Into the Blues

Joan Armatrading

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 1, 2007)
• Original Release Date: May 1, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 429 Records
• ASIN: B000NVHWMU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,541 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

On the surface, yes, this is a blues album; mostly, though, it's a Joan Armatrading album--which means she'll follow blues forms and conceits wherever she damn well pleases. On "Liza," she takes the "Mannish Boy" groove across the tracks for a pick-up on the wrong side of town; on "There Ain't a Girl Alive (Who Likes to Look in the Mirror Like You Do)," she dresses down a rival; on "Play the Blues," she simply undresses herself to a juicy, contemporary soul groove; and on "Mama Papa," the album's finest and funkiest moment, she recalls her youth on the island of St. Kitts in lines that flash with truth: "Seven people in one room/No heat/One wage/And bills to pay." It's also a guitar album: her blues chops, especially on the sprawling closer "Something's Gotta Blow," would give Robert Cray a serious run. Fiery as her playing can be, her blues riffs are mostly economical, concise, with evocative spaces between the notes. The same can't be said for the overall production values. Armatrading is still enamored with slick gimmicks: doubling and tripling her vocals and adding layers of echo on top of that, and synth pads and distortion that feel more bombastic than bright. Into the Blues is far from a return to form, but it still sends a tough, funky message. --Roy Kasten

Product Description

Into the Blues is the album that Joan Armatrading was always meant to write. Immediately you can tell how much she enjoys playing the blues as her guitar belts out these 13 hits.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The reclusive lady sings the blues !, April 27, 2008

By	the bomba (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) - See all my reviews

The hugely influential and pioneering British singer-songwriter, is back with a brand new studio CD.
The reclusive legend tries her hand at the blues and proves quite a dab hand at it.
She basically plays everything here bar the drums and manages to inject everything with a sense of drive and passion. As always, her silky-smooth voice is the real star.
Joan's new album is the latest in a long line of fabulous releases dating back to her wonderfully successful breakthrough albums in the late 70s and early 80s such as Show Some Emotion, To the Limit and Me Myself I .
She remains an utterly compelling writer and performer of unique warmth.
She cites "Into The Blues" as her best work yet.
"I've wanted to make an album that truly reflected me and I think this does. I love the blues and while each song is very different there's a cohesive thread that runs throughout".
Her 19th album is a celebration the blues, which she describes as "the bedrock of modern music".
Her rich, mellow vocal suits the blues, as does her accomplished guitar playing.
She really enjoys playing all those well-oiled blues riffs on her trusty electric guitar to ornament her compositions.
One of them, "Baby Blue Eyes", features some impressive acoustic strumming, which adds a more earthy texture.
Always bold and unpredictable, Joan Armatrading has come to Muddy Waters relatively late, but better late than never.
This is an eclectic mix of blues-inspired songs that should please her loyal fans.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Armatrading's Dynamic Dive "Into the Blues", July 14, 2007

By	Author-Poet Aberjhani "The American Poet Who ... (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews

Although her official website describes Joan Armatrading's new CD, INTO THE BLUES, as being "blues influenced" rather than a straightforward blues album, the songs on it achieve exactly what the best of blues music does. They take us deep inside the raw agonies and ecstasies of life, love, and the struggle to live at peace with ourselves and the world. That drama is one Armatrading has set to superb guitar-playing that rivals (with all due respect) that of such icons as BB King, Eric Clapton, Prince, and Bruce Springsteen. Add to her artistry a voice which can boom like a Chicago baritone or caress like the sweetest ingénue and it becomes easy to see why this CD shot straight to number one on Billboard Magazine's blues chart.

On the title track of this phenomenal set, Armatrading proclaims, "My baby don't like rock and roll/ Not hip hop or pop/ My baby's just into the blues," then proceeds to deftly demonstrate why. We can debate whether the "baby" of which she's singing is a favorite lover or her guitar. But one thing not in question is the serious skill with which Armatrading explores various forms of the blues--rock, gospel, ballad--throughout the CD's 13 dynamic cuts.

The trademark finesse with which she's known to dissect the most intimate of relationships are in full play on the first two songs, "A Woman in Love" and "Play the Blues." She is particularly heart-wrenching on the mournfully plaintive "Empty Highway," which broods and croons and bleeds with the best of any blues ballad on record. "Baby Blue Eyes" is a blue-grass tinged number that evokes the soulful country traditions of an Allison Krauss or the Dixie Chicks. She moves beyond romantic introspection for some powerful social and spiritual commentary on both "Secular Songs" and the explosive eight-minute-long closer "Something's Gotta Blow." In the biographical "Mama Papa," fans get a rare treat as Armatrading pays tribute to her birth island of St. Kitts and the industrious parents who taught her to: "Play hard/ Fight fair/ Live life/ And love the Lord."

From the very beginning of Joan Armatrading's amazing career, starting with the 1972 release of WHATEVER'S FOR US, the rhythms and colors of the blues and jazz have helped define the brilliant depths and substance of her work. Also from the very beginning, Armatrading has demonstrated an uncanny ability to employ various musical trends and genres to amplify the uniqueness of her own creative voice. Those two traits serve her genius exceedingly well on INTO THE BLUES, a CD very much on its way to becoming a celebrated classic.

by Author-Poet Aberjhani
author of I Made My Boy Out of Poetry
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File Library of American History)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mature masterpiece of a mature woman, January 1, 2008

By	Jiri Schwarz (Prague, Czechia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I fell in love with Joan in the mid-70's after hearing her Back To the Night album (vinyl issued 1975; so sad it is currently unavailable on CD) and her 3rd album called simply Joan Armatrading (1976). I was extremely charmed by her vocal (smooth & husky & strong & natural, capable of unbelievable finesses, which were, however, very functional and devoid of any signs of exhibitionism). She had an outstanding technique of tone forming which varied with every syllable she sang. The other point was she was a fantastic song-write of beautiful melodies, performed with great feeling, only occassionally bluesy. Her lyrics has been also delightful, sensitively marking the intimate spaces between two people. I came back to JA in the early 80's (Me, Myself, I album, 1980) and then again, I somewhat forgot about her (being principally a rock fan). Then it took me another 15 years to get astonished for the third time, by means of her fantastic comeback with the album What's Inside (1995). I thought this was to be her last masterpiece ... and I did not expect she might ever level this.

It is now her curent album that shook me again. It preserves all the above mentioned attributes of JA's art, but, in addition, it indeed extends them. (I cannot recall many in the showbiz world that would be artistically growing and maturing being aged 57 - the majority can at best level previous efforts, but never go beyond). Joan's vocal darkened a bit, maybe as a consequence of the repertoire she performs. Although more than one half of the new songs are principally bluesy things (as indicated by the title of the album), it is incredible how Joan's creativity made the whole album so variable in mood, tempo, instrumentations. From the gloomy balads (the bluesy Empty Highway) to solidly rocking pieces (Deep Down, held on one single chord; There Ain't a Girl Alive); from her inventive classical song-writing (A Woman In Love; Baby Blues Eyes) to the classical electric blues things (My Baby's Gone; Liza). You may notice traces of funky, reggae, boogie, also gospel (Secular Songs). Another point is the instrumentation - as always, first-class. We used to hear many well-known studio musicians with her in the past - now Joan performes everything on her own with the exception of drums. There are wondeful guitar solos (some even aggressively rocking - There Ain't a Girl Alive), if not to mention the numerous tiny blues miracles she produces on her guitar. On one of the tracks (Baby Blue Eyes), her guitar playing even reminds of old Velvet Underground. The bass lines are perfect as well. Even the mouth harp appears (simple, but powerful). No backing vocals - just perfect overdubbs of her own. And last but not least - the lyrics. Simply you trust her, the charming lady, so open without any pretending in love affairs (..when you sing the blues, I'll take off my clothes for you). Surprisigly, even autobiographic (Mama and Papa) and social themes from an immigrant milieu appear, a feature I was not used to with Joan. The closing, slowly gradating bluesy song (Something's Gotta Blow) with the socially oriented lyrics is really overwhelming. Amen. We've heard the trinity of words, singing and music of JA, a mature woman who has created an extremely mature piece of art.