Intervention Records – the label well-known for its audiophile-quality releases – has announced its latest title: Joan Armatrading’s 1976 self-titled classic.  It’s been highly anticipated since we first reported about it, and we’re thrilled that the time is finally right for its reappraisal.

Armatrading’s breakthrough album will be reissued on 180-gram vinyl on April 5.

With classic tracks like “Love and Affection” and “Down to Zero,” the Glyn Johns-produced Joan Armatrading was the British singer-songwriter’s breakout album, and it introduced American audiences to her singular talents.  Soulful vocals, shimmering guitar work, and faultless songwriting are on full display on the celebrated recording, which first arrived on A&M Records in the autumn of 1976.  Forty-plus years after its original release, it still stands as a high-water mark of the singer-songwriter genre, as much on its musical merits as on its production value.

Intervention will now give the album the treatment it deserves with a 180-gram, RTI-pressed, ultra-quiet LP reissue, expertly remastered by Kevin Gray.  As usual, the label has used the best-available source: in this case, an analog 1/2″ safety copy of the original stereo master tape.  Intervention maintains that the album will now sound even more “rich, resonant, and dynamic.”  And with restored art overseen by Tom Vadakan and a gorgeous, Stoughton-printed tip-on gatefold sleeve, what’s not to love?

Joan Armatrading is now available for pre-order directly from the Intervention Records website.  We’ll update this post with Amazon pre-order links as soon as they become available!

Joan Armatrading, Joan Armatrading (A&M LP SP 4588, 1976 – reissued Intervention Records IR-029, 2020) (Intervention Records)

1. Down to Zero
2. Help Yourself
3. Water with the Wine
4. Love and Affection
5. Save Me
6. Join the Boys
7. People
8. Somebody Who Loves You
9. Like Fire
10. Tall in the Saddle