Show Some Emotion – Joan Armatrading

There’s something about the sound of the early Joan Armatrading albums that made music in the 70’s so good, particularly her self titled album from 1976 and Show Some Emotion which was released the following year. Before moving into a more pop oriented style these Armatrading albums from the mid 70’s were very much a product of the singer/songwriter era with considerable jazz influences in the song arrangements.

Both albums were produced by Glyn Johns and both used some incredibly fine musicians, including Jerry Donahue (Fairport Convention), Georgie Fame and David Kemper, who later went on to play with Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan.

Johns, whose production credits cover everyone from The Who and the Rolling Stones to Midnight Oil and The Clash, would later say that Joan’s self-titled album was “the best record he’d ever been associated with”. As far as I’m concerned Show Some Emotion is close to being as good as its predecessor (even though this album wasn’t as well received by some critics).

Throughout Show Some Emotion Armatrading effortlessly moves from the most tender love songs to complex rhythms with a vocal range that can travel from a deep register to reach some remarkably high notes. Joan’s unique phrasing and distinctive rhythm combined with her ability to use her soulful voice as an instrument by bending notes to match the jazz inspired arrangements puts her in class of her own. As a songwriter her lyrical and emotional honesty run the gamut of love’s emotions – contentment, joy, elation, ecstasy, suspicion, jealousy, loneliness and despair.

The album opens unusually and perhaps a little misguidedly with the sparsely arranged Babe Woncha Come On Home with just Joan on acoustic guitar. Lyrically the song taps into the fear of abandonment as Joan puts a different spin on the notion of the lights are on, but nobody’s home:

Every light is on

But all the rooms

Are empty

Except one

Oh babe don’t stay too late

You Know I hate to be alone

Babe woncha come on home 

The album then kicks in with the sonically charged title track. Show Some Emotion is a jazz/funk fusion driven by a superb pulsating bass line. David Kemper’s syncopated percussion on the high hat keeps the tempo taut and ticking along as the song gets underway, but the band is off the leash before Joan can finish the first verse and the song finds its groove with Joan bending those beautiful falsetto notes as the song sets ablaze. Later the song breaks into a jazz infused jam with Joan providing some quick fire guitar runs before one more run through of the chorus. It’s the most exhilarating song Joan ever recorded, which makes the decision not to use it as the album’s opener a curiously strange decision.

The sweet surrender of Warm Love gives way to Never Is Too Late, a reggae flavoured groove that’s a wake up call to ensure you don’t let love pass you by. The beautiful Peace In Mind closes out side one as it reflectively addresses love gone wrong and questions the motives behind an ex lover’s actions.

Side two opens with a slice of crime noir. Opportunities is a downbeat, slow, soulful shuffle where Joan is once again bending her vocal delivery like she’s tuning a guitar. Jerry Donahue’s sly and slightly mournful slide work sits in the groove nicely with Joan’s dexterity beautifully illustrated as she takes the lead with an acoustic blues.

Then it’s Joan in full rhythm strut with Mama Mercy as the song confronts the temptations of the flesh. Get In The Sun sees the band cutting loose in a funky rhythmic jam before slamming to a halt as the album to make way for one of Joan’s finest songs.

For such a slow and gentle song Willow retains an incredible amount of power. The song is led by the gentlest of percussive beats with a slow resounding bass line augmented by a simple chord structure and melody played by Georgie Fame on the Rhodes keyboard. The electric guitar chimes in unison with the keys to create the track’s distinctive dramatic signature with the underplayed strumming of Joan’s rhythm guitar providing the counterpoint. And this is where full credit must go to Glyn Johns, everything on Willow is underplayed – even the strings are kept to the barest minimum, like a gentle zephyr caressing the metaphorical tree’s leaves when it must have been so tempting to wring the emotional saccharine from the heart of the song. And that leaves us with Joan’s glorious vocal, backing her own lead with just the slightest accompaniment. It’s a deftly executed song that is simply stunning.

The only thing that has surpassed this version of Willow was witnessing Joan perform it live as she orchestrated an audience of around 12 000 into a three part harmony behind her vocal. It was one of the most moving and beautiful moments I’ve ever experienced in concert. We just kept singing those harmonies over and over again – nobody wanted it to stop, least of all me. I still get goose bumps thinking about it 30 years later.

Show Some Emotion ends with the joyous Kissin’ And A Huggin’, a playfully rhythmical number that changes up and down gears as the band exercises its chops on the arrangement.

If I had one criticism of this album it’s the order of the songs – opening each side of the album with two slower numbers, as good as they are, really gives the album a weird kind of rhythm. If side one had opened with the title track and side two with Kissin’ And A Huggin’ (with Willow as the album’s closing number) I think the album would have had a better overall feel and might have won over a few of those critics who were disappointed after Joan’s previous self-titled release. But damn those critics, this is still a fabulous collection of songs, right up there with Joan’s finest.