By the time he recorded Emotion , his second album for Real World, Congolese band-leading legend Papa Wemba had made somewhere in the region of 25 records. This 1995 album marked something of a departure. Rather than being another instalment of his trademark high-octane soukous, Emotion was an unashamed offering to the same international audience taking the likes of Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal to its hearts. Indeed, there’s even a cover of Otis Redding’s Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song) . No problem, though. These are irresistibly crystal-clear melodies wrapped in the crispest, most modern production. “The brightest, most accessible album of his formidable career” – The Observer