Fifty Years Of Joan Armatrading

Tiggerlion on Joan Armatrading released 1st July 1975

Joan Armatrading is a coming of age album that set the tone for her entire career. It is the third album credited to her as the artist but the first to be truly hers. She writes all the songs herself and, in the studio, she called all the shots. Its unusual melodies and meter-defying rhythms are beautifully played. Its lyrics are unflinching even when they deal with ambiguity and uncertainty. Names and places are changed to respect the dead but this album is Joan Armatrading’s truth, maturing as a black woman in a white man’s world. She calls a spade a spade. She comes from a family of strong women, the third child of a carpenter and a housewife. When she was three, her parents and two older brothers emigrated to England as part of the Windrush generation, settling in Birmingham. Armatrading was left with her grandmother in Antigua. Aged seven, she made the journey to the UK by herself and by time she arrived, she had three more siblings. “I didn’t feel as if I was making any adjustment or any kind of culture shock. I was just happy to be back with my parents.” However, she preferred her own company, secreting herself away as a child, reading, thinking and soaking up her surroundings more as a curious observer than an active participant.

Her parents found it easy to integrate into the community and gave her the foundation for her music career. Her mother bought a piano to act as a piece of furniture. Armatrading would sit at it from a young age and, finally taught herself chords. It was at that piano where she wrote her first songs, setting music to her limericks. Her father also had a guitar from when he used to play in a band as a youth. His refusal to let her touch it made her more determined to become a guitarist.

Her mother then bought Armatrading’s first guitar from a pawn shop, a £3 instrument she bartered for by swapping two old prams. She had to teach herself how to play that, too, given her father wouldn’t help. He taught her how to tune it but nothing else. She had to get on with it herself.

Armatrading was driven by great self-belief, even back when she started writing songs at fifteen during breaks at her office job in a local factory. In a 2024 interview, she admitted she was “confident to the point of being big-headed”. “Because I was born with this talent, it’s my job to use it to the best of my ability, but I always say I can’t take any credit for it, because I did nothing for it.” As with many great songwriters, she was the vessel for the songs that poured from her.

This confidence held her in good stead as she entered a very male-dominated music industry. After performing at local clubs, she joined a touring party for the musical, Hair, where she met Pam Nestor and began a creative partnership writing over a hundred songs together. Her first album, Whatever’s For Us, was produced by Gus Dudgeon and features Ray Cooper, Davey Johnstone and orchestrations by Del Newman, all associated with Elton John. Nestor co-wrote the songs but the men in charge edited out her singing and piano playing and the album was promoted as an Armatrading solo. The relationship was irreparable and the record label, Cube, went bust.

Armatrading, her enthusiasm blunted, still managed to win a contract with A&M and began work on her second album. The idea at the time was to be on the sidelines, writing. She reluctantly changed course. In the end, the way for people to know the songs was for her to sing. Fortunately, she is blessed with a rich, sultry contralto. Pete Gage, who’d produced Geno Washington and Vinegar Joe, was impressed by her musical ability but frustrated by her lack of focus in the studio. He took her aside, during a car ride when she had no escape, and emphasised how lucky she was to have sympathetic, patient musicians, such as Andy Sumners and Jean Roussel, an indulgent producer, and studio time to develop her songs. Only then, at the age of twenty-four, did she grow up and commit to a career as performer. Back To The Night is the sound of Armatrading finding her feet, consisting only of her self composed songs. Already, it was clear she brought an unusual, distinctive Caribbean flavour, steeped in Soul and Blues, to British Folk.

By her third album, she was all set, fearless and resolute. She had an array of wonderful songs that she arranged herself, grown into an extremely accomplished musician, particularly on guitar, cultivated a very expressive vocal style and knew her way around a studio. No wonder the album is self titled. It is as personal a statement as it is possible to make. This time, Glyn Johns sat in the producer’s chair, literally. According to his autobiography, he simply leaned back and let her do her thing. She knew what she was doing. Of course, when needed, he whipped out his thick pocket book full of phone numbers and called one fabulous musician after another to lend a hand. There is not a single note out of place on this album. Every solo, guitar, sax or piano, every backing vocal, every string arrangement, every drum roll, and every bass run is judiciously placed and perfectly performed. There is no show-boating, no showing off. Every single contributor brings their tool and does their very best to add nuance, depth, meaning, feel to these beautiful, soulful songs. Johns chose the venue, the familiar ground of Olympic Studios, London. He liked to record the instrumental tracks in continuous takes with the musicians playing together live as a unit, using a small number of microphones to capture the natural acoustics of the studio, and then adding as few overdubs as possible. He loved the interaction between musicians in real time and Armatrading excelled in this environment, surrounded as she was by the musicians he gathered around her. The result, Johns says, is the best album he had anything to do with and he worked with The Beatles, The Stones, The Who and Bob Dylan.

Down To Zero is a perfect opener, introducing the tone and style of the album, gliding into being as if it had always been there, waiting for this moment. Armatrading plays the chords on her faithful Ovation guitar, the one blurred in an orange light on the front cover, resembling Lou Reed on Transformer but with less make-up. Pete Wood opens up the radiant melody with a piano flourish, Kenney Jones rolls out his toms and Dave Markee adds warmth with his bass. The vocal is extraordinary. The words are almost percussive instruments, the rhythm reflecting the irregular pitter patter of broken hearts. Her sultry baritone is cool and unruffleable. There is a whiff of Madame George, her number one desert island pick. This is a song about break up with Joan offering her shoulder as consolation to an apparently male friend, sustained by Graham Lyle’s 12 string, Jerry Donahue’s robust electric guitar and B.J. Cole’s empathetic steel guitar break. Almost all the musicians are ingrained with English Folk. Wood was in Natural Gas and Quiver and co-wrote The Year Of The Cat with Al Stewart. His playing takes the song into another dimension. Lyle was fresh from recording Breakaway with Benny Gallagher. Donahue had been in Fotheringay and just completed a three year, four album stint with Fairport Convention. Cole had risen to prominence on Elton John’s Tiny Dancer and was an in-demand session musician. Both bass and drums are provided by Rock players, Jones from The Faces and Markee with Alan Price. Nevertheless, they manage the twists and turns in the rhythm with a sensitive touch. Down To Zero is intriguing, complex, riveting, delivered with poise and confidence, enticing the listener to step into the rest of the album.

Help Yourself gives the appearance of a beautiful ballad with a soft, gentle voice, delicate electric piano and lovely, subtle electric guitar. Joan is desolate, lonely, in need of comfort but she is more concerned that her potential saviour is in an even worse place. She writes with eloquence about relationships and Help Yourself is an example of her magic trick of disguise. The mood and pace change dramatically at the halfway point as a string section arranged by Brian Rogers, brought to a crescendo by the industrious Rock rhythm section, adds black, thunderous clouds. The song ends with an ominous calm, accentuated by eerie violins. Help Yourself is remarkably controlled and balanced, dynamic and intense. It demonstrates the unique architecture of her writing, keenly observed and strikingly performed.

Dave Mattacks joins in on drums for Water With The Wine and stays for the rest of the album. He left Fairport Convention during the recording of Rising For The Moon because he could no longer tolerate Glynn Johns’ disciplined methods. Yet, here he is, twelve months later, responding to Johns’ call and playing brilliantly in what is effectively a duet with Kenney Jones. Floor toms shake, cymbals splash. The soundstage is crammed with percussion. Wood’s organ and Donahue’s licks stand back to admire. Armatrading’s guitar anchors the rhythm. In 1976, the song seemed to be straightforward, about a one night stand commonplace at the time. Armatrading’s voice is light, sensuous, a little flirtatious. She indulges herself in a carefree reverie of la-la-las rounded off with a soprano scat. On the surface, it seems intimate and confessional, but fifty years on, there is more than a hint of darkness. “This man is getting hot. I got no strength to make him stop.” It’s a relief to read in Melody Maker that Water With The Wine is inspired by a perfectly harmless encounter when nothing untoward happened. It’s a what-if of a song, embellishing an afternoon she thinks of fondly, flushed by the heat of what she thinks he would like to do with her, an example of her ability to compose personally and emotionally, yet imaginatively and observationally at the same time.h

She claims, “My songs aren’t about me,” but Love And Affection contradicts this statement. She is so invested in the feelings expressed that it’s inconceivable they aren’t her own. The romantic trepidation of “I am not in love, but I’m open to persuasion,” over a delicate guitar figure, fits completely with her character. The melodic and rhythmic flow are infused with a graceful energy. She sings her thoughts as they enter her head, musing on “love, love, love”, the pull of romance with all its uncertainties and mysteries. The core band, Armatrading, Donahue, Markee and Maddocks are discrete, while Rogers’ strings caress the tune, building up to an exquisite sax break by Jimmy Jewell. Pete Clarke, later famous as The Wire actor Clarke Peters, and Leroy Champagn, add ripe bass vocals. It’s a heart-stopping song that has endured, its universality touching souls everywhere.

Side One of the vinyl closes with Joan, singing in her soprano voice, at her most exposed. The musicians are supportive and respectful. The strings try to rescue her from spiralling into despair, as she calls, helplessly, for salvation. Save Me is sparse and contemplative, aching with the loneliness of abandonment, a ballad that is both mysterious and from lived experience. It is a quiet instance of introspective pain after the exciting dilemma of Love And Affection, perhaps the result of succumbing to infatuation and feeling love, a space for pause before turning to Side Two.

Flip the vinyl and the listener is faced with an invitation and a challenge. The two drummers allow room for some nice bass runs, bent guitar strings and tasteful piano ripples. Once everyone is comfortable, the rowdiness begins. Armatrading is full throated, an organ invigorates and Jones and Mattocks are in lockstep. “Are you in or are you out.” Join The Boys is Armatrading pursuing her dream, mixing it as an equal with the lads in the band, arms around each other, dancing in the floodlight. The energy is dialled down to allow Wood to deliver a finely poised, jazz-inflected solo, before all six musicians, including Armatrading, let rip, as one, until the fade.

There is no let up in tempo for People. A song celebrating camaraderie is followed by one that bristles with misanthropy. A frustrated and angry Joan wants to be left alone. People, of various kinds, and her list is exhaustive, are annoying her. Pete and Leroy are back to add muscle to Armatrading’s aggression. This is the empath in her, overwhelmed by others’ emotions, craving solitude, just as she did as a child. Meanwhile, the band are having a ball, especially Donahue unleashing guitar hero riffs. Wood’s dexterity is displayed on both piano and organ and the rhythm section sound ecstatic. Rage and excitement are conjoined twins.

In Somebody Who Loves You, Joan awakes early and contemplates an uncertain future with the person lying next to her. It’s an elegant, quivering melody and Armatrading sings it in her high voice as she often does when she is feeling especially vulnerable. To commit or not to commit is the question or has she allowed her heart to run away with her already. There are just Markee, Maddocks and Armatrading herself of the usual crew with Bryn Haworth, another musician with Fairport Convention and Gallagher & Lyle associations, guesting on mandolin. Maddocks gives a masterclass in how a drummer should support a ballad as pretty as this one.

Joan’s luck is finally in for Like Fire. The same four musicians play with fervour. This time, Haworth is on deliciously judged slide guitar. Armatrading’s own guitar playing is syncopated and polyrhthmic, capturing the flutterings of her heart as she enjoys the physicality of love, the burning desire and the sweet honey. Maddocks’ hi-hat footpeddle sees some serious action and Markee’s bass line is fluid and lustrous. Like Fire has a tremendous groove, despite the unusual three bar structure in the verses and four in the chorus, breathless with bright percussion and carnal craving.

Tall In The Saddle concludes the album and could be about the end of the same relationship of the previous two tracks, maybe the one hinted at back on Side One. He turns out to be a wrong ‘un, after all. Peter Wood returns on electric piano and John Donahue electric guitar. It starts slowly and wistful. Maddocks trills on his snare. Donahue’s guitar soon grows sharp teeth until breaking into a pithy solo. As Joan strengthens her put downs and her determination not to be downhearted, Markee blows away any regrets with a dynamic pulse, setting the music alight for a final minute and a half of cathartic release. “Fun, fun, fun” is the focus of the past, the present and the future. A joyful finale to a joyful album.

Joan Armatrading is an album that touched many hearts. Armatrading and A&M had an international hit on their hands. It could have been even bigger. A&M struggled to promote it well. In the seventies, when genre classification was important, it didn’t fit into any category easily. She sang, wrote songs and played acoustic guitar but she isn’t a singer-songwriter. Folk musicians played for her and she had a Rock rhythm section and producer but she’s neither Folk nor Rock. She is black and sings with real soul but this isn’t Soul music. She uses unconventional chord structures and changing time signatures but it’s not Jazz, either. Naturally, the diversity and originality of her songs drew comparisons with Joni Mitchell, another female artist operating in a male orientated world who defies categorisation, but both are unique in different ways.

Armatrading enjoyed chart success for several years and continues to tour and release new music today, twenty-one studio albums to date. She has a studio in her house and tends to produce and play everything herself. Me, Myself, I was her best chart performer both in the UK and the US in 1980. She was number one in the Billboard Blues chart for a record 12 weeks with Into The Blues in 2007, supported only by Miles Bould on drums and percussion. She has written a symphony, premiered by the Chineke! Orchestra at Southbank Centre in London on 24 November 2023. She is comfortable slightly detached from the mainstream, able to go shopping without being accosted by the public, while selling out auditoriums any time she feels like it. She is protective about her private life and happy creating and experimenting with music whenever the urge takes her. However, nothing has quite matched the satisfying perfection of this album, but, then, it has few peers in the whole of popular music.

Glynn Johns is self-deprecating about his input but this is exquisitely and skilfully produced. Its sound is organic and dynamic, unafraid of noise or silence. None of the additional instruments, strings, saxophone, slide, crowd the mix, and none detract from the overall warmth of the core performances, the focus always on Armatrading’s charisma and charm. None of these songs follow the typical verse-chorus-verse pattern, they all tell compelling stories, and they are packed with melodies that swirl with atypical chord sequences and key changes. David Hepworth’s review in the NME, “..the poetry of this album is not the flat print of the lyric sheet but lies rather in the animate pulse of pure music where voice, words, tune and instruments are utterly inseparable” is testament to both Johns and Armatrading.

Joan Armatrading, the album, is full of vital loveliness, a distillation of what it means to be the human being, Joan Armatrading. Intelligent, kind, compassionate, sensitive, it’s a beautiful album by a beautiful person, a product of an inclusive, tolerant, multi-cultural Britain in the otherwise dark seventies. It arrived before punk and Thatcher made their marks, a moment to smell the roses and revel in its gorgeousness. Joan Armatrading is an album for the ages, timeless, a vehicle to carry us through darkness, a constant source of joy and wonder. If it’s not in your “collection”, what are you waiting for?

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