Gregg Stewart - Twenty Sixteen (2017)

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Written by Frank McClure, posted by blog admin

The passion Gregg Stewart brings to his second solo release, a fourteen song album of cover tracks entitled Twenty Sixteen, doesn’t differ at all from the fire lighting up his own compositions. The title alludes to the overarching theme behind this collection – Stewart selects his tracks from artists and songwriters who died during 2016 and will undoubtedly please many of their admirers thanks to his often outside the box picks. Stewart doesn’t attempt to ape the sonics heard in any of the originals and, instead, recasts everything with a minimalist, often acoustic slant that can embody great delicacy and surprising power, sometimes within the same song. His voice proves more than adequate for tackling the wide variety of moods spanning the fourteen song running order. While there is some merit to saying fourteen songs is exhaustive and the album runs too long, there’s no question that it remains consistent throughout and there’s not a single reinterpretation listeners can consider a total miss.

“You Spin Me Round” might seem an improbable candidate for a song Stewart might cover, but he dispenses with the electronic driven musical theatrics of the original, along with Pete Burns’ hypnotic drone on the chorus, and instead serves up something more understated and sultry. He’s much more in his own customary territory adapting the traditionally minded, albeit gussied up for its era, songwriting for singer and former Wham! Member George Michael’s “A Different Corner”. It is closer to straight ahead singer/songwriter material in Stewart’s hand and has a bright lilt from the acoustic guitars that pairs up nicely with the piano. Stewart’s singing is especially relaxed, with a loose kind of Caribbean confidence emanating from his voice that’s quite different from what we hear in the opener. His voice shows us another face with the cover of Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” and the same acoustic style template defining the earlier songs remains in effect here with Stewart ‘s arrangement of the song retaining its all important melodic hook while stripping everything else to the barest of essentials. It still retains its pop appeal, though, that still comes through. He takes on another seemingly unlikely cover with a take on Maurice White’s “Sing a Song”, but Stewart sounds remarkably at ease with the Earth, Wind, and Fire legend’s soul and R&B laced songwriting. There’s no question that Stewart brings considerable chops to everything he touches, but they are never showy and this song is no exception.

“One More Love Song”, written by Leon Russell, does capture the Americana rock vibe of The Band that Gregg Stewart describes himself aiming for in the notes for this song and it thankfully never comes at risk of obvious imitation. One of the odder but ultimately more successful choices for this collection is a song associated with actor Gene Wilder from his role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, “Pure Imagination”, that Stewart carries off without a hint of irony or comedic intent. It’s quite a loving performance. Twenty Sixteen is a powerful album that may run a little long, but it burns with a genuine joy for music that will garner Gregg Stewart even more fans than he already has.