Sayonara Martin Stone 1946 – 2016
Martin Stone hopped, pre-dawn, through the Cheshire street market, scavenging books. Winklepickers, tourniquet trousers, mildewed beret, bulging swagbag: Blind Pew impersonated by Max Wall. Cigarette grafted to trembling, prehensile fingers, he was an anthology of retro fashion. And in his wake there shimmered a vortex of gossip and, amazingly, goodwill… Iain Sinclair, The Independent, February 18, 1995
Sad to note the passing of Martin Stone, dapper devil and rock and rolling rare book dealer par excellence.
A unique presence, Stone’s CV is awe-inspiring, taking in membership of blues outfit Savoy Brown and arguably the greatest London mod band The Action as they transmuted into the under-rated Mighty Baby. He was, of course, central to pub-rock pioneers Chilli Willi And The Red Hot Peppers, who benefited – via their manager and Martin’s dear friend and advocate Jake Riviera – from the extraordinary promotional material produced in this period by Barney Bubbles.
//Barney Bubbles-designed ad for the Naughty Rhythms tour which showcased Stone’s group Chilli Willi, New Musical Express, February 8, 1975//
//Stone, left, appeared on the 1977 compilation A Bunch Of Stiff Records as Stones Masonry. This is one side of the inner, designed again by Bubbles//
In later life Stone – who had also made cameos in a couple of my favourite mid-70s groups, Pink Fairies and The 101’ers – was the magus of the international rare book scene, associating with the likes of Alexander Trocchi, appearing in a Channel 4 Without Walls documentary and the basis of a character in Iain Sinclair’s 1987 novel White Chappell, Scarlett Tracings.
Stone’s friends are legion and that’s because, apart from his incredible gift of ferreting out the rarest literature and esoterica and his place as one of the great guitar-players, he was a cracking bloke.
As a mutual acquaintance has commented, Stone’s timing at the end was immaculate; he chose to opt out at exactly the time Donald J. Trump assumed the now bemerded position of US President Elect.
There’s a handy review of the first Mighty Baby album at Julian Cope’s Head Heritage here.
That record kicks off with this track which showcases Martin’s blistering artistry: