Track Listing

1. Water With The Wine
2. Help Yourself
3. Somebody Who Loves You
4. Like Fire
5. Tall In The Saddle
6. Friends
7. Is It Tomorrow Yet?
8. Turn Out The Light
9. When You Kisses Me
10. All The Way From America
11. Show Some Emotion
12. Woncha Come On Home
13. Warm Love
14. Opportunity
15. Get In The Sun
16. Willow
17. Kissin' And A Huggin'
18. Love And Affection

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16593 in Music
• Released on: 1998-07-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 70 minutes

Customer Reviews

Singer-songwriter with distinctive style
Born on the Caribbean island of St Kitts, Joan moved with her family to Birmingham, England when she was around seven or eight years old and it was in Birmingham that her enthusiasm for music developed. Joan's career developed slowly but steadily. Her third album, simply titled Joan Armatrading, released in 1976, contained her first hit and the song for which she is still remembered most for, Love and affection. That album, together with Show some emotion (1977) and Me myself I (1980) are the source of all the tracks for this UK budget compilation. This does not make it a truly balanced retrospective, since other fine albums such as To the limit (1978), Walk under ladders (1981) and The key (1982) all sold well and are un-represented. Given that, it is curious that the title track of Me myself I (which just missed the UK top twenty as a single) is not included although five other tracks from the album are here. Nevertheless, this is a budget collection and provides a fine introduction to Joan's music at a great price.

Joan has a mellow voice but her music is not easy to classify - it blends folk, gospel, soul, funk and reggae. This description might suggest a very eclectic collection but it's not so as Joan found a style that worked for her. In the eighties, rock was added into the mix but it wasn't a significant part of Joan's early albums from which this collection was compiled. Among the tracks here, Love and affection is easily the strongest but there are other fine tracks including Water in the wine, Twall in the saddle, All the way from America, Tall in the saddle, Show some emotion, Warm love and Willow.

While this is by no means the definitive collection of Joan's music, it provides a wonderful introduction to her music at a budget price. This will suffice for those who only remember Joan for Love and affection, but who want to hear a bit more of her music. Committed fans can find stronger compilations that include My myself I and Drop the pilot, her two biggest UK hits apart from Love and affection.

homage to a chill-out goddess
need i say more?? a perfect album for anyone who loves a relax in the bath with a glass of red wine and a good book. if you like tracy chapman you'll love this