Skip to main content

Joan Armatrading - Show Me Some Emotion

Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading is a name I've known for a long time, but I've never really heard anything by her. I've caught snippets here and there but that's about it. Then a while back I was reading up on the original Joe Jackson band, and Gary Sanford whose guitar work was so interwoven into those early albums would spend some time in the '80s playing guitar on a couple of her albums. Well, that was intriguing. Maybe I should keep an eye out for some of her stuff.

As fate would have it I managed to score a really nice copy of her 1977 release Show Me Some Emotion. For me, the draw here was the production credit: Glyn Johns. It was recorded at the legendary Olympic Studios and if nothing else this would be a really good sounding record.

credits
Joan released her debut album in 1972 and Show Me Some Emotion was her forth album, and the second album to be produced by Glyn Johns. Apparently her 1976 album simply titled Armatrading is considered essential listening - this one, not as much.

With nothing else to compare it to, I at least get to listen without any baggage.

Right off, the album starts on an intimate note with "Woncha Come on Home" that features Joan on guitar and oddly, a thumb piano. I knew enough prior to putting this one, that she wasn't going to be a Motown styled singer, and I was curious to see where she'd go musically. This is where my impediment with genres is a detriment to describing things properly. At it's core this is a rock record, with a singer songwriter who infuses elements of jazz, funk and quite a few points in between. In short is pretty cool. 

Joan on guitar
The assembled talent pool here is also staggering. Most of the bass work on the album was handed by Bryan Garofalo who is a monster, and has played with everyone from B.B. King to Joe Walsh. Dave Markee shows up a few times on bass, unusually paired with Henry Spinetti. They guys were the rhythm section on a lot of Clapton sessions. Joan played acoustic guitar, including the wicked solo on "Opportunity" while the electric work was provided by Jerry Donahue. Heck she even had Kenney Jones drumming on a song.

As I expected, this is a great sounding record, and my goodness the songs are all pretty great. However, if I'm being honest the first couple of plays through have been somewhat forgettable despite being very enjoyable. That's part of the problem in trying to jot down thoughts while listening to an album for the first time. I'm trying to take it all in at once, and unless something really stands out there's a tendency to throw the baby out with the bath water. Thankfully the copy I have has all the lyrics and credits and it's helping make things stick.

Joan Armatrading
I will call out "Opportunity" the opening cut from side two as probably my favourite song on the album. It jumped out of the grooves the first play, and has only gotten better with subsequent plays - and that solo by Joan is so freakin' tasty. Actually, most of the second side really grabbed me by the feels.

I think I'll give this one a couple more spins before I put it away. I know I was going on about this being a bit forgettable, but that's not fair or accurate. I've listened to this now a few times, and while I am partial to side two, my general impression of the whole experience has been really positive - I really like this.

I'm a fan.

back cover
I'm also kind of glad to be finding this now, as I know for sure that back in '77 I'd have never given this the time of day. Not enough rock. I may be late getting here, but at least I got here. Glyn Johns' production and engineering have given this a truly timeless feel.

It's also kind of strange reading up on this album and the ambivalence the critics had to Show Me Some Emotion. Most of what I've read seems to put this record firmly in the shadow of her previous release Armatrading, which makes me really curious as to what I'm missing. I now have another album on my list.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure.  I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again.  I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t...

Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack

It was going to happen sooner or later. Nostalgia is a cruel Mistress...she can dull the sharpest edges and over time can even soften the hardest of opinions. I found this in the dollar bin, and frankly at a dollar I was worried about what this would cost me. Not only from a monetary perspective, but my time, and more important my credibility. Fourteen year old me was screaming "Don't you dare. DON'T DO IT! Put it down. Walk away!" Then there was grey bearded me holding it and looking at it, thinking, "How bad could it be? I actually kind of like "Staying Alive" and me buying this record won't bring disco back, and no one will have to know I bought this." I pulled the album out of the bin, and carefully took out the records. They'd seen better days, and there were a couple of decent scratches that would no doubt make their presence known later. The jacket was in decent condition, and both of the albums had the original sleeves. I dusted the...