Joan Armatrading - Into The Blues

Veteran troubadour goes back to basics

Cranking up the amps and letting rip on a Fender Strat may not be the sort of behaviour the casual listener associates with Armatrading, but this is the record she’s been promising herself for years. Not that she’s totally abandoned the gentle acoustic balladry that first her made her millions, more that this the most complete portrait yet of an oftunderrated singer-songwriter.

A blues fan from childhood, Armatrading (playing all instruments except drums) has tapped into her love for Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, with about half the album dripping with barroom sleaze and blistering guitar breaks. There Ain’t A Girl Alive tears at the speakers with the surly aggression of PJ Harvey, Empty Highway owes much to Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, while A Woman In Love is a palatable attempt at smooth slidin’ Claptonisms.

She revisits the subtlety of her former glories on the beautiful Secular Songs, and lets mandolin and harp take centre stage on the rustic stroll of Baby Blue Eyes. There’s even a stab at 70s funk on the Sly Stone-inspired DNA, as our Joanie flits between moods, but never veers too far from traditional 12-bar roots.

Hypertension | HYP 7255

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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