Search - Joan Armatrading Live - All the Way from America on DVD

10 for the music, 1 for the video quality

Carol Haynes | North Yorkshire UK | 07/31/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Still contemporary after three-plus decades!

J. Lund | SoCal, USA | 04/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Actually 4 and 1/2 stars......

J. Bilby | Kingston, New Hampshire United States | 08/11/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Saw the concert, not the DVD...but

Ron Hudson | Durham, NC, USA | 07/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw the concert from last year's tour at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC. The performance, was, as usual, fantastic and Ms. Armatrading engaged the audience with her music and her wit. I am sure that this DVD will capture the same. During one song, she broke not 1, not 2 but 3 guitar strings and continued the song as if nothing had happened! An amazing performance from a favorite artist. Durham loves Joan Armatrading and I think that she knows that now."