JOAN ARMATRADING -- INTO THE BLUES

From her beginnings over three-and-a-half decades ago, singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading parlayed her West Indian heritage and her British upbringing into an amazing musical hybrid, combining Folk, Reggae, Pop, Rock and Soul into a powerful and mesmerizing sonic gumbo. She consequently became a stadium-sized star in Europe and a club-scaled cult hero in the States, a commercial chart topper over there, a starving critic's darling here. Her output in recent years has veered toward romantic Pop, a style she does better than anyone but a direction that's disenchanted even her staunch critical supporters and played well only to her already loyal fan base. On her latest album, Into the Blues, Armatrading energizes her terrain-around-the-heart style with a sinewy, funky Blues overlay with absolutely stunning results, from the muscular thump and inspired soloing on "There Ain't a Girl Alive" to the Maurice-Gibb-sings-the-Blues lightning snap and thunder roll of "D.N.A." to the classic bump-and-grind-to-Hip-Hop-and-back groove of "Liza" to the choogling Robert Bradley-honors-David Byrne urban Soul Blues slink of "My Baby's Gone." Perhaps most impressively, save for the input of a pair of drummers who also provide percussion and mandolin, every instrument and every vocal on Into the Blues was handled by Armatrading herself. Critical pleading for Armatrading's stardom began in the '70s, and while it's great that Europe heeded the call, it would be better to see her name at the top of the American charts in place of the heavily salted/lightly talented Pop pretenders who rise by virtue of little more than a third place finish in a puffed up singing contest. When it comes to talent, durability, consistency and quiet brilliance, there is none to compare with Joan Armatrading. (Brian Baker) Grade: A