AM I THE ONLY ONE IN HERE WHO LOVES HER! I picked up her latest album "Lovers Speak" and I feel like I'm 1 of 12 people on the planet that actually bought the album or even heard of it. I'm not kidding. I love Joan to death.

I dig most of the material I've heard by Joan, but I'm sadly lacking in anything by Joan Armatrading in my collection. It was years ago when a co-worker of mine gave me a tape by her to listen to. After that I told myself to find some of her music and buy it, but unfortunately she's never at the forefront of my mind whenever I buy music. Not because I don't think she's talented, she obviously is, but I guess it's one of those out of sight, out of mind type of things. Adding her to my collection needs to be corrected. And I can't remember which album it was that my friend let me listen to. Which albums do you suggest?

Supernova said:

Hey Supernova, thanks for taking interest. There's life out there after all Joan is seriously overlooked and underappreciated. I hope she receives more love in her mother country than she does in the states. She has a small (and I stress "small") pocket of admirers here. I suggest picking up her late 70s and early 80s material. I started with 1981's Me Myself I. That album is classic Joan, she was so beautiful with that LP, it has the gems "All The Way From America," the title track, "Ma-Me-O-Beach," and "Turn Off The Lights." Such a great album. Most people know her for her classic ballad "Love & Affection" from the self-titled Joan Armatrading LP. It has great acoustic ballads and all the songs have her distinct songwriting emblazoned over it. I also love 1982's The Key that is one of my very favorite Joan albums. It's so consistent. You can play that record forwards and backwards and she doesn't miss a beat. It's such a complete album! In addition, I am madly in love with 1985's Secret Secrets that is probably my favorite Joan album out of her 80s body of work. I love the tracks "Persona Grata," "Temptation," and "Talking To The Wall." I could listen to that album forever. Overall, I'd start with Me Myself I, then The Key, Joan Armatrading, and Secret Secrets. Also, check out the albums Whatever's For Us and her live LP if you can cop it. Even 1980's Walk Under Ladders has some great cuts like "I'm Lucky" and "Eating The Bear." It's very rare. Mostly all of her really good records are out-of-print and you have to fight for them on ebay, but they're still around the indie/specialty record stores. Good luck.

Joan edit.
[This message was edited Fri Aug 22 22:50:58 PDT 2003 by JANFAN4L]

Cool. I wrote all those down, and I'm definitely gonna look for the first three the next time I go cd shopping.

Thanks for the info.

I like her. Although I only have a best of.