Day 41: Joan, Cyndi and Blur

Album 133/1031

Joan Armatrading - Joan Armatrading (1976)

All tracks composed by Joan Armatrading

Side One

1. "Down to Zero" – 3:51
2. "Help Yourself" – 4:04
3. "Water With the Wine" – 2:48
4. "Love and Affection" – 4:28
5. "Save Me" – 3:35

Side Two

1. "Join the Boys" – 4:48
2. "People" – 3:30
3. "Somebody Who Loves You" – 3:33
4. "Like Fire" – 5:12
5. "Tall in the Saddle" – 5:43

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Armatrading_(album)

Golf's verdict: HIDDEN GEM! The album that gave us 'Love and Affection' is also packed full of many of other great tunes. I had no idea what this would be like, but it is well worth tracking down. 'Tall in the Saddle' is another cracker.

Maire's verdict: Thoroughly enjoyed this. Didn't really know what to expect but would highly recommend.

Album 134/1031

Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual (1983)

Side A
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Publisher	Length
1.	"Money Changes Everything"	Tom Gray	Gray Matter Music/ATV Music Corp.	5:06
2.	"Girls Just Want to Have Fun"	Robert Hazard	Heroic Music	3:51
3.	"When You Were Mine"	Prince	Ecnirp Music	5:06
4.	"Time After Time"	Cyndi Lauper, Rob Hyman	Dub Notes, Rella Music	4:03

Side B
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Publisher	Length
5.	"She Bop"	Lauper, Rick Chertoff, Gary Corbett, Stephen Broughton Lunt	Rellla Music Co., Noyb Music Co., Wall to Wall Music Co. & Hobbler Music	3:47
6.	"All Through the Night"	Jules Shear	Funzalo Music/Juters Music Co.	4:33
7.	"Witness"	Lauper, John Turi	Turalaura Music and Turi Music	3:40
8.	"I'll Kiss You"	Lauper, Shear	Rellla Music Co., Funzalo Music / Juters Music Co.	4:12
9.	"He's So Unusual"	Al Sherman, Al Lewis, Abner Silver	Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. Inc	0:45
10.	"Yeah Yeah"	Hasse Huss, Mikael Rickfors	Stainless Music Corp.	3:18

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She's_So_Unusual

Golf's verdict: Listened to 9 of the 10 tracks to this. The 10th, Track 3, was written by Prince and so therefore embargoed from Spotify. News is that next week this will be resolved and we'll be seeing all his main catalogue on streaming services. This was great fun and shows why most of the money in 1983 was on Cyndi having the 30 year career, not Madonna.

Maire's verdict: I didn't think I knew many Cyndi tracks (although 'Time After Time' is a classic) so was surprised when I hummed along to a lot of these. Not sure I would go out and buy it but would certainly listen to it again.

Album 135/1031

Blur - Blur (1997)

All tracks written by Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree, except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Beetlebum"	5:04
2.	"Song 2"	2:02
3.	"Country Sad Ballad Man"	4:50
4.	"M.O.R." (Albarn/David Bowie/Coxon/Brian Eno/James/Rowntree)	3:27
5.	"On Your Own"	4:26
6.	"Theme from Retro"	3:37
7.	"You're So Great" (Coxon)	3:35
8.	"Death of a Party"	4:33
9.	"Chinese Bombs"	1:24
10.	"I'm Just a Killer for Your Love"	4:11
11.	"Look Inside America"	3:50
12.	"Strange News from Another Star"	4:02
13.	"Movin' On"	3:44
14.	"Essex Dogs" (includes hidden track "Interlude")	8:08

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blur_(Blur_album)

Golf's verdict: This might be Blur's strongest album, although if you'd have asked me yesterday I probably would have gone for something else. The first 2 tracks speak for themselves and were big hits. (Seeing Beetlebum get to Number 1 and them performing it on Top of the Pops was one the more unusual sights in 1997.) But the album is full of great songs like "Death of a Party' and 'Strange News from Another Star'.

Maire's verdict: 'Song 2' is one of my favourite Blur songs and the rest of the album is chock full of great tunes.