Joan Armatrading – “Show Some Emotion” (1977) Review | Love, Which Is God, Will Consider Our Laughs and Tears as Incense Burned at His Altar*

Kronomyth 4.2: A show of confidence.

Show Some Emotion is the album where Joan Armatrading truly found her voice. There’s a confidence in songs like Show Some Emotion and Peace in Mind that you hadn’t heard before from the artist. Sure, Joan Armatrading had some amazing songs, and you could almost hear Joan’s own wonder and amazement at them when she sang them, but nothing she’d recorded before had the swagger of a “Show Some Emotion.” Why it didn’t chart remains a mystery. I can understand the cold shoulder here in the US (the first time I heard Joan on the radio was for “My Myself I”), but surely the UK could have shown some love. In the UK, the album track Peace in Mind appeared on the flip, while the rest of the world was served that perennial beauty of a B side, No Way Out. Listening to “No Way Out” again, I’m reminded of Paul McCartney, as she crams about six minutes of melodies into a two-minute song. (*Kahlil Gibran: “…love, which is God, will consider our sighs and tears as incense burned at his altar…”)

The Product

A1. Show Some Emotion (Joan Armatrading) (3:25)
B1. No Way Out (Joan Armatrading) (2:11)

UK 7-inch single version
A1. Show Some Emotion (Joan Armatrading) (3:25)
B1. Peace in Mind (3:20)

The Plastic

Released on 7-inch single in December 1977 in the US (A&M, 1994-S), Australia (A&M, K-7010) and the Netherlands (A&M, AMS 5624) and on January 27, 1978 in the UK (A&M, AMS 7331) with picture sleeve. Also released as promotional 7-inch single in 1977 in the US (A&M, 1994) feat. A stereo & mono versions.