The Shouting Stage
	Produced by Joan Armatrading
	Released on July 1988
	UK CHART POSITION #18 . . . US CHART POSITION #100
	Find it at GEMM
SP 5211 cover [high resolution scan]

S leight of Hand had a few songs like this up its sleeve (�Jesse,� �Russian Roulette,� �The Laurel and The Rose�). The Shouting Stage produces an armful. Despite the title, this is perhaps her most graceful album in a decade. The opening �The Devil I Know,� with its sophisticated jazz arrangement, lets you know that Joan won�t be trying to rock your socks off. Instead, she charms you with the warm island melodies that have always been at the core of her best work (�Living For You,� Straight Talk�) and moves you with deep observations about the cunning art (�The Shouting Stage,� �All A Woman Needs�). Synthesizers are largely absent from the album, the songs are complex yet supple, the pointed playing of part-time guest Mark Knopfler is delicious. The Shouting Stage is exactly where I hoped Joan Armatrading would be at this stage in her career: mining familiar melodies with richer results. It�s not about the hits anymore, though �Living For You� and �Straight Talk� can hold their own with any of them. It�s about quality, consistency, experience. Maybe it�s the participation of Knopfler and Alan Clark, but The Shouting Stage reminds me of the softer moments on Brothers In Arms. It flows from a natural, organic place that her last few albums didn�t in their attempt to (at least partially) please rock audiences. Here Joan returns to the dire confessional, the giddy romp in the rain, those girlish conceits that made her a unique and attractive voice in music. As her last two records showed (�Jesse,� �Talking to the Wall�), Joan can still be very graceful when she wants. And that kind of gracefulness informs The Shouting Stage more than her last few albums.

TRACK LISTING

1. THE DEVIL I KNOW    4:13
2. LIVING FOR YOU    4:14
3. DID I MAKE YOU UP    3:45
4. STRONGER LOVE    5:07
5. THE SHOUTING STAGE    5:27
6. WORDS    3:46
7. STRAIGHT TALK    4:02
8. WATCH YOUR STEP    3:58
9. ALL A WOMAN NEEDS    5:01
10. DARK TRUTHS    2:09
    
    All songs written by Joan Armatrading

CREDITS

JOAN ARMATRADING -- vocals, guitar solo
BOB NOBLE -- keyboards, strings, organ
PINO PALLADINO -- bass
PHIL PALMER -- guitar
Guy Barker -- trumpet (2)
Mark Brzezicki -- drums (1,3)
Alan Clark -- keyboards, piano (2,4,8)
Manu Katché -- drums (6,7)
Mark Knopfler -- guitar (3,5)
Jamie Lane -- drums (2,8)
Jody Linscott -- percussion (3,5)
Wesley Magoogan -- sax (4,7)
Dave Mattacks -- drums (5,9)
David Rhodes -- backing vocals (6,7)
Graham Dickson -- engineer, mixing
Andrew Catlin -- photography
David Band -- illustrations
Sandra Bonnick -- hair
Jeremy Pearce -- art direction
Sarah Southin -- design

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