On the trio of albums that made her reputation in 1976-1978,
Joan Armatrading,
Show Some Emotion, and
To the Limit,
Armatrading relied on the pristine production of
Glyn Johns to underscore the sensitivity of her folk-based confessional songs. Here, on her first full-length album in two years, she turned to rock producer
Richard Gottehrer and a session band that included
Anton Fig,
Chris Spedding, and members of
the E Street Band, making her case for being a mainstream rocker. The songs were less serious, too, notably the title track, a U.K. hit. (The album's other British chart single was the ballad "All the Way from America," which was more in the style of her earlier work.) The result was the best selling album
Armatrading has ever had in either the U.S. or U.K.
–
William Ruhlmann, Rovi