Joan Armatrading

What in the name of the 1970's Tracy Chapman is this album? I have never heard a single song by this artist but this album feels like the precursor to many 1990's female singer-songwriters. I can't understand how she is not spoken in the same breath as many other singer-songwriters in the 70's. It could be because she never had that huge hit song. Armatrading has a unique voice (both figuratively and literally) and I'm ready to explore some of her back catalog to see if I can see what other artists she influenced. If you had told me this album came out in the late 80's or 90's then I would have believed you. Even if you don't love the music, this album is a must-hear.

"One more time with feeling," said no one to Joan Armatrading, ever.

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve never heard of her. Such an amazing voice and love the borderline country/funk sound. Love and Affection made its way to my hits playlist.

This might be my favorite album we've drawn so far. I really liked it, all the way through. I even started listening to her next album. Also, this is an artist whose name rang a bell but that, to my knowledge, I've never listened to before.

I feel bad giving this such a low score because there is nothing wrong with this, it's just simply not for me. Give this a listen if you like folky and mellow songs, but a 2/5 from me, somebody who finds this kind of music really boring.

1 - Electric guitar coming in adds a lot. Love the core of acoustic guitar and piano. STEEL GUITAR SOLO. Sounds like folksy Elton John. 2 - Love this more laid back and bluesy turn. OO. Drums and electric guitar coming in is super cool. Strings in background add a lot of texture. Love how she lays the groove back down after the up section. Delivery reminds me of Joni Mitchell. 3 - GROOVY. FUNKY. Maintains that bluesy feel. Weird upper harmonies super cool. 4 - LOVE this slowdown. Arpeggiations on guitar super cool and are slightly off balance throughout song. Love how strings and drums layer in with low voice. SAX SOLO. This song is awesome. 5 - Now THIS is super Joni Mitchell. Cool rock ballad. Little acoustic flurries super cool with electric riffs underneath. Queen loves strings and they do her well. You could make a very cool sample from this hook. 6 - Great transition to something more rhythmic. Almost jazzy intro, still very blues-centered. YES BITCH. Jam vibes. Very jazzy guitar feature into piano feature, playing with left and right speakers builds into another verse. 7 - Catchy!! Love the main riff. Love her vocals. Love the hook. More vocal harmony stuff in this song. Rock vibes with this one. 8 - Gentler yet upbeat folksy ballad. Very happy sounding and nice. Guitar parts are very cool too. 9 - Awesome opening acoustic guitar intro. Can confidently say this song rocks. Sexy vocals, driving rhythm. The acoustic solo in the middle is dope as well, love how everything else drops out for so long. 10 - “You don’t leave my down-hearted, but I'm sorry you had to go, because we had fun while it lasted.” Reflective and somber blues closing, powerful vocal performance. LOVE the upbeat switch at the end, mirrors the uplifting disappointment of the lyrics. Love this for a closing track, really sums up the album musically and thematically. Summary - Great album. I thought the instrumentation was awesome. That combined with the vocal talent of Joan Armatrading allow for a full exploration of the bluesy, jazzy, singer-songwriter sound she creates. You can blast most of this album and dance your ass off, but it also rewards a more focused listening.

So happy to have discovered Joan. Soulful, deep voice doing that classic 60's/70's singer/songwriter thing. Closest thing I can think of melodically is early Elton John, but with a richer voice. She dips into a Motown sound from time to time, but never as much as you'd think considering the era (I guess it was on the other side of the pond). Secret little gems like this are what keep me coming back to this challenge even after an entire year.

She walked so Tracy Chapman could vroom vroom in her fast car

I can’t believe I’ve never heard of her before. I’ve been listening to this all weekend. The album feels like a singer songwriter record but depending on the song, she does folk rock, country rock, funk and soul. And somehow it all still sounds like one cohesive style. Her vocals tie everything together. She has such a strong, distinct voice and she’s a mesmerizing performer. The songwriting is fantastic too. She writes about love and relationships with depth and maturity, touching on issues of vulnerability, power and confidence. I know I just heard it for the first time a few days ago but I could find room for “Tall in the Saddle” on my top 100 rock songs of all time. What a song! It starts with Pink Floyd style guitar and adds her deeply soulful singing before pausing for a guitar solo that would be at home on “Dark Side of the Moon.” Then it builds to a climax and tears into a funky breakdown followed by an insanely danceable refrain. Even the phrase “tall in the saddle” is great. The song is a takedown of a womanizer in his prime but even post-breakup she concedes how much fun he was. (I love the way she sings, “Fun, fun, fun, fuuun!”) I can’t wait to listen to more of her. Easily my favorite new discovery from this list. 💯

Things I'd trade in a left arm for

Wow, that was great. Last couple songs weren't as good as the ones before it, but it overall was still SUPER solid. I'd never heard of Joan Armatrading before this, but I will certainly remember her name. I think I'll be going back to this a fair amount in the future, and I'll honestly probably even check out more of her stuff.

This whole album was awesome. Incredible vocal range and style from song to song carried by an eclectic compilation of instrumentals.

Great songwriting. That low voice in one of the songs surprised me.

Inventive, beautiful, and poetic. There's so much energy and soul in these tracks, it's incredible front to back.

Some groovy tracks, but seems a little too mellow towards the beginning. Too acoustic to jive, too much presence to vibe? Folk background and later jazz, rock, and blues influences. Later songs more guitar and bass, groovier riffs and drums. Listening to Love and Affection again, almost like an acoustic, very light rock/jazz ballad. Like it more now. Maybe I’m a hater first time through. Save Me: only song I’m not a fan of completely, I think due to the register/timbre of the long “save me” lines. Doesn’t feel full like the rest.

Groovy shit, kinda like a non depressed tracy chapman

Her voice is great, the music is good. Not my cup of tea.

This got me thinking (via Kelafa Sanneh's excellent book about genre and music) about shortcuts, approximations, and the slippery slope that ends in shouts of cultural appropriation etc. The temptation is to place an artist in a box – commercial considerations, fear of the unknown, if-you-liked-that-then-you'll-like-this, etc. In this case, my first instinct was to think of Armatrading as proto-Tracy Chapman. Two things about this (1) Astonishingly lazy thinking on my part. They're nothing alike (2) I bet you Armatrading came up in an early marketing meeting for Ms C. it is what it is, I suppose. Creativity and imagination do exist in the sausage factory. My task is to enjoy the former without becoming a hostage to the latter "Love and Affection" is an amazing song, by the way.

Ok but not really my thing. Cool to learn about her and her music though

I loved the album! Folksy, excellent voice! I have never heard of Joan Armatrading until today. It was relaxing to listen to it. I think the album is well done.

Nice voice it Made me cry

I really enjoyed this album. I’m suprised I never heard of this artist, but I’m also born in the 90s 🤷🏼‍♀️ A lot of hits, and totally vibey

A lovely mix of R&B with some country instrumentation. Add in a lovely soulful voice and this is an album I really really enjoyed.

Bloody fantastic. Funky, Motown, Rock... everything that is good about music. Guitar solo in 'Tall in the Saddle' is exceptional.

Really enjoyed this! Incredible vocal range

What a beautiful album. Love and Affection made me cry. Insane I’ve never heard this before stumbling upon it here. Wonderfully written, pristinely recorded. An absolute gem of a discovery thanks to this list.

This is Tracy Chapman before Tracy Chapman. One of the best albums stumbled across during the 1001 album journey.

This was a great album. A really interesting vocalist with a unique perspective - both of the time and generally.

Wowww!!! 11/10. Every song approaches perfection. Most of them are soulful, funky, folky without being pretentious. A rare magical trick to produce meaningful songs that are fun, funky….they rock!!

Joan has such a warm presence, especially on songs like "Somebody Who Loves You." And this year, Richard Ashcroft released a banger that samples her hit "Love and Affection" which made me so happy for both of them.

Thought this ponderous at first, utterly convinced by the second listen. Had never knowingly listened to Armatrading, a couple of songs in something in her voice and the record-feel expecting the "lover woo-hoo" song, and sure enough "Love and Affection" comes on like a magic trick. Her voice is surprisingly curt, often percussive; forgive me, I haven't quite worked out what's so distinctive about it that had me recognise it from a song I hadn't heard in decades. (I don't listen to much radio.) The lyrics are introspective, spiralling into themselves, and for a while I felt the record lacked memorable refrains, before I realised it was doing something else. The band sound is astonishingly good; no finer-recorded album has hit this list during our march through. Need to listen to it more, but might be a juggernaut.

Honestly really liked this album. I'll definitely listen to "Down to Zero" and "Love and Affection" again. Joan has the vocal range contraito, which is the lowest female register I guess. This is probably her best known album, but she has a 50-year career with 19 studio albums! She's never been super well known, but has played alongside some big acts like Bob Dylan.

Johanne Våpenhandler

Not sure any bluesy singer songwriter stuff is ever going to reinvent the wheel, but it’s better than the 87 Bob Dylan albums on this list.

Good vibing for a road trip

Dated in spots and a little middle of the road, but overall an enjoyable, funky folk-ish record.

Some personal chronicles about the dynamics of relationships. Nothing overtly amazing, but nothing skippable either. Very accurate cover art, the focus here is a girl and her guitar. For this being made almost 50 years ago, it holds up surprisingly well. Feels like it coulda been on the radio with Lenny Kravitz in the 90's. An even 3 stars

So I had heard of Joan back in the day, but never listened to one of her albums, or even heard one of her songs - so this was all new to me... I found the songs to have quite an original sound, and for the most part - the playing on the album was fairly good... The lyrical content seemed to be pretty pedestrian, and all along the same lines, and there is just something about Joan's voice that sorta turns me off in a way... Kind of like I have to put up with the vocals, just to get through the song, and I just don't want to work that hard when listening to music... Was worried as I was halfway through the album - probably side 1 back during record days, and there wasn't a song that even remotely grabbed me... The last half was better, as I found a bit of goodness in "Join The Boys", "People", "Like Fire", & "Tall In Saddle"... It's not that I thought these were excellent songs, but there were moments in each that I thought were pretty well-done... So I was listening on Tidal, and after the last song on the Joan album, Tidal gave me another track - so it sounded like there was one last track on Joan's album to listen to... After a few minutes into the song I said - wow - this is the best track on the album hands down... When I clicked back to Tidal, the Joan album had indeed finished, and Tidal decided that I should listen to Joni Mitchell's "Harry's House/Centerpiece" track after the Joan album... Got a good laugh out of that... : ) This is definitely better than some of the drab albums that I have found here - which I gave 1's to... If we had some gradation in the star ratings, I'd probably have given this a 1.50 - but I can't, and this is better than a 1 - so I'll give it a 2... At least now I can place the music to the name...

The music is good and reasonably varied but that’s it …. Don’t like her voice or how she uses it ….

"Down to Zero" is such a vibe, perfectly cozy match to a rainy chilly day. "Love and Affection" and "Somebody Who Loves You" are great. Instant favorite, will be spinning this album again.

This kind of slaps? It's missing a good hook or chorus to really sell the whole thing. Tracy Chapman knows what I mean. That said, there isn't a bad track on this album. And the Steely Dan similarities can't be wrong. Steely Madam? Steely Damsel?

Loved it!

Absolutely fantastic, exactly the type of music I imagine when thinking of Rock n Roll! The album got even better with each song, which is kind of a rarity IMO

100% for me

cool

My dad loves Joan and even met her, once apparently really nice! Love and affection, join the boys and tall in the saddle are all certified bangers 5/5 why not

So full of woe and emotion. Not my normal listening choice but my god this is beautiful. 5/5 no notes.

Me encantó

Great music. First time, knowingly listened to her.

Folk goddess at her peak.

Seriously creative - none of these songs follow the typical verse-chorus-verse pattern, and they all have melodies that swirl with different instrumentation and real musicality amid the compelling stories they tell. Still astonishing.

Now this why I started this list. Some i never was exposed to before and is worth listening. Great music great songs great vocals.

Thank God, what a relief! A woman, a woman who can sing, a woman with a voice! After albums of wannabees and pretenders, wanky boys getting off on themselves, an actual musician. Women definitely don’t appear often enough on this list, except as wet-dream bondage fantasies of teenage boys, but that’s show business.

Make sure you are sitting down before you listen to this albums. Because it will knock your on your ass if you're standing. I never even heard of her before today and Ill never forget her after today.

What a great voice! Joan brings the funk when we need it but also can hold back and sing with soul and emotion. Great listen that I will come back to

I really liked this album. I think her voice is gorgeous and the songs manage to show it off in different ways. Will definitely listen again. I think at the moment my favourites are just the ones I was already familiar with, so will be nice to become more familiar with the rest. Fav song: Down To Zero Least fav: Somebody Who Loves You

Really unique voice.

Great find!

A cross between Elton John, Funkadelic, and Nick Drake. Greatness in it's simplicity. Executed very well. Singer songwriter.

Loved this one. Never heard of Joan Armatrading before but what a lovely album! Funky, smooth, full of emotion but never overbearing. This and a cup of coffee is an amazing way to start a fall morning.

Real good dude

Great voice. Great songwriting. Great variety of styles, instruments, and vibe. I'd heard of her throughout my life, even heard a song or two, but not in 20 years. I've known folks that say they've always loved her and wish she'd been "bigger" I just didn't know how great she was. I think she deserves all the praise and accolades that Joni Mitchell got because she's superior in many ways. "Love And Affection" was apparently a hit, but I don't recall it upon listening. But it did remind me of Richard Ashcroft's "Lover" which turns out he nicked a bit for. It's one my my least favorite Ashcroft songs because it's thin and poppy. I think her version is far superior. Love the jazzy breakdown bit in "Join The Boys" This is a really great album from a very emotional, versatile singer. Gotta give this the very rare first-listen 5 star!

What a voice!! I have never heard about Joan before and this was a great surprise! What brilliant album!

Oh wow what a wonderful surprise. Funk, R&B, pop, hints of rock… every song is a mini masterpiece. Maybe the airport gin will wear off… but maybe it won’t.

Long time favorite, it's still fantastic

Este disco es pura belleza. Melódicamente soberbio, perfectamente instrumentado, voz pura, sencilla, envolvente, tersa. Elegancia en la composiciones y en la producción. ¿Qué más puedo decir? No lo había escuchado y solo conocía a Joab de oídas. “Down To Zero”, “People”, “Somebody Who Loves Me” y mi favorita, “Love And Affection” van a ser escuchadas más veces en los próximos días.

9.3/10

Love it.

Masterpiece. Bluesy, jazzy, funky, folky, and rocking a voice like a peated single malt. I remember when I started learning guitar that dad gave me this album as his favourite work. I appreciated it then and so much more now, and today I read about the wonderful artist's background. This is life and it's a joyful experience.

Awesome

What the heck. I'm two albums away from finishing this list and this album was better than most of the crap I had to slog through.

an absolute wonder

Maybe my favorite album so far. I had never heard of her before and this has already made the endeavor worthwhile.

Really liked this one, neat find

Love to see a familiar friend, and she is a timeless classic

a wonderfully funky and energetic album that covers several genres thanks to unique, innovative instrumentation. a stunning vocal performance from joan sees her explore a wide range which is made even better by the fact that the album is lyrically strong too. beautiful guitar and sax solos add so much depth to a lot of the tracks. this album is the perfect length and has your attention from start to finish.

Y'know, 60's/70's singer-songwriter folkies have never really been my bag. If you've been a part of my group you've probably read me say this a million times before, but it bears repeating. I just don't have an easy time with them whatsoever. Oftentimes, they come across as poets who wanna pretend to be musicians, and that's just not something I can vibe with. Being AuDHD, I struggle with lyrics, so just the mere idea of listening to a whole album where I have try n' dissect flowery poetics, where it's the only thing you really **can** do because the music behind it is often so nonexistent ... it's like, I sometimes wonder if I was too harsh on 'Court And Spark', like maybe I just didn't give it the fair attention it deserved. But it was never gonna be easy for it to win any favors with me, let alone make me actually **like it**. It's a losing battle for most of these 60's/70's folk dealies. Which makes it all the more a plus that this album doesn't sound like it came from the 60's or 70's. Seriously — this album came out in 1976, but if you'd just given me a cut from this thing without any extra context, I never would have been able to tell. To begin with, the lyrics are **not** flowery or poetic. They're not dead simple, but, more importantly, they're not as obtuse as I've come to expect from these sorts of albums. These lyrics are more like ... and, yes, this is the comparison everyone's made: they're like Tracy Chapman. There's a clearness and a directness to them that I really appreciate. Like, it's just nice to be able to hear lyrics and understand what they're saying. I don't hafta bend over backwards and get a literary degree to even begin to get them, no: they're right there. I seriously can't tell you how much I enjoyed this album simply for the fact that I wasn't gonna hafta struggle with the words. But there's more to this album than just the lyrics. There's the music as well, and this is another area where this album feels like it fell through a time warp. Most folkie singer-songwriter albums from around this time (so I've come to picture them) seem to not really care about the music? It's never emphasized and more often than not feels like it's there as a necessity so it's not just poetry and nothing else. Often, they'll learn to play guitar and that's it. Sometimes there's a harmonica for some brief interludes ... ooo, and maybe if they're feeling extra fancy, they'll add in **other instruments**! Just as long as they aren't doing anything interesting. That's distract from the **poetry**, y'know. With Joan's album, though, honestly, if you wanted to listen to this thing on a purely sonic level, you absolutely could. Joan's got herself a great voice, for one. It's a little different than you'd expect, but she uses it wonderfully. I think the worst I can say about it is there's a spot of tremolo or two that sounds like when I speed up Buffy Saint-Marie's cover of "The Circle Game" (you ever try that? The tremolo on the held notes is a riot; it sounds like she's singing on an active washing machine). But besides that, the instrumentation is so far beyond this decade. There's just something incredibly 90's about it; I can't exactly place my finger on it. It just evokes that kind of atmosphere. I mean, goodness, this thing has some country **grooves** sometimes. The end of "Tall In The Saddle" goes off, honestly. And the strings on this album — oh, goodness me, the **strings**. Lovely strings; big fan of them. By themselves they would've been enough to win me over on this album, and good for the rest of the album that everything else keeps up to that snuff. Color me impressed. I really didn't expect to like this album as much as I did. It honestly makes me wonder why people don't talk about this thing more? It feels like it should be named as an inspiration more often, right alongside Joni Mitchell and whoever else. It's crazy how ahead of its time it is — and I guess that's ultimately the secret to get me to like 60's/70's folk albums. Just sound like you came from the 90's! Get some good instrumentation and melodies, don't be so purple prose about your lyrics ... and boom! An instant classic! I mean, is it **that hard** to sound 20 or 30 years ahead of your time? I don't think so. If Joan could do it, why can't you?

I’m at a 5. Well, that didn’t sound like 1976 at all to me. That sounded like at least 1986, if not a little further. Immediately, as with a lot of other people, the mind goes to Tracy Chapman, but these aren’t really Tracy Chapman tracks. Yes, vocally, they’re pretty similar, but Joan Armatrading blends the sort of spoken, conscious style of Tracy Chapman’s scattered & scatty vocals with the flair and twang of an Elton John. Lyrically, these are “conscious” tracks, sure, but conscious in the frame of love as opposed to societal stuff. I don’t think there are many tracks here that portray that kind of idealized love that other singers might croon about (“Love and Affection” & “Like Fire” come to mind), but instead, a lot of mildly flawed (yet fair / fun) scenarios for it. I mean, hell, the album starts on “Down to Zero”, which is basically about a guy who’s utterly humbled after getting broken up with, and having to crawl back to the person that he already had it best with beforehand. “Water with the Wine” is just a good night after a very drunken bar trip, with a lesson to not go too crazy out there. “Save Me” is an interesting twist on the first track, with someone basically drowning in her own sorrow & needing someone to save her… but he just won’t do it. “Somebody Who Loves You” is basically begging someone to admit to cheating so she can come up with an excuse to forgive him & take the heat, but he just won’t do it. I’m harping on the lyrics a bit because I think they add to the album, but the big secret is that they are ENTIRELY unnecessary. Joan Armatrading’s vocal style is lovely, and her passion comes through on a lot of these tracks. The other star of the show is the instrumentation, and it’s where this album shined brightest for me. Everything from the guitar, percussion, keyboard, piano, the steel guitar, the sax, and so on just fits perfectly. Beyond that, the way this album is mixed & composed evokes a sense of being far beyond its years. I can’t recall a track where I could specifically say “yeah, this one sounds like 1976 to me.” Honestly, I think Hootie & The Blowfish is my closest comparison in terms of an overall groove, but as a whole, it just feels like a ‘90s album that came to fruition very early. It’s hard to describe without listening to the album, and if you’re somehow reading this without having listened to it, just go fucking do it. I really think the music speaks for itself far more than I can here; it’s a 41 minute delight. A few tracks go a little long & spin the wheels in a way that feels like padding, but the grooves & her voice are both so infectious that you’ll never care about it in the moment. I’m very glad this is on the list – when I saw she was a singer-songwriter with a folk & pop lean, I simply hoped it would be interesting enough to warrant being on the list, and it was in spades. This is an excellent find, and a very strong 5 to my ears. P.S.: The final 2 minutes of “Tall in the Saddle” are fucking awesome.

This is a name I have always heard and never gave it a good listen - she’s incredible

Oddly enough, at the start of this year, I heard the big single off Joan Armatrading's self-titled album, "Love and Affection", and remember enjoying it. Joan is an English singer-songwriter who had a rather earnest upbringing and worked her way towards a record deal while writing and performing her original songs. This third album of hers would be her commercial breakthrough, and I can hear why. This record is a rich blend of folk and pop, with bright textures and bouncing grooves to make these songs feel vibrant under Joan's soft yet commanding contralto delivery. Not only does her strumming of the acoustic guitar come off well-accented, but the rest of the soundscape is bolstered by the welcomed additional instrumentation, such as the accompanying strings and alto saxophone solo on "Love and Affection", or the mandolin motifs on "Somebody Who Loves You". Adding to this flair are some deep observational lyrics of love in all its twists and turns. I know that love and relationship songs will be forever abundant in music. Yet, there is something to be said about Joan's particular poetry in plain, spoken language, directed towards "you" as the partner involved in the relationship, that feels more resonant. Nothing is left to ambiguity or second-guessing, as she laid it all out on the table, including the accusations of one-night stands on "Join the Boys" or the affair exposed in "Somebody Who Loves You". It may seem simple in its presentation and execution, but Joan Armatrading's self-titled album is just that good. I couldn't find anything to complain about with this record, and I am glad to have gotten to check her music out this year.

I mean just a solid vibe.

Fantastic album. Love that this sounds alt folk in the 70s. Easily could have dropped in 2005 and wouldn't know the difference.

Absolutely love this one. Excellent sound quality and great songs. A classic!

Stupenda sorpresa. Una voce della madonna, con musica che spazia tra jazz, blues e addirittura in qualche momento prog

Sick as fuuuuck

Bangers all the way through. Really fun and hypnotic vocal melodies, funky syncopated percussion. Elements of pop, country, soul. Can’t stop listening

What a fantastic album. This is the absolute real deal and approximately 100 times better than any modern imitators.

This is exactly what I was hoping for when I started this project of 1001. Never heard of her before this, and I will want to know more now. Every track seemed to have a small surprise to just keep you interested. Loved it.

This was SO GOOD

Solid Gold. Wonderful lyrics, fantastic music and arrangements. Her voice is so beautifully natural, top notes are delicate and soft, mid range is deep and mesmerising, and low range is raw and nasty. She has a big mix of bluesy, soulful, jazzy, and country folk all mixed up. Amazing album by the UK's best female singer songwriter ever.

Listening to this right after 16 Lovers Lane was a night and day contrast for me. I knew the name but I'd never much listened to anything of hers. I will fix that. This is music that sounds like it might get put on to relax or to have something playing in the background, but within a song or two, it takes over everything else.

She’s like a groovy Joni Mitchell.

Like Meat Loaf but even sexier

Fantastic

This is a great album, glad I finally listened to it! I knew Love and Affection already, just had no idea how talented she is. Great songwriting, production, and singing. Not really a bad song on here, and sounds quite ahead of it's time as well.

Great album

shockingly outstanding. one of the coolest and most unique records i’ve EVER heard

Очень атмосферно и приятно слушать

This one blew me away, I think it's the first unknown to me since Laura Nyro that I love and it's going to be on top of my experiences from this list. My highlights: Down to Zero, Water With the Wine, Like Fire and the closer Tall in the Saddle

Very enjoyable.