Paul StephensonWhat is the subtle Brit's art? Stephenson takes stories, both those he has experienced himself and those he has been told, and weaves, condenses and poeticises them into something so coherent that you are inclined to sing along from the very first listen.
Stockfisch-Shop
- Singer/Songwriter from England living in France.
"Wireless Days"But what you hear is not just the singer-songwriter picking his guitar. It’s my songs seen through the eyes of a very special Grammy-nominated producer, Gunter Pauler. Thanks to Gunter, I get to record with some fantastic musicians, who played their parts to perfection.
In the end, though, it’s thanks to Gunter that what you hear on this album is … the real me, finally “free to sail with the angels of the sea."
Paul Stephenson, March 2024
Super-Audio-CD Hybrid: SACD Stereo + CD-Layer
SFR 357.4110.2 • total time 40:48
musiciansPaul Stephenson - vocals, guitar / Jens Kommnick - guitar / Ian Melrose - guitar / Lea Morris - background vocals / Justin Ciuche - viola / Manfred Leuchter - accordion, hammond b3 / Beo Brockhausen - soprano sax, accordion, keyboards, percussion / Lars Hansen - electric bass /
"Mother Nature’s Rules""You might think that, having written the songs and made demos of them, rehearsed them and laid down the basic tracks, this album would be familiar territory for me. But, thanks to Günter Pauler’s arrangements, it’s something of a magical mystery tour for me - and, I hope, for you too. Günter always finds a new unexpected angle that I’d never have thought of.
I’m feeling very lucky to be able to bring you this latest album in the company of such a
troupe of fine musicians, produced with his usual finesse by Grammy nominee, Günter
Pauler. Thanks to them all, from the bottom of my heart."
Paul Stephenson, July 2018
Super-Audio-CD Hybrid: SACD Stereo + CD-Layer
SFR 357.4082.2 • total time 50:00
musiciansPaul Stephenson - vocals, guitar / Ian Melrose - guitars, mandola, flute / Lea Morris - background vocals / Manfred Leuchter - accordion / Lutz Möller - keyboards / Oli Bott - marimbaphone / Lucile Chaubard - violoncello / Antoine Pütz - fretless & electric bass / Hans-Jörg Maucksch - fretless bass / Beo Brockhausen - flute, hang, keyboards, hulusi, udu
"Girl With A Mirror"We may wistfully revisit our youth – but no-one can ever bring it back. Not even an artist can. Although has an advantage there, because he can transform the vicissitudes of life, losses, disillusionment and the tidemarks of time into art. Even more is being asked of him – because as an artist, he has no choice. While Stephenson’s earlier works exude the excitement of “something’s gonna happen”, the sweet bird of youth is “on the way to Santiago” – since then, life seems to have taken the artist on the long and rocky road. In the same way, GIRL WITH A MIRROR is darker; more composed, and more reflective – but hope does not desert us. In music and lyrics, Stephenson transforms the undoubtedly more sombre aspects of life, loss, disappointment and disillusionment, into pure poetry, lights up the pastel blue of an Amsterdam sky, and the dark clouds are, ultimately, not the last word.
And, what’s more: Paul Stephenson is accompanied – in the true sense of the word – supported by the outstanding musicians whose interaction is intimately interwoven in such a way that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, and the 15 songs of this album already give us a vivid impression of what Paul Stephenson sounds, and feels like, in concert – and what it’s like to be there.
Super-Audio-CD Hybrid: SACD Stereo + CD-Layer
SFR 357.4069.2 • total time 57:48
musiciansPaul Stephenson - vocal & guitar / Ian Melrose - guitars, dobro, flute / Don Ross - dobro / Manfred Leuchter - accordion / Lea Morris - backing vocals / Martin Huch - pedal steel / Beo Brockhausen - soprano saxophone, flute, mbira, percussion / Alessandro Gulino - electric bass / Hans-Jörg Maucksch - fretless bass / Grischa Zepf - electric bass / Ralf Gustke - drums, percussion / "Geigenhof-Quartett": Wojtek Bolimowski - violin / Aleksandra Glinka - violin / Oksana Labach - viola / Lucile Chaubard - violoncello
"These Days"Genialer Höhepunkt dabei das letzte Stück, das in fröhlichem, an Volkstanz erinnerndem Gewand daherkommt und im Krachen und Kreischen eines Feuerwerks fulminant ausklingt. Da steigt in den Gefühlen selbst mitten im Hochsommer eisige Winterluft in die Nase, so charakteristisch gemischt mit Feuer, Schwefel und dem Sekt, den man auf eine "wonderful world" trinkt.
Listener – what has got into you? Wie schon seine CD von 2002 ist schließlich auch "These Days" ein Gedicht. Wie mit den Freunden einer goldenen Jugend eine Reise ins Unbekannte zu planen, vielleicht eine Reise zu sich selbst. Lyrik einer Zeit voller Versprechungen, geschrieben über das, was war oder hätte sein können. Wird die große Liebe dabei sein? In Paul Stephensons Musik ist die Antwort ein tröstliches Ja, schön wie das Licht eingefangen in einem Edelstein: Heaven on Earth Today.
SFR 357.6029.2 • total time 43:28 • CD
musiciansPaul Stephenson - vocals, guitars / Chris Jones - guitar / Siard de Jong - violin, viola, mandolin, mandola / Anne Harer - violin / Martin Huch - pedal steel / Hrolfur Vagnsson - accordion / Hans-Jörg Maucksch - fretless bass / Christina Lux - backing vocals / Mike Silver - backing vocals / Thomas Klippel - hammond b3 / Christian Rien - trumpet, flugelhorn / Michael Kleinhans - tuba, backing vocals / Carsten Porath - tenor horn / Christian Archontidis - drums, percussion / Beo Brockhausen - saxophone, accordion, flute, percussion
"Light Green Ball"Paul Stephenson und Chris Jones harmonieren wunderbar mit ihren Gitarren - Gitarrensound der Extraklasse. Drei Baßspieler wirken bei Light Green Ball mit: Hans-Jörg Maucksch (Fretless), Grischka Zepf (E-Bass) und Michael Cammann (Double Bass). Als Multiinstrumentalist zeigt sich einmal mehr Beo Brockhausen: Er spielt 13 Instrumente (Soprano Sax, Darabuka, Hurdy-Gurdy, Percussion, Bamboo Clarinet, Low Whistle, Tinwhistle, Accordion, Sarod, Hammered Dulcimer, Bowed Psaltery, Shaker und Mandola). Außerdem: Martin Huch (Dobro), Mike Silver (Harmony Vocals), Anne Marie Harer, Birgit Rieck, Christoph Harer (Strings), Christine Maringer-Tries (Harmony Vocals).
Die CD "Light Green Ball" wurde von der Jury des "Folker!" auf Platz 5 der Folker!-CD des Jahres 2002 gewählt.
"Toller Gesang und tolle Arrangements … Songs, die allesamt eine wunderbare positive Ausstrahlung haben." FOLKER 03/2002
SFR 357.6023.2 • total time 49:01 • CD
"The story of my life: I grew up in the northeast of England and my first musical heroes were the Beatles. I'm still a fan of McCartney's songs and Lennon's granny glasses. My other big hero is James Taylor. JT runs like a golden thread through my friends in musical circles (including the acoustic guitar world's best-kept secret, Chris Jones) and my musical taste - he was first produced by McCartney, worked with lots of the other great American songwriters of the 1960s and 70s and has another big fan from the northeast of England called Sting (the nearest I have to a third musical hero). I learned to play the guitar listening to my heroes plus Simon & Garfunkel, Dylan and, from this side of the Atlantic, Ralph McTell and other folkies.
I set out for Amsterdam and Europe in 1979 to make a living of sorts from music. I played mostly in bars and youth centres, with the occasional festival or concert and appearances on radio and (once) television. I played in duos, trios and bands, and made recordings whenever I could in whatever circumstances I could afford and with whichever musicians I could round up for love of music, dressing my songs up in all kinds of usually ill-fitting clothes.
But mostly I played solo, and my most popular recording was completely solo, just a guitar and a voice (A bend in the road, released on CD in 1991). I changed my name to Tom Zola for that recording, after the two great nineteenth-century novelists Thomas Hardy and Emile Zola. TZ was paul stephenson after he'd got through the daily grind of the daytime job and getting the kids from school and had time to dream a little.
Well, it was a long dream ...
I moved to France a few years ago, and work as a translator. These days, I dream mostly in a corner of the bedroom where I keep my elementary and ageing recording equipment, which I used to finally dress up my songs in comfortable clothes. Gunter Pauler, at Stockfisch Records, got to hear them and I have the feeling that the album he's about to produce is the place I've been heading for all this time ..."