Did she get much commercial radio play in the U.S.?
I def. remember hearing "Drop the Pilot" a bunch of times when I was a kid (and only listened to commercial radio). That song has been running through my head for years, but I just recently found out that it was by JA. It didn't help that I couldn't remember any of the lyrics right. (For some reason I used to think that it was called "Shock the Monkey" until I actually heard the Peter Gabriel song.)
― President Keyes, Friday, 22 January 2010 12:19 (fourteen years ago) link
b/c of the monkey line?
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 January 2010 12:23 (fourteen years ago) link
Not sure. I just had no idea that she was saying "Drop the Pilot" and was aware that there was a song called "Shock the Monkey" so my mind filled it the blank.
― President Keyes, Saturday, 23 January 2010 13:44 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm in love with "The Shouting Stage."
― The Magnificent Colin Firth (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 13 March 2010 15:43 (fourteen years ago) link
I still haven't heard her
― jaxon, Saturday, 13 March 2010 20:32 (fourteen years ago) link
i was playing her SO LOUD the other day. like, death metal loud. sounded awesome. me myself i cranked loud on a good stereo is heaven on earth.
horrible video sound doesn't do it justice, but anyway...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRNfWGxBp8
― scott seward, Saturday, 13 March 2010 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
haha, didn't see that rockist already posted the vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifARMmcqhD8
― scott seward, Saturday, 13 March 2010 20:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Given how many people (including people I'd expect to be interested) haven't heard her, or in some cases even heard of her, I think she is due for some sort of big rediscovery.
― _Rudipherous_, Sunday, 14 March 2010 02:40 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyqm7cLy3RA
― zvookster, Sunday, 14 March 2010 03:10 (fourteen years ago) link
i have this one lying around somewhere but I dont think ive ever listened to it, i should dig it out i like the sound of her from this thread
http://991.com/newgallery/Joan-Armatrading-To-The-Limit-422772.jpg
― plax (ico), Sunday, 14 March 2010 13:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Really like what I'm catching up on. Touring too:
http://www.joanarmatrading.com/index.asp?m=misc&n=tours&p=1
― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 14 July 2010 18:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Listening to 1986's Slelight of Hand. Although it's her first entirely self-produced album, on which she plays all the electric and acoustic guitars, it's her most mechanized album: Emulators and drum machines galore.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 22 January 2011 14:05 (thirteen years ago) link
"Killing Time" and "Russian Roulette" are my picks from that album.
― Hideous Lump, Saturday, 22 January 2011 19:46 (thirteen years ago) link
and "Jesse"
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 22 January 2011 21:33 (thirteen years ago) link
I guess today was the day I became an Armatrading fanatic. Gave all the albums up thru 1985 a spin today while working.
I came away liking Me, Myself & I the most, and particularly the song "Is It Tomorrow Yet?" which is just packed to the seams with brilliant guitar parts. I'd love to get a hold of that master tape and break it down into individual tracks just so I can fully know what's going on.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:58 (seven years ago) link
The Key is a really really good album
― brimstead, Tuesday, 20 September 2016 23:40 (seven years ago) link
Before even looking at the credits, I could tell it was Tony Levin all over The Key.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 20 September 2016 23:41 (seven years ago) link
gonna try to get through most of her records this year bc i think walk under ladders is a masterpiece
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 March 2019 15:46 (five years ago) link
also "the weakness in me" is the best song i've ever heard
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 March 2019 15:48 (five years ago) link
idk what it is but her work speaks directly to me. i'm listening to her debut whatever's for us rn and i'm just like "wow all of these songs are brilliant"
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 March 2019 15:49 (five years ago) link
"Love and Affection" is such a great song
― . (Michael B), Thursday, 28 March 2019 16:41 (five years ago) link
Random discovery on Google Maps: Ma-Me-O Beach is on a lake in Edmonton, Canada.
― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 21 August 2019 20:06 (four years ago) link
I'm only discovering her but I'm positively awed. Her accent is more on voice than composition compared to Joni Mitchell but the music is totally comparable. What a presence.
― Nabozo, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 18:44 (three years ago) link
she’s greatshit attitude in title/OP, but she’s never really been given the due she deserves
― a nice person (Left), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 19:53 (three years ago) link
yeah lots of old threads have bummer titles
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 19:55 (three years ago) link
I've been listening to her a lot the last few years. Enjoyed her most recent album (2018) too, down to the "casual leaning in negative space" throwback of the cover photo.
― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 19:57 (three years ago) link
walk under ladders is the greatest album of all time
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 20:50 (three years ago) link
she also has many albums that are nearly as good
I first heard her last year while listening to a 70s soft rock playlist on a plane; Love and Affection was the only song that I had never heard. On her 1976 album, her singing goes to more delicate extremes than you would expect from her "regular" voice.
Her lyrics are too prosaic and casual to compare to Joni Mitchell, but her arrangements and playing with the band are certainly more rocking. Her acoustic guitar playing in Like Fire stands out for aggression and energy.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 11 November 2020 20:58 (three years ago) link
the first song i heard by her was "down to zero" and it was like being kicked directly in the chest
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 20:59 (three years ago) link
still stand behind this:
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, January 22, 2011
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 11 November 2020 21:30 (three years ago) link
Me too! Heard it on an episode of Homicide, Life on the Street, and it's still my favorite song by her.
― Lily Dale, Thursday, 12 November 2020 01:16 (three years ago) link
Checked the thread to make sure that I have at some point expressed my love for "Willow." Back in 2008!
This is so great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl3i1GMuyeU
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 12 November 2020 01:36 (three years ago) link
Drop the Pilot...seems like she was a lot bigger in Australia than the US.
I'd believe this. "Drop the Pilot", "Call Me Names" and "Me Myself I" were in sufficiently high rotation that they are -- along with "Young Turks" -- basically what early childhood sounds like in my memory.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Thursday, 12 November 2020 04:54 (three years ago) link
Joan is a badass boss and her singles ruled my childhood
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 12 November 2020 06:26 (three years ago) link
Still feel like I'm hearing her influence on the new Nilüfer Yanya single. Time to try coining "Armatrenaissance" again :)
― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Thursday, 19 November 2020 04:33 (three years ago) link
Happy birthday to her.
― Patriotic Goiter (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 10 December 2020 03:14 (three years ago) link
I'm familiar with Love and Affection and Drop the Pilot but only just started listening to her albums - if there's twenty better tracks than Down to Zero off her self titled then, well I look forward to them!
― ledge, Thursday, 10 December 2020 08:58 (three years ago) link
"I'm Lucky" and "Woncha Come Home" should (imo) be higher, Alfred
― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Monday, 19 April 2021 02:34 (three years ago) link
you're right
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 19 April 2021 02:35 (three years ago) link
making my way through her albums and really wondering how she went so far under the radar in the US? shocked she wasn't more popular. everything sounds great (even for the era), the singles are fantastic, and even the lesser the songs are interesting. her voice is fantastic. the bands she put together are all stacked. totally ripe for a revival/reappraisal/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.
in answer to the thread's original question: yes!
― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Wednesday, 21 April 2021 15:14 (three years ago) link
“Back To The Night” has a constant for me over the last few months...a lovely warm 70’s production, superb musicianship and a great set of songs
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Wednesday, 21 April 2021 23:04 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dZ9vdHsxU
classic video
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, 21 April 2021 23:39 (three years ago) link
Whoa...this is fantastic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWRt6TYDIpY
― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Thursday, 22 April 2021 12:53 (three years ago) link
the version of "Love and Affection" in that concert is just ~beautiful~
― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Thursday, 22 April 2021 15:52 (three years ago) link
so i just made my bi-monthly browse over to pfork and i see that her self-titled got the archive review this past sunday. which one of ya'll was it?
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 21:30 (three years ago) link
(haven't read the review yet, btw)
(but i'm sure it's great)
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 21:31 (three years ago) link
now let's petition for a full week of reviews, four per day
― swing out sister: live in new donk city (geoffreyess), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 21:52 (three years ago) link
average normie pfork reader upon seeing that:
"can i get these on vnyl?"
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 21:58 (three years ago) link
Rob Sheffield interviewed her for Rolling Stone.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 June 2021 17:43 (three years ago) link
I'm getting back into her, because I've started buying vinyl again and the 80s production has that clarity the way Police records do.
― Enjoy Nuoc Mam With Mr. Qualk (I M Losted), Saturday, 4 May 2024 02:06 (one month ago) link
HD Jr and I were cleaning records the other day and she asked “what’s the deal with Joan Armatrading?” And I was like … “search me! These records have been dollar bin staples since the 80s. I assume they’re bad. But … maybe?”This thread has confirmed we need to give em a listen, obvs.
― It was on a accident (hardcore dilettante), Saturday, 4 May 2024 02:53 (one month ago) link
they are great
― Left, Saturday, 4 May 2024 03:44 (one month ago) link
talk to any lesbian who came of age in the UK in the 1970s
s/t, to the limit, show some emotion are the albums I heard a lot growing up (glyn johns once said something to the effect of the latter being his favourite project ever or something) and I know them inside out but there's a lot more that I'm missing probably
rock critics have tended to "respect" her more than champion her and she's constantly been compared to tracy chapman which must be infuriating - joan is less of a folkie and much more of an auteur (though still sort of a folkie sometimes) but it would be nice if she had the chapman-esque renaissance she deserves because she's been slept on for too long
― Left, Saturday, 4 May 2024 04:04 (one month ago) link
years before I knew about the whole gay sitting trope I used go through my mother's LPs and just stare at the album art for to the limit and if an album cover can change your life maybe this one did. I wasn't that impressed with the naked version of electric ladyland which my mum was proudest of owning but I just couldn't get enough of whatever joan was doing on that cover
― Left, Saturday, 4 May 2024 04:37 (one month ago) link
Joan is definitely in my all time favourite artists. Such a pure talent. Walk under ladders is perfection.
― mmmm, Sunday, 5 May 2024 06:56 (one month ago) link