I first came across Maart when he was touring as part of Fairport Convention for the ‘Glady’s Leap’ tour, and during that period he was with the band, I saw them numerous times. I caught him a few times with Jethro Tull when he was keyboard player, interviewed him once, but have previously only reviewed one of his solo albums. I was fortunate enough to see him grace Cropredy in 2017, but just a few weeks after his appearance on the same stage in 2018 he sadly passed away. This album is not from the end of his career, but rather from somewhere in the middle as ‘OX15’ was his second solo album, from 1999, recorded after he had left Fairport and was living in North Oxfordshire (hence the album title). There are some Fairport contributors involved such as Chris Leslie and Gerry Conway, but Maart did not play with them in the band itself as Chris came into to replace him while the drummer during his tenure was Dave Mattacks. Ian Anderson also makes his presence felt on one song, but for those expecting a standard folk outing are in for something of a surprise.

Maart was a multi-instrumentalist who used to play a MIDI (I remember him having issues at one show when all he could get out of it was sleigh bells, much to Simon Nicol’s amusement) and was a fine guitarist, and here he has brought all his talents to bear in what is an eclectic mix of music and styles. While often there is a folk basis, it may be wrapped in more electronic styles, even if he is using traditional melodies. His use of different time signatures is interesting, and his style is quite different to the band he had left behind, with “Chimes At Midnight” being a prime example. It starts with a xylophone which could almost be African in its style, but the electronic bassline gives it a very modern feel and then we have his wife Gill on lead vocals. The result is something which is quite poppy, and far removed from his time with Fairport.

I had not previously come across this album, and it is certainly interesting without ever really being essential. Maart was a lovely guy, and it is great to have Talking Elephant make this available again.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://www.maartinallcock.co.uk/
https://talkingelephant.co.uk/