," its really not that bad of an album for what it is, and in fact is not much different than the Martyn-sanctioned No Little Boy (aside from some variance in track selection). To compare the two side by side, you can seek out the One World version, which combines the two albums in a double-CD set. ~ Rob Caldwell, All Music Guide