The San Diego Traveler

Joan Armatrading has been in the music business for 35 years, covering styles ranging from folk to pop, rock to jazz, and now, mastering the many styles of the blues. At 56, Joan writes about all she’s been through, but mostly about love and obsession.

If you’re not familiar with Armatrading’s music, you’re probably from the States. The rest of the world has been listening to and honoring her for decades. 

She sang for Nelson Mandela on his 70th birthday, by special request. She has been honored by Queen Elizabeth. Joan has received the Key to Sydney and was a guest of honor at her home country’s (Saint Kitts) Independence Celebrations.

Armatrading was nominated twice as Best female vocalist for the Brit awards and also nominated twice for the American Grammy Award of Best Female Vocalist. She received the Ivor Novello awarded for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996, along with numerous silver, gold and platinum albums and consistent, enviable critical acclaim. Her recent achievements have included being nominated as one of the 100 most influential women in rock in the VH1 poll. Joan received a platinum CD for her participation with other artists in the Lou Reed song Perfect Day by the BBC for sales of over 1 million and she has been made an Honorary Fellow of the John Moores University of Liverpool.

If you think you’ve never heard Joan Armatrading’s voice, you probably just didn’t recognize her on the soundtracks of movies like Boy on the Side, 10 Things I Hate About You and Moonlight and Valentino as well as the Showtime series The L Word.  If you’re more familiar with Tracy Chapman you may have even thought it was her, because there’s a great similarity in their sound.  Of course, it would be silly to say that Armatrading sounded like Chapman, just as it would be to say Joan Baez or Beverly Sills sounded like someone else.  When you set the standard, others may sound like you, but not vice versa.

I’ve seen Joan Armatrading in concert with sold-out crowds a couple of times before in Orange County and L.A. When she came to the 4th & B in San Diego last month, the audience was small but appreciative, about 2/3 openly gay, and Joan was just wonderful.

Armatrading’s voice is deep and strong, but she’s most revered for her song-writing. That’s saying a lot when you hear the blues riffs on her guitar. Her talent for blues guitar is simply beyond compare. 

Although Joan doesn’t talk to her concert audience too much, she is amusing when she does. A couple of songs into her set, she stopped to visit with all of us, seemingly undaunted by the number of empty seats dispersed throughout the crowd. She said, “If you have any questions for me, now would be a good time to ask.” Someone yelled, “Where are you from?” and she answered, without of hint or sarcasm, “Where would you guess?” She said something to the effect of, “Now that we’ve finished our question and answer time, I won’t be talking with you through the rest of the show.” We all laughed, but it was pretty much true. Of course we couldn’t complain when she filled the time with her music.

Here’s  A Woman in Love, from her latest CD:

There’s nothing more infectious that Joan just standing there smiling at the audience, which is what she did when there was break between songs. Just look at her. How could you not smile to that face?

She put together a nice mix of new, old and very old songs, including such favorites as:

• Down to Zero
• Show Some Emotion
• Me Myself I
• All the Way From America
• Drop the Pilot
• (I Love it When You) Call Me Names
• Heaven
• Willow

as well as newer songs:

• A Woman in Love
• Play the Blues
• My Baby’s Gone (Come Back Baby)
• Into the Blues
• Something’s Gotta Blow – much heavier hitting on the guitar in person than the album

There were probably a few more that I’ve forgotten.  I’ve been listening to her CD’s so much that I’m starting to blur which songs she performed in person, and which I just imagine her singing.

Armatrading’s current CD Into the Blues debuted at Number One on Billboard Magazine’s Blues Charts. Her talent for blues guitar has never been better, and is on par with the best in the industry. This is most evident in the title song, Into the Blues, but we can hear it in many of the other songs on the CD.  One of the best things about this CD is the variety of blues styles that she adapts. The most hard-rockin’ blues number is My Baby’s Gone. For a totally different style, listen to Baby Blue Eyes, which features a light, banjo-esque sound with harmonica accompaniment. The saddest ballad is Empty Highway, with great guitar riffs; I can’t help but sway with it. Mama Papa, an upbeat, autobiographical number, will have you echoing the lyrics in no time, and I love the train-yard harmonica sound.

Joan’s CD’s are almost entirely love songs and songs of obsession. Some are humorous and even perverse, like her old hit Call Me Names, or the new song Play the Blues, in which she sings:

Blue hat
Checkered Shirt
Pimple on your cheek
Ears like handle bars
Teeth yellow
Like the sun
Gravelled voice like a beaten path
But baby when you sing the blues
I take off all my clothes for you 

When Joan left the stage, we stood, we cheered, we hooted and hollered, and eventually induced her to come back. Of course, most of us knew she would, and would have been inconsolable if she hadn’t. She asked for requests and, although there were many, we all knew that it wouldn’t have been a Joan Armatrading concert if she didn’t sing Willow! She did, and we stood, swaying, singing along as she turned the mic’ toward us.  It was a lovefest.

The only sad thing to report is that Joan’s so good in concert that it makes me unhappy with her CD’s. Joan writes, arranges, produces, does all of the vocals, and plays most of the instruments on her CD’s.  Most of that is excellent, but it’s painful to have to admit that I don’t love it when Joan records in falsetto.  Her beautiful, deep, rich voice is just not meant to sing that high. Where you’ll hear it is in Secular Songs, which is an otherwise beautiful gospel hymn, and D.N.A..  When Joan sings in falsetto, it sometimes alternates between weak and screeching, and it makes me want to cringe. In concert, the high sections are performed as harmonies, and they’re blended beautifully, which is what you’d expect in the studio.

I’ve read of the trouble she had with her first record label, so I can only imagine that’s the reason that she takes total control on her CD’s now. I applaud her power, and her autonomy, but not her execution. I yearn for a live album that fully captures the Joan Armatrading experience.

To hear an interview with Joan Armatrading, click to tune into a recording from NPR Radio.  To read some (but not all) of her lyrics, check out Sing365. Of course, to truly experience Joan Armatrading in her full power and glory, you really have to see her in concert.

I’d like to give you more samples of the new album, but unfortunately, there aren’t many new videos of Joan appearing. The old ones, however, are springing up left and right, including my favorite, Down to Zero:

and Help Yourself:

And one more of her best hits, Love and Affection (when she could still hit the high notes):

Joan Armatrading has been my favorite artist for about as long as I can remember, and probably always will be. I hope you enjoyed this taste of Joan, and that more of you will come to see her in person if we ever get her back in San Diego again.

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