🎵 AOTW Joan Armatrading: HEARTS AND FLOWERS (A&M SP 5298)

[LPJim]

A1	More Than One Kind Of Love Bass – Mick KarnDrums – Jamie LaneKeyboards – Don FreemanPercussion – Hossam Ramzy	5:32
A2	Hearts And Flowers Keyboards, Guitar – Joan Armatrading	3:40
A3	Promise Land Bass – Mick KarnDrums – Steve JansenGuitar – Joan ArmatradingKeyboards – Don Freeman	4:00
A4	Someone's In The Background Bass – Mick KarnDrums – Steve JansenGuitar – Joan ArmatradingKeyboards – Don Freeman	3:55
A5	Can't Let Go Keyboards, Guitar – Joan Armatrading	4:36
B1	Free Bass – Mick KarnDrums – Steve JansenGuitar – Joan ArmatradingKeyboards – Don FreemanSaxophone – Dave Koz	3:20
B2	Something In The Air Tonight Bass – Pino PalladinoDrums – Manu KatchéGuitar – Joan ArmatradingKeyboards – Don FreemanPercussion – Hossam Ramzy	4:32
B3	Always Keyboards – Don Freeman	1:56
B4	Good Times Bass – Don FreemanDrums – Jamie LaneGuitar – Joan ArmatradingHihat [High Hat] – Manu Katché	4:23
B5	The Power Of Dreams Bass – Pino PalladinoDrums – Manu KatchéKeyboards – Don Freeman	3:08

• Art Direction – Jeremy Pearce, Stylorouge
• Design – Stylorouge
• Management [Sole Representation] – Mike Noble (2)
• Mastered By – Ted Jensen
• Mixed By – Tom Lord-Alge
• Mixed By [Assisted By] – Micajah Ryan
• Photography By – Richard Haughton
• Producer, Vocals, Songwriter, Arranged By – Joan Armatrading
• Recorded By – Graham Dickson

Recorded at Bumpkin Studios.
Mixed at The Grey Room, Los Angeles.
Mastered at Sterling Sound.

Entered the Billboard Top 200 on June 3, 1990
Reached # 161 and charted for 10 weeks
Also issued as CD 5298


JB

 

[AM Matt]

I wonder if singer Tracy Chapman thought about Joan???

 

[Mr Bill]

I think Joan was probably frustrated that this young upstart burst out the gate straight to number one doing the same kind of music she had been doing for two decades. Chapman is practically a young clone of Armatrading, and not just musically...

--Mr Bill

 

[Another Son]

Adjectives that you wouldn't normally use to describe a Joan Armatrading record come to mind when considering the album, "Hearts and Flowers" - mellow, relaxing, peaceful..... there are even ethereal background vocals on a couple of the tracks.

Joan experiments with non-traditional song structures on this set. Some of the songs are loose and free-flowing. She wrote and arranged all songs, played instruments and produced the album. Recognising the quality of the set, it was a real achievement to master all of these roles.

Another element that I feel is different from her other albums is the prominent use of electronic keyboards. On a number of the tracks that don't solely use keyboards, she weaves guitar with those keyboards in an interesting way, providing a perfect balance of the two instruments. In fact, Joan Armatrading played both keyboards and guitars on some of the tracks. On others, she just played guitar.

The second half of the album, which was probably originally 'Side 2', is a bit heavier than the first half, with stadium-style drums lifting the tracks - although drums had been used on one or two earlier songs.

As a teenager, I owned and constantly played Joan Armatrading singles like "No Love" and "I Love It When you Call Me Names", but the music on this album is quite different from those earlier successes.

In Australia, Joan Armatrading was a regular feature on radio, especially in the late seventies and early eighties, with hits such as "Me, Myself, I", "Drop the Pilot" and the aforementioned "I Love It When You Call me Names" and Top 20 albums like "Show Some Emotion", "Me Myself I", "Walk Under Ladders", "The Key", "Track Record", "Secret Secrets" and "The Shouting Stage". I know that she toured here quite regularly in her earlier career.

'Hearts and Flowers' is a fascinating set, on which Joan Armatrading truly demonstrates that she is a tremendous performer and creative talent. With the very strong compositions, arrangements and performances, and with that creative something 'extra', I wholeheartedly recommend this album.