Denon Records
2003
Lovers Speak
About This Album
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. It is an investigation into the experience of love, its languishing and loss, and the redemption it is capable of rewarding to those who persevere and refine themselves through heartache and acceptance and tolerance. For starters, Armatrading, who has been known to consort with producers like Steve Lillywhite and experiment with song forms radically, decided to bear the weight of her own production in the chair and on the floor: she arranged and played everything herself. It's as if the emotional and physical and spiritual states explored here are so personal, so full of instruction and transcendence for the artist, that she had to carry them all upon her back as they flowed from her pen, hands, and heart, giving them utterance in the grain of her voice.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,7,8,12 and 13)

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