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For an artist well into her fifth decade of writing and recording music, Joan Armatrading has remained more energized and prolific than singers half her age. Following a trilogy of albums devoted entirely to specific genres -- 2007's Into the Blues (blues), 2011 This Charming Life (rock), and 2013's Starlight (jazz) -- a collection of songs composed for a production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and a live album documenting her 18-month solo Me Myself I world tour, the British songwriting icon returns with Not Too Far Away, her first un-themed studio album since 2003's career highlight Lovers Speak.

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Soulful English singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading spent her last two outings, 2007's rootsy, Grammy Award-nominated Into the Blues and 2010's propulsive, electrified This Charming Life, testing the boundaries of the genre, channeling both the acoustic and electric histories of the blues with equal parts wit, warmth, and wildness. Released in 2013, Starlight serves as a jazz-centric complement to those two releases, offering up a luxurious set of new originals -- like "Single Life," "The Way I Think of You," "Always on My Mind," and the buttery title cut, all of which find Armatrading handling each and every instrument -- that skillfully bridges the gap between the smooth folk-pop of Show Some Emotion, the amorous candor of Lover's Speak, and the evocative cool of the aforementioned Into the Blues.

Изменил: petruha по причине: RE-UP

Изменил: petruha по причине: RE-UP

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When an artist releases something as profoundly moving as Lovers Speak, critical acumen doesn't mean a damned thing. Joan Armatrading's first album proper in five years is a startling testament of artistic integrity, searing emotional honesty, and musical accessibility and sophistication that is literally unmatched by anything on the current musical scene. In fact, the only comparable album from 2003 is Annie Lennox's Bare. But where the latter is an album of confessions and exorcism, Lovers Speak is an unflinching look at the language of love from all sides.

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Joan Armatrading's abandonment of A&M Records after two decades makes sense when you consider that the long-time independent has been swallowed by PolyGram. What doesn't make sense is where she went, the virtually moribund RCA, which managed to release this label debut as though it were a state secret. The album itself is an interesting mixture of the styles Armatrading has employed at various times in her career, from the spare, intimate approach associated with her "Love And Affection" phase to the pop-rock of "Me Myself I."

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Joan Armatrading, who has spent the better part of her career demanding greater commitment and fidelity from men than they seem willing to give her, turns the tables on her 13th album, abandoning herself to lust for "the wrong guy" and unfaithfulness to her beloved. The equation produces interesting, if not always successful, results, such as the characteristically convoluted "Can't Get Over (How I Broke Your Heart)," but makes a poor lead-in to the philosophical "If Women Ruled the World," which proves that sexism sounds just as lame-brained coming from a woman as it does coming from a man. "Not all men kill babies," Armatrading admits, which is certainly a relief to hear. But if women ruled the world, there would be "no more war, no more hate...no more sons dying young." This from a woman who lived under the Margaret Thatcher regime during the Falklands War.

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For much of her 12th new studio album, Joan Armatrading sounds like she is ending a bad relationship, but by the last two songs she sounds like she's beginning a good one. Still, she finds herself pledging herself to someone she worries may not have the same commitment she does. Thus, perhaps the album's signal song (and Armatrading's first UK chart single in five years) is "More Than One Kind Of Love," in which she touts the value of friendship over romance: "Good friendships seldom die," she sings, and we are painfully aware that, especially in Armatrading's world, even good love affairs seldom live. Still, this is less a revelation than an incremental development in the artist's work, and Hearts And Flowers doesn't contain any songs that rank among her best.

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The good news is that, after several albums of flirting with rock and overproduction, Joan Armatrading has developed a spare sound once again focusing on her songs and singing, backed by such tasteful accompanists as Dire Straits members Mark Knopfler and Alan Clark. The not-so-good news is that, lyrically, Armatrading seems trapped in a romantic cul-de-sac -- when she doesn't have the object of her affections, she longs for him, but when she does have him, she argues with him and suspects him of infidelity, not to mention emotional abuse.