Armatrading ‘the best’

Press, 10 June 1978, Page 6

Armatrading ‘the best’

By NEVIN TOPP Joan Armatrading showed why she is one of the most I widely acclaimed female singers in the world when she sang in the Christchurch Town Hall last evening.

Dressed in a plain shirt and jeans, she drew most of the audience to their feet with two encores. Her approach was as simple, and almost as selfeffacing. as her dress. She played a mixture of

(gospel, blues, rock and | reggae-based songs with a I startling force that conI trasted with her wry, almost I shy self. An example of her force I was when she accompanied (herself on acoustic guitar in “Stepping Out.” Seldom has an acoustic guitar had such aggressive, superb playing in the Town Hall. Joan Armatrading’s wry humour also came to the fore when telling about the origins of the song “Kissin’ And A Huggin’,” It would be hard to say whether the lighter or the heavier songs, when using the five-men backing group, were better, such was the quality of the music. “Tall In The Saddle,” with its dedication to men who think that they are “God’s gift to women,” was the best “heavy” number of the night. “Love And Affection” and “Back to the Night” were both gospel-based. She showed that not only could

she handle a guitar well, but in her ‘'messing around” mood she played “Peace In Mind” on the piano.

Her unusual voice, often a husky contralto, and her simple, individual style of song writing and singing, made the concert the best so far this year.