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FROM TORONTO STAR:
JOAN ARMATRADING
Into the Blues (429 Records)
Fans of the blues are right to feel a little suspicious when an artist claims late in the game to have finally embraced the genre because it gives her pleasure to play blues guitar.
The St. Kitts-born, Birmingham-raised singer and songwriter does more than that on her first album in several years, and a surprising departure from the moody, rhythmic roots-pop for which she's known. An assertive and quite underrated guitarist, Armatrading not only layers the 13 songs here with slick and lucid Chicago-style single-string runs and an authentic-sounding swampy Delta licks, but, with the exception of drums, she handles all other instrumental - keyboards, bass, harmonica -duties, as well as vocal parts.
Whether a real band can successfully recreate the dark, naked emotion at the musical core of the best songs on this intense solo opus remains to be seen; Armatrading is performing Tuesday night at Massey Hall with a full touring outfit. Top Track: "Deep Down," because its two-word lyric, repeated 98 times in under four minutes, is very easy to remember.
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The
SLG, Savoy Jazz and Denon Records catalogs are available for purchase
at the following sites: |
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