Old Enough to Forget

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, spent 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. So I did. I added her to my list. 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. Joan released her debut album in 1972, and Show Me Some Emotion was her fourth album and the second to be produced by Glyn Johns. Apparently, her 1976 album, simply titled Joan Armatrading , is considered es...

Back in '82 Larry Norman was top lining a slew of British albums into the North American market with "Larry Norman Presents." At the time I had no idea these were merely repackaged releases. The Gap had come out a couple of years earlier, but in '82 this was the first time I'd seen or heard of Bryn Haworth, and it seemed intriguing. At the time, any association with secular artists was an odd badge of honour and here was Bryn Haworth with the Eric Clapton Band: Dave Markee, Chris Stainton, Henry Spinetti and Bruce Rowland. Well, that must mean something. I wasn't sure what to expect. I wasn't expecting what I got.  It was different, but man was it ever good.  At this point Toto IV was out, and that was constantly on my turntable, along with their earlier release Turn Back . Resurrection Band had dropped D.M.Z . and "Military Man" was one of my favourite songs. My goodness, Stu Hess was near the top of my favourite guitar players ... a list that...