Essential: Joan Armatrading’s Eponymous Breakout Album

Joan Armatrading‘s first two albums from the early 1970s revealed a talented singer with an expressive voice and a penchant for direct lyrics that bypassed any notion of poetry and spoke directly to the heart. Record sales were disappointing, even in her native British folk-rock scene, and she may well have lost her contract but for a decision by company management to call in Glyn Johns as the engineer/producer on her next record. There has seldom been a more fortuitous pairing of artist and producer. The resulting asylum, the self-titled Joan Armatrading, is widely considered her breakthrough into popular and critical acceptance.

Glyn Johns was the foremost producer of innovative rock music, with a host of successful recordings in his resume that included The Rolling Stones (Beggar’s Banquet and many of their early albums), The Who (Who’s Next and many more),The Beatles (Get Back sessions), The Eagles’ first three albums, The Faces, Procol Harum, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin’s debut, and countless more. He was a perfectionist in the studio, who believed strongly in recording a unified performance that focused on the value of musicians playing together. By the 1970s records were for the most part being assembled in over-dubbed bits and pieces, a process that resulted in a certain soulless perfection, and one that continues to this day. The exceptions are the records engineered by Glyn Johns.

“I have never lost the value of musicians interacting with one another as they play. This can be so subtle and invariably is nothing more than a subconscious emotive reaction to what others are playing around you, with what you are contributing having the same effect on them. When a musician overdubs his or her part onto an existing track, this ceases to be a two-way interaction.” ~ Glyn Johns

He decided that what a Joan Armatrading album needed was a talented backing group that strengthened her considerable vocal attributes. He brought in some of the cream of British musicians: Gallagher and Lyle, The Faces, and Fairport Convention. Coupled with Joan’s own strengths as a fierce and accomplished acoustic guitarist, the resulting transformation of the material was nothing short of astonishing. Glyn had a special technique for recording drums in stereo. He had an infallible taste in adding steel guitar, solid bass, and soaring saxophone to what might have been an understated love song in the hands of another producer.

From the opening cut, “Down To Zero”, to the closer “Tall in the Saddle”, with the highly moving “Love and Affection” in the middle, the album is an emotional powerhouse that resonates deeply with listeners to this day. There is not a single filler cut on the album. The dynamic range, from soft pianissimo vocal to explosive searing guitar, is very effective at drawing the listener in to the strength and vulnerability of the lyric.

Central to the success of this album is the contralto range of Joan’s powerful voice, by turns understated and then emotional, but always upfront in the manner of the great American pop records of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline, and The Everly Brothers. All were products of the legendary Nashville team: Bill Porter, Fred Foster, Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley. Their British counterpart was none other than Glyn Johns, who time after time found a way to connect the heart of the performer with the heart and soul of the listener. Johns, by the way, regarded this album by Joan Armatrading as his best work. His achievement, though, is not an engineering feat as much as it is his creation of circumstances that allowed the revelation of Joan’s special qualities as writer and performer.

That’s not to say the record sold in the millions, though the song “Love and Affection” did well on the singles charts. What this album did was bring her a dedicated audience, as well as serving as a model for countless aspiring musicians of every description and genre. She is much more than a folk singer, equally effective at singing blues, reggae, pop, and even jazz. What she delivers is emotional integrity. Her subject is almost always love, whether she writes of a new relationship, a break-up, or simply the magic of being in the same room with the one you desire. Love, desire, heartbreak, the need for identity, all the while craving intimacy and recognition: these are the themes every songwriter explores, but with this album a certain bar was raised, one that challenges and sets a standard rarely achieved.

Critics were ecstatic about the record, several going so far as call Joan Armatrading “the black Joni Mitchell”. One prominent writer said “this is a album you’ll be listening to for the rest of your life”, while another provided perhaps the ultimate tribute, saying she “has quite possibly come up with the richest work of this renaissance [of putting the heart back into music].” 

We agree. This is a Music Essential, as relevant today as it was going on fifty years ago. It didn’t stop there. Her next two albums, Show Some Emotion and To The Limit, (both produced by Johns) were excellent, generating such unforgettable songs as “Willow”, “Your Letter”, and “Baby I”. She has continued to write, record, and tour regularly. Her 2021 release, Consequences, showed her in great form, while her 2022 release, Live at Asylum Chapel, demonstrated convincingly that her talent remains undiminished.