Joan Armatrading (album)

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/joan-armatrading-mw0000649839|title=Joan Armatrading – Joan Armatrading|website=AllMusic|access-date=3 March 2021|last=Connolly|first=Dave}}

| rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

| rev2score = B{{cite book|chapter=Joan Armatrading: Joan Armatrading|chapter-url=http://robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=6308|access-date=2 May 2021|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|publisher=Ticknor and Fields|year=1981|isbn=0-89919-026-X|page=30}}

| rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book|chapter=Armatrading, Joan|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|publisher=Omnibus Press|edition=5th concise|year=2011|isbn=978-0-85712-595-8}}

| rev4 = Pitchfork

| rev4score = 9.1/10{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/joan-armatrading-joan-armatrading/|title=Joan Armatrading: Joan Armatrading|website=Pitchfork|date=2 May 2021|access-date=2 May 2021|last=Pelly|first=Jenn}}

| rev5 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite book|chapter=Joan Armatrading|last=Coleman|first=Mark|title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|editor1-last=DeCurtis|editor1-first=Anthony|editor1-link=Anthony DeCurtis|editor2-last=Henke|editor2-first=James|editor3-last=George-Warren|editor3-first=Holly|publisher=Random House|edition=3rd|year=1992|isbn=0-679-73729-4|page=19}}

| rev6 = Sounds

| rev6score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/joan-armatrading-ijoan-armatradingi-am|title=Joan Armatrading: Joan Armatrading (A&M)|magazine=Sounds|date=31 July 1976|access-date=3 March 2021|last=Sutcliffe|first=Phil|url-access=subscription|via=Rock's Backpages}}

}}

Reviewing for Sounds, Phil Sutcliffe gave the album 5 out of 5, describing it as a "continuation of Back to the Night, [...] maintaining the musical standards of lightness, flexibility and clarity and in several songs stepping into a new dimension of expressiveness with her lyrics." "Unrecognised as she is we need Joan Armatrading like we need Bob Dylan and the Beatles. You'll play this record once in a while forever."

David Hepworth for New Musical Express wrote that Armatrading "no longer has to prove anything to anybody for she defines her own terms; 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." and that she "has quite possibly come up with the richest work of this renaissance [of putting the heart back into music] so far, and if there's another album as good as this in the remainder of the year we'll be very lucky indeed. Invest. Immediately."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/joan-armatrading-ijoan-armatradingi-am-3|title=Joan Armatrading: Joan Armatrading (A&M)|magazine=New Musical Express|date=7 August 1976|access-date=3 March 2021|last=Hepworth|first=David|author-link=David Hepworth|url-access=subscription|via=Rock's Backpages}}

Reviewing for Melody Maker, Richard Williams wrote that her "writing, singing, and playing evince a sure-footedness which borders on arrogance" and "much of this must be due to the influence of her new producer, Glyn Johns, whose finest hour this is. Teaming her with musicians of spirit and taste, he uses textural effects (strings, added guitars, voices) with economy yet with unerring rightness: each added component strengthens the song without overcrowding the singer or the song."{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/joan-armatrading-ijoan-armatradingi-am-2|title=Joan Armatrading: Joan Armatrading (A&M)|magazine=Melody Maker|date=14 August 1976|access-date=3 March 2021|last=Williams|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Williams (journalist)|url-access=subscription|via=Rock's Backpages}}

When reviewed in Billboard, the album was described as "thoroughly diverse and immensely enjoyable", delivering "the kind of lyrically touching and introspective ballads that have characterized Janis Ian's work."{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1976/Billboard%201976-08-07.pdf|title=Joan Armatrading|magazine=Billboard|volume=88|issue=32|date=7 August 1976|access-date=3 March 2021|page=68}}

Writing at the time in The Guardian, Robin Denselow wrote that the album "showed that we now have a black artist in Britain with the same sort of vocal range, originality (in fact even greater originality in terms of musical influences) and lyrical sensitivity" as Joni Mitchell.{{cite news|url=http://jonimitchell.com/Library/view.cfm?id=1943|title=Rock around 1976|newspaper=The Guardian|date=14 December 1976|access-date=22 January 2012|last=Denselow|first=Robin|author-link=Robin Denselow}}

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Dave Connolly calls it Armatrading's "most muscular music to date" and particularly praises "Down to Zero" and "Love and Affection". He also commends Glyn Johns' production. He says that the album "almost single-handedly [elevated Armatrading] into the ranks of rock's leading female artists."

The album was included in Robert Dimery's edited book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.{{cite book|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die|title-link=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die|editor-last=Dimery|editor-first=Robert|publisher=Universe Publishing|edition=revised and updated|year=2006|isbn=0-7893-1371-5}}

{{track listing

| all_writing = Joan Armatrading

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Down to Zero

| length1 = 3:51

| title2 = Help Yourself

| length2 = 4:04

| title3 = Water with the Wine

| length3 = 2:48

| title4 = Love and Affection

| length4 = 4:28

| title5 = Save Me

| length5 = 3:35

}}

{{track listing

| headline = Side two

| title1 = Join the Boys

| length1 = 4:48

| title2 = People

| length2 = 3:30

| title3 = Somebody Who Loves You

| length3 = 3:33

| title4 = Like Fire

| length4 = 5:12

| title5 = Tall in the Saddle

| length5 = 5:43

}}

Musicians

• Joan Armatrading – vocals, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitars
• Jerry Donahue – acoustic & electric guitars
• Bryn Haworth – slide guitar on "Like Fire", mandolin on "Somebody Who Loves You"
• Jimmy Jewell – alto saxophone on "Love and Affection"{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DQXR244YSBEC&pg=PA274|title=Changing Times: Music and Politics In 1964|first=Stephen|last=Millward|date=1 December 2012|page=274|publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd|isbn=9781780883441|accessdate=18 May 2021|via=Google Books}}
• Dave Markee – bass guitar
• B. J. Cole – steel guitar on "Down to Zero"
• Graham Lyle – 12-string guitar on "Down to Zero"
• Dave Mattacks – drums
• Brian Rogers – string arrangement on "Help Yourself"
• Peter Wood – Hammond organ, piano, electric piano
• Kenney Jones – drums
• Leroy Champaign – backing vocals on "Love and Affection" and "People"{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}
• Clarke Peters – backing vocals on "Love and Affection"{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/sep/04/dominic-west-clarke-peters-interview-othello|title=Dominic West and Clarke Peters: 'We love each other's company'|date=4 September 2011|first=Andrew|last=Anthony|author-link=Andrew Anthony|work=The Observer|access-date=6 November 2011}} and "People"

Technical

• Fabio Nicoli – art direction
• Nick Marshall – design
• Clive Arrowsmith – photography

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|award=Platinum|type=album|certyear=1979|artist=Joan Armatrading|id=1979-11-23|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|title=Joan Armatrading}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|award=Gold|type=album|certyear=1977|id=3499-2864-2|artist=Joan Armatrading|title=Joan Armatrading|access-date=2 May 2021|refname="BPI"}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

{{Reflist}}

• Futrell, Jon; Gill, Chris; St. Pierre, Roger; Richardson, Clive; Fisher, Bob; Sheehy, Bill and Wesker, Lindsay (1982) The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Black Music. Salamander Books, London. {{ISBN|0-86101-145-7}}

{{Joan Armatrading}}

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Category:1976 albums

Category:Joan Armatrading albums

Category:A&M Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Glyn Johns

Category:Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios