Joan Armatrading

[jww]

I was curious as to whether this artist has a following at all here on the forum. She seems to have a more "cult" following, and has, of late slowed down on her releases. It seems to me she has many lps, if not all, released on A & M, from the mid 70s on. Just curious if any of you all know much about her, or her music. I know the song "Love and Affection" as well as "Drop the Pilot" and a few others..., but interested if anyone else shares an interest in her art... JWW

 

[Tom Wallace]

I'm a big fan of Joan, and have lots of her A&M stuff on CD. I was surprised to see a CD of "To The Limit" (SP 4732, 1978) going for $76.00 on Ebay last I checked--never did find out how much it finally fetched. Glad I got it for $11.99 in 1989.

I've had the good fortune to see her in concert about three times, and she puts on a wonderful show. Back in 1985, when I was working in radio, I met her after a show. Very nice, shy person, and an excellent musician.

She certainly defines the word eclectic, from her folk-rock beginnings in the seventies, to her new-wave-ish stuff in the eighties, and her straight-ahead pop-rock in the nineties. Her last album on A&M was "Square the Circle" (5388) in 1992. She did an album for RCA called "What's Inside," a year or two after that, but I don't know if she's done anything since.

One of her compilations is probably a good place to start to see how you like her outside of the few tunes you're familiar with. If you're ready to jump in with an original album, I'd suggest the self-titled 1976 release (originally SP 4588), which contains "Love and Affection" and is brilliant from start to finish--though it takes more than a couple of listens to sink in and impress (which probably holds true for most of Joan's output).

Enjoy!

Tom