Joan Armatrading

Joan Armatrading – To The Limit (1978/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:36 minutes | 843 MB | Genre: Folk, Folk Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © A&M

“To the Limit” is the fifth studio album by British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading. The album was Armatrading’s third and final studio collaboration with producer Glyn Johns. It was recorded at Olympic Studios in the London suburb of Barnes and mastered at The Mastering Lab, Los Angeles. To the Limit marks a departure from her previous work, as she wanted to move away from the formal sound of a studio album and aim more for the feel of a live performance while retaining the quality of a studio. To this end, she used half the number of musicians she previously had, used a live studio band, and kept overdubs to a minimum.
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Joan Armatrading – The Key (1983/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:56 minutes | 785 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © A&M

The Key is the eighth studio album by the British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, released on 28 February 1983 by A&M Records (AMLX64912). The album was recorded at Townhouse Studios in Shepherd’s Bush, London; Polar Studios in Stockholm and also in New York.

The album spawned the single “Drop the Pilot”, which became one of Armatrading’s biggest hits, reaching number 11 in the UK Singles Chart over a 10-week stay. It also quickly became a staple of Armatrading’s live performances and has featured on many of her compilation albums. Armatrading and her backing band also performed the song on Top of the Pops in early 1983.
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Joan Armatrading – Show Some Emotion (1977/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:26 minutes | 775 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © A&M

Retaining producer Glyn Johns and some of the same session players from her last record, Show Some Emotion repeated that album’s chart success and included two more terrific singles in the same vein: “Show Some Emotion” and “Willow.” However, the rest of the album sounds like outtakes from that effort. Gone is the smooth, honeyfied flow of Joan Armatrading; the lyrics seem to lack a sense of meter, the songs occasionally rely on pedestrian R&B arrangements to move them along, and the buoyant melodies are few and far between. Part of the problem stems from poor track placement; the vulnerable “Woncha Come on Home,” which would have worked well at the end of side one or two, is an awful choice as the opening track. Placing the similar-sounding “Mama Mercy” and “Get in the Sun” next to each other suggests that Armatrading even had trouble coming up with filler, and waiting until the end of the album to unleash the energetic “Kissin’ and a Huggin'” leaves the listener all charged up for nothing. While the title track and “Willow” are good enough to justify the album purchase alone, they’re available on any number of compilations. Without them, Show Some Emotion lacks any must-own material, although the aptly titled “Warm Love,” “Kissin’ and a Huggin’,” and the compelling “Opportunity” are worth hearing. Overall, this feels like a step back after her last effort. The fine voice and smattering of rock, jazz, and island melodies place it as vintage Joan Armatrading, but the material is a cut below her better work.
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Joan Armatrading – Me Myself I (1980/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 35:48 minutes | 687 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © A&M

Me Myself I is the sixth studio album by British recording artist Joan Armatrading. Released in May 1980, the album was Armatrading’s highest ever chart placing both in the UK (number 5) and in the US (number 28). In Australia, the album peaked at number 13. It was certified “Gold” in the UK by the BPI in July 1980.
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Joan Armatrading – Joan Armatrading (1976/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:01 minutes | 884 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © A&M

Joan Armatrading is the third studio album from the British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading and her second for A&M Records. It was her first album to be recorded entirely in London, as her first two albums – Whatever’s for Us and Back to the Night being partially recorded in France and Wales respectively in addition to London.
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Joan Armatrading – Consequences (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 34:45 minutes | 396 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd

Joan is a 3 times Grammy Nominated Singer / Songwriter. Consequences, Joan Armatrading’s new album, is one of her most intimate and direct albums yet and one that wears its conscience and its heart on its sleeve. Released via BMG, and her 22nd studio album to date, it ably illustrates the fact that Joan Armatrading never likes to repeat herself. It is a very different follow up to 2018’s Top 30 hit album Not Too Far Away.
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Joan Armatrading – Live at Asylum Chapel (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:41:40 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited

Joan Armatrading loves the unexpected, the temptation to experiment. This is how the singer-songwriter has always kept it musically on her 22 studio albums. And when she was missing a bit of material for “How Cruel” back then, she just had one side pressed. But songs like “He Wants Her” and “I Really Must Be Going” still compensate for the missing B-side. Armatrading had to be 70 years old to be surprised himself, of course by the pandemic and a musician’s existence on the fringes of the public.
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