Joan Armatrading Live - All the Way from America

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A major talent, if not a major success, since the mid-1970s, Joan Armatrading gets a classy showcase for her music with Live: All the Way from America, a 21-song (plus two bonus tracks), 105-minute concert recorded in California in 2003. The West Indies-born, British-raised singer-songwriter (she's also an excellent guitarist) is usually described as "unique" or "idiosyncratic"--appropriate terms, as Armatrading has comfortably moved between rock, reggae, soul, folk, and other styles throughout her career. And so it is here, as Armatrading, accompanied by only a drummer and a keyboardist, draws liberally from her Lovers Speak album (fully nine tunes come from that '03 release, including the lovely ballad "Crazy for You" and the smooth-grooving "Let's Talk About Us"), while also reprising such enduring hits (well, sort of) as "The Weakness in Me," "Love and Affection," and the very funky "Kissin' and a Huggin'." The singer's voice is occasionally a little unsteady; and while the sound is superb ("no overdubs whatsoever!" trumpets the cover blurb), the sometimes choppy film editing (credited to Armatrading herself) can be a distraction. Still, considering that Track Record, her only other video product, has been out of print for years, Joan Armatrading's ardent fans can only rejoice at the release of this generally excellent piece of work. --Sam Graham

Description

One of popular music's most enduring and respected singer songwriters captured in her favorite environment - live in front of a theater full of adoring fans!

This spectacular event recording was filmed during Joan's 2003 World Tour and features a collection of her most popular hits (Love and Affection, All the Way from America, Blessed, Willow) along with new songs from her most recent studio album 'Lover's Speak'. Filmed completely live at the Lillian Fontaine Theater in Saratoga, California 'All the Way From America' showcases Joan as the consummate entertainer she is - accomplished singer/songwriter, guitarist and spellbinding story teller.

DVD Video tracks:
1. Down To Zero
2. All The Way From America
3. Prove Yourself
4. Physical Pain
5. You Made Your Bed
6. Tender Trap
7. The Weakness In Me
8. Let's Talk About Us
9. Join The Boys
10. Save Me
11. Everyday Boy
12. Love And Affection
13. Crazy For You
14. Lovers Speak
15. Love Bug
16. Rosie
17. Mama Mercy
18. Kissin And A Huggin
19. Me Myself I
20. Willow
21. Blessed

Bonus Tracks:
Bottom To The Top
*In These Times (Studio Version)

Customer Reviews:

Joan ! Please don't quit your day( & night) job as a singer.......2006-03-01

I just bought this DVD a couple days ago. The music performance is good. But to my big disappointment, the filming & the editing are terrible.

I use 123 inch projector screen for my home theatre system, and frankly speaking, watching this DVD really make my head spin.

Another big surprise, is that when I try to blame whomever is responsible for the image work of this DVD, but only to find in the end credit.
It is Joan herself who produced, directed & edited this DVD.

So, Joan, please stick to your singing/songwriting talent. Hire a good director instead of doing by yourself.

A word of advise for Joan's fans, please buy CD instead of DVD.

Still contemporary after three-plus decades!.......2005-04-15

Three decades after her earliest recordings, a full-length concert by Joan Armatrading finally sees the light of day, recorded June 25th, 2003 at Saratoga California. Not too late, fortunately: she is in prime voice and able to perform even the early tunes with the depth and flexibility that marked the original versions. Not only that, her music is about as timeless as that of any other contemporary singer-songwriter, at least this side of Joni Mitchell. In that regard, if I weren't familiar with her music and someone told me Joan was a newcomer on the music scene, based on the music on this DVD I would have no trouble believing that.

Part of the contemporary feel of this concert is in my opinion due to the fact that nearly half of the songs are culled from her then-most-recent album (2003's LOVER'S SPEAK, one of her best ever). No matter how long an artist has been around, when they stay focused on performing the tunes that matter the most to them at any given point in time, that tends to be a great way to remain inspired and relevant even if one has been on the scene for over thirty years.

Even so, there is a generous selection of classic tunes that have not aged a bit. She still performs the likes of "Down to Zero," "Love And Affection," "The Weakness In Me," and others as if the tunes were just born yesterday. Interestingly, she appears with only two supporting musicians, but due to their versatility one doesn't ever get the idea that there needs to be a bigger band. All in all, anyone who was ever a Joan Armatrading fan -- particularly those who may not have kept up with her recently -- will likely have lots of good things to say about this DVD. While I won't argue with other reviewers who were critical of the video editing, I'm glad that all of the tunes are heard in their entirety and the 5.1 sound mix is up-to-standard.

Exceedingly high quality recording of a unique talent.......2004-10-04

Joan Armatrading has a consistent thirty-year record of creating thoughtful and evocative songs set to her virtuoso guitar.

This recording is a sheer delight: bliss from a musical genius.

Musical trends come and go but sparingly few artists are capable of creating music that endures. Centuries from now people will still be listening to Beethoven and Mozart and Joan Armatrading. With this DVD they will be able to see her and experience the magic of her live performance too.

Beautiful. Thank you, Joan.

Actually 4 and 1/2 stars.............2004-08-12

Great concert, its extra special just to be able to sit in the
music room and listen and watch the one and only Joan Armatrading LIVE. I saw the show(reviewed on the CD of this
same show)in Boston last year. Having seen Joan many times as
she made her way through the BOSTON area shes never the same.
Whatever music or band she tours with is alway top shelf and
this threesome play well together. Its to bad the camera work
could have been more restrained at times but its a nice DVD to
finally have. My favorites "Kissin and a Huggin", "The weakness in me", "Everyday boy", "Willow" so many highlights.

10 for the music, 1 for the video quality.......2004-07-31

Having seen Joan Armatrading live a number of years ago in Oxford (UK) I was really pleased to see a rare DVD of her concert appear.

As expected the music is excellent but the whole experience is marred for me by a number of flaws in the video quality:

1) It is very dark - obviously no lighting concession was made for the fact it was being filmed and consequently a lot of it is either harshly lit (washed out) or very dark and grainy.

2) There is far to much swapping shots for me - I begin to feel dizzy after a while. Also some of the shots appear distorted as Joan changes shape between camera angles!

3) Some of the camera men appear to be filming on handheld camcorders and have a zoom fetish - or else they were drunk! Unfortunately they seem incapable of pointing at the subject and operating the zoom at the same time consequently there is a lot of footage of random bits of Joan, the floor, the crowd, looking out of the window - none of which was intentional as far as I can see and appears very amateurish.

4) There are film/sound cuts between songs (including cutting off Joan talking to the audience at one point) which disrupts the performance and makes it all feel very disjointed.

What a shame such a good perfromance was spoiled by a pretty incompetant film crew!!

I read other reviews on here before I bought it and can only assume that since most reviewers saw this concert (or one of the series) that it brings back fond memories. As an intro to Joan live (if you can't get there in person) unfortunately this is about all there is but I'm not sure I would be convinced if I hadn't seen her before and been a fan for years.

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