Contemporary counterpart to What's Going On
From the guitar work in Minny Pops, via roles in radio shows like Radionome, Spleen, and Villa 65 and more, and founding and serving as editor-in-chief of Vinyl, back to making music; there you have, in a rough sketch, the early years of Stephen Emmer.
Vogue Estate
His return to actively practicing music in 1982 brought a first solo album, Vogue Estate, and in that same year he met Michael Dempsey, the former bassist of The Cure, with whom he went on to play in The Associates and later also with the Liverpool-based Lotus Eaters. Stephen remained active in music, playing in a number of bands and collaborating with various female singers before focusing in the mid-1980s on writing music for documentaries and films, commercials, radio tunes, and TV theme songs. His dedication and commitment to this field contributed to the recognition of the profession of media composer in the Netherlands.
Theme songs
The music Stephen writes will evoke recognition in many, although not everyone will recognise and acknowledge the writer and performer of many of his own compositions. His earlier work from the 1980s included the theme songs for the news, Van Gewest Tot Gewest, and Per Seconde Wijzer; in the 1990s, he worked on many theme songs for both public broadcasting and a number of RTL channels.
Recitement
In addition, he creates remarkable albums such as Recitement, which contains historical recordings of literary works featuring various singers, writers, and actors, and ultimately comprises 17 compositions in 7 languages with just as many different musical styles.
International Blue
International Blue, his next studio album, was his ode to pop crooners such as Burt Bacharach, David Bowie, and Scott Walker, recently honoured in London, with contributions from Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17), Midge Ure (Ultravox), Liam McKahey (Cousteau), Julian Lennon, and Neil Crossley (Furlined). Like Recitement, this album was produced by the widely renowned Tony Visconti. The album has garnered very fine international reviews. It is therefore not surprising that a renowned international cast collaborated on Stephen's new album as well. Add to this the fact that the album represents a very deliberate choice in its themes: the experience of the world as it is today, wars, refugees, feelings of displacement, and a need for a home. In terms of theme, the album is therefore a contemporary counterpart to the legendary What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye. Just as Nina Simone previously noted: “It’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times in which we live,” Stephen has embraced this sentiment and incorporated it into his music.
He chose not to let the music and lyrics founder in darkness, a risk often present with the themes—in fact, often equated with them. On the contrary, he wanted the music and lyrics to be positive and serve as an inspiration to contribute to a world that is becoming more and more unified, where people view refugees as neighbours whom you naturally help and welcome. The way Stephen has made the theme his own, the songs he has written, and how the album conveys the message in its entirety—music and lyrics—is in itself worthy of a compliment.
Chaka Khan
The album combines jazz, singer-songwriter influences, and pop sensibility with classic soul influences, bringing the whole into 2017 vital and vibrant. The album achieves this with an impressive array of singers. While Chaka Khan may be the most well-known name on the album, the vocal parts of the other vocalists are all highly impressive. They are, without exception, top vocalists: Andy Bey, Frank McComb, Dwight Trible, and Leon Ware (who passed away in February of this year) are the gentlemen who each take on one or two songs, sometimes performing together on a track. The ladies contributing are Mary Griffin, Patti Austin, Ursula Rucker, the aforementioned Chaka Khan, and Kendra Foster.
The absolute gems
It is wonderful to hear how the singers have made the songs their own with comparable dedication. While all the songs are sung very beautifully, there are a number of tracks that can be counted among the absolute gems of the album: these are the opening track A New Day To Come, sung by Andy Bey; Close To Life, sung by Frank McCom and Leon Ware; the title track, sung by Patti Austin; the songs by Mary Griffin; and indeed, Under Your Spell by Chaka Khan.
Stephen Emmer has created a very tasteful album with instrumentation that is never over the top, with orchestration that complements the voices very well while simultaneously giving the voices plenty of room. It is an album that demonstrates that soul in 2017 is not a rehashing of musical ideas from the past. At the same time, it shows that music can speak very thoroughly about the societal context and does not have to be solely about birds, bees, flowers, trees, and something called love. Although, if love is interpreted as being there for one another, then that is of course exactly what the album is already about.
Only then it is much more about what we as humanity can mean to one another, rather than solely in individual relationships. By working with singers who convey the album's themes with just as much passion as the composer intended, the album indeed radiates positivity and hope in every track. A beautiful album that also benefits from the fact that a portion of the proceeds supports War Child. Highly recommended.
[Written In Music - Marcel Hartenberg - Review]