Émigré (album)

Émigré is the debut solo studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Wendy Matthews released by rooArt in Australia in November 1990. It was produced by Ricky Fataar and reached No. 11 on the Australian Albums Chart. It yielded three singles: "Token Angels", "Woman's Gotta Have It" and "Let's Kiss (Like Angels Do)". Matthews won the ARIA Award for Best Female Artist at the ARIA Music Awards of 1991.

Émigré
Studio album by
Wendy Matthews
Released2 November 1990
RecordedMay–July 1990
GenrePop
LabelrooArt
ProducerRicky Fataar
Wendy Matthews chronology
You've Always Got the Blues
(1988)		 Émigré
(1990)		 The Way It Has to Be
(1991)
Singles from Émigré
  1. "Token Angels"
    Released: 2 September 1990
  2. "Woman's Gotta Have It"
    Released: 20 January 1991
  3. "Let's Kiss (Like Angels Do)"
    Released: 14 April 1991
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic(?)[1]

Background

Wendy Matthews completed her touring commitments for the new wave group Absent Friends in mid-1990.[2] She went into the studio with producer Ricky Fataar (ex-Beach Boys, Rutles) to record her debut solo album, Émigré. Her session musicians included Absent Friends' members Garry Gary Beers (also in INXS) on bass guitar, Andrew Duffield on keyboards, Sean Kelly on guitar, Roger Mason on keyboards, James Valentine on saxophone, and Mick King on guitar. She also enlisted Tim Finn (Crowded House) and Peter Blakeley on backing vocals. The album peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Recording Industry Association Albums Charts.[3] It spawned the hit singles "Token Angels" (No. 18 in November 1990), Bobby Womack's "Woman's Gotta Have It" (No. 34 in February 1991) and "Let's Kiss (Like Angels Do)" (No. 14 in June).[3] Matthews won 'Best Female Artist' and 'Breakthrough Artist – Single' ("Token Angels") at the ARIA Music Awards of 1991. Matthews was also voted 'Best Female Singer' in the 1990 Australian Rolling Stone readers poll.[2]

For touring in support of the album, Matthews used Paul Abrahams on bass guitar, Amanda Brown on oboe, violin (ex-The Go-Betweens), Robbie James on guitar (Gang Gajang), King on guitar, Lisa Maxwell on backing vocals, Mark Meyer on drums (Mark Gillespie Band, Moving Pictures), Mark O'Connor on keyboards and Valentine on saxophone. In October 1991, she issued a live mini-album The Way It Has to Be and toured as support to US R&B group, The Neville Brothers. At the end of 1991, Matthews recorded her second full-length album Lily, which was produced by T-Bone Burnett and released in late 1992.[2]

Track listing

All songwriters as listed.[4]

  1. "Token Angels" (Roger Mason) – 4:53
  2. "As We Speak" (Robbie James, Paul Abrahams) – 4:17
  3. "Won't Let Me Be (Georgia's Song)" (James Valentine, Wendy Matthews, Andrew Duffield) – 5:01
  4. "Taking My Heart Around" (Danny Peck) – 4:35
  5. "Square Moon" (Robbie James, Geoff Stapleton, K Govett) – 3:53
  6. "Woman's Gotta Have It" (Bobby Womack) – 4:19
  7. "State of Mind" (J Williams, B Cook) – 4:25
  8. "Doomsday Lullaby" (Peck) – 4:38
  9. "Goin' Back to My Roots" (Lamont Dozier) – 6:04
  10. "Long Way from Home" (Matthews) – 3:12
  11. "Let's Kiss (Like Angels Do)" (J Friedman, C Curtis) – 3:29

Note, track 10 "Long Way from Home" appears to be a cover of the Sandy Denny song "The Music Weaver" but Denny is not credited.

Personnel

Charts
Chart (1990/91) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[5] 11

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[6] Platinum 70,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
General
  • McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Whammo Homepage". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on 5 April 2004. Retrieved 22 July 2010.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Note: Archived on-line copy has limited functionality.
Specific
  1. Allmusic review
  2. McFarlane 'Wendy Matthews' entry. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  3. "Discography Wendy Matthews". Australian charts portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  4. "APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 6 November 2010. Note: requires user to enter song title, e.g. Token Angels
  5. "Australiancharts.com – Wendy Matthews – Émigré". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  6. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1991 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
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