Joan’s Coming to Town!!!
I’m beyond excited! My all-time favorite singer and lyricist is coming to the 4th & B next month and I’VE GOT TICKETS!!!
If you’re not familiar with Joan Armatrading, she’s a wonderful singer originally from the West Indies, raised in Birmingham, England, most often compared to Tracy Chapman vocally. What I find most captivating is her lyrics. Sometimes humorous, always touching, she writes from the heart, and reaches mine.
I first discovered Joan Armatrading in the late seventies, when my most truly horrifying roommate turned me onto her third album. (After that, I switched to male roommates as a rule, but sadly, they never played music like that). As soon as I heard it, I played the album every night for a month before bed. I later gathered up her previous albums, falling in love with song after song, and started my ever growing collection.
I’ve been to a couple of Joan Armatrading concerts years ago, and they struck me a little like stepping back into the sixties. Everyone sings along, holding up lighters, swaying together. There’s a magic in the way that her songs connect people to her and to each other. You’ll find children singing along with adults and grandparents; gays and straights; blacks and whites; punks and folksingers. It’s such a mixed crowd that you have to wonder how all of these disparate people ever found her, and if there’s anyone else on earth that could have brought them together.
Although she’s remained wildly popular in Europe and throughout much of the world for decades, Joan’s not well-known here in the states. There was a poster of her on the wall of the broadcast booth on WKRP in Cincinnati when her album Walk Under Ladders came out in 1982, so I was sure that everyone would discover her soon, but she never became a household name here. I still feel an immediate kinship whenever I discover one of her CD’s in someone’s collection.
The best way to enjoy a Joan Armatrading CD is to sit down with a copy of the lyrics and sing along. You could call it soul music, but she defies categorization, moving into rock, folk, and blues.
Her discography includes:
- Whatever’s for Us - 1972
- Back to the Night - 1974
- Joan Armatrading - 1976
- Show Some Emotion - 1977
- To the Limit - 1978
- How Cruel - 1979
- Steppin’ Out - 1979
- Me, Myself, I - 1980
- Walk Under Ladders - 1982
- The Key - 1983
- Track Record - 1983
- Secret Secrets - 1985
- Temptation - 1985
- Kind Words - 1986
- Reach Out - 1986
- Sleight of Hand - 1986
- The Shouting Stage - 1988
- Back to the Night - 1990
- Hearts and Flowers - 1990
- The Very Best of Joan Armatrading - 1991
- Wrapped Around Her - Part 1 Singles Collection - 1992
- Square the Circle - 1992
- What’s Inside - 1995
- Joan Armatrading - Greatest Hits 1996
- Lullabies With A Difference - 1998
- ’The Messenger’ A tribute song for Nelson Mandela 1999
- 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Joan Armatrading - 2000
- Joan Armatrading: Classics Volume 21 - 2000
- The Collection - 2001
- Universal Masters Collection: Joan Armatrading - 2001
- Drop the Pilot - 2002
- Love and Affection: Classics (1975-1983) - 2003
- Lovers Speak - 2003
- What’s Inside (Bonus DVD) - 2003
- Singer/Songwriter: Joan Armatrading - 2004
- Live: All The Way From America (DVD) - 2005
- Joan Armatrading: Gold - 2005
- Steppin’ Out: Live! In Concert! - 2006
- Into the Blues - 2007
(These don’t include singles, soundtracks and compilations.)
I’d encourage you to jump into one of her “greatest hits” compilations if you want to catch up on what the rest of the world has discovered in Joan Armatrading. Better yet, why not see Joan in person? She’ll be at the 4th & B on July 2!
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