LOVE is the constant topic of Joan Armatrading´s songs, but she has never received much love from Music Banter: just a handful of mentions as far as I can judge.
That's weird, given her popularity back in the 1980's. Like Carol King before her, who famously tapped into a young woman's dilemma with the song,
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" - like her, Joan Armatrading became the voice of independently-minded single women, at least in London; there seemed to be a JA album in every girl's apartment back in the day. And with good reason, frankly, as she had a couple of stella albums under her belt: a self-titled one recorded in 1976 and my personal favourite,
Me Myself I(1980).
If one song reps JA at her best, I think I'd choose
Turn Out The Light from that same 1980 album; it shows how she can write great, honest lyrics, and sing with a voice that can swing from sweet and delicate to deep and heart-felt, sounding perfectly natural, perfectly clear, at both extremes. She had a folky start to her career, but didn't shy away from solid elec guitar either. On this track she has Chris Spedding helping her out, while Adrian Belew played on her later album,
The Key.
Anyone else want to
Show Some Emotion for Joan Armatrading?