Paul Kelly - Songs From The South, Volumes 1 & 2 - 2008

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Paul Kelly - Songs From The South, Volumes 1 & 2 - 2008

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Biography: Songwriter singer Paul Kelly captures Australia in his songs the way Bruce Springsteen or Ray Davies of the Kinks have encapsulated their homelands, and he does it with the musical energy and diversity of Elvis Costello. The sixth of nine children, Kelly was born in Adelaide in 1955. After school he wandered around Australian for a few years, working odd jobs, writing poetry, and thinking about a career as a short story writer. Somewhere along the line, already in his late teens, he picked up a guitar. Kelly made his public debut singing the Australian folk song "Streets of Forbes" to a Hobart audience in 1974, and two years later, he moved to Melbourne to join R&B pub band the High Rise Bombers. With a large lineup and three songwriters, the band's splintering was inevitable, Kelly forming his own group, Paul Kelly & the Dots. Kelly immediately established himself as his peers' favorite songwriter. On nights off, Melbourne's musicians went to see him. He also had a big fan at Mushroom Records. One of the company's PR people locked herself in a room, refusing to come out until Mushroom signed Paul Kelly & the Dots. The result was two roots rock albums, Talk and Manila, that Kelly himself was never completely happy with, for he was a perfectionist. By late 1984, Kelly had broken up the Dots and moved to Sydney, where he recorded a defining solo album called Post. Without a record contract and no real idea how the album was going to be released, Post was recorded over two weeks on a shoestring budget, delivering the essence of Paul Kelly in a loosely structured song cycle signposting Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney place names the way Springsteen speaks of New Jersey. On the strength of that album, Mushroom picked up Kelly's contract again, and the singer formed a new group, Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls (a reference to Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side"). In September 1986, Kelly's songwriting skills spilled over four sides of the 14-song double album Gossip. Recorded in just a month, the classic Australian rock album attained gold sales and produced the hit singles "Darling It Hurts" and "Before Too Long." The album included three re-recorded songs from Post. Gossip was also the record that introduced Kelly to American audiences when it was released by A&M Records in July 1987, edited down to a 15-song single album. In the meantime, the group returned to the studio to record a collection of 14 new Kelly originals for its second Australian album, Under the Sun. To avoid misunderstandings, the group changed its name to Paul Kelly & the Messengers with the release of July 1989's So Much Water, So Close to Home album. The new album was produced by Scott Litt of R.E.M. notoriety and its songs were colored by American influences and experiences. After one more album, Comedy, Kelly decided the group had gone as far as it could, and to avoid the risk of repeating themselves, he dissolved the Messengers with a farewell tour. For the next two years, Kelly recharged his batteries with a set of diverse activities, like performing in Australia and America, producing the groundbreaking Charcoal Lane album by aboriginal songwriter Archie Roach, collaborating on Yothu Yindi's "Treaty," writing songs for his acting role in the stage play Funerals and Circuses about racial tensions in small-town Australia, and releasing his first book of poetry, Lyrics. His second studio solo album, 1994's Wanted Man, spread his musical influences as wide as his activities. His 1997 greatest-hits album Songs from the South sold double platinum. In 1999, he delivered two very different albums at the same time, a bluegrass album with Uncle Bill called Smoke and a technology-influenced album as part of a new group, Professor Ratbaggy. Kelly stayed prolific in the 21st century, releasing Nothing But a Dream in 2001, the double-disc Ways & Means in 2004, the bluegrass-inflected Foggy Highway in 2005, and Dirt in 2006. ~ Ed Nimmervoll, All Music Guide

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Paul Kelly - Songs From The South, Volumes 1 & 2 - 2008

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* Born: January 12, 1955, Adelaide, South Australia
* Genres: Rock
* Instrument: Vocals, Guitar
* Representative Albums: "Comedy", "Songs from the South: The Best of Paul Kelly", "Words & Music"

Product Description: Australian Exclusive Release - This special double CD pack includes Paul Kelly's original 7 times platinum Songs From The South and the brand new Songs From The South Vol. 2. 40 songs spanning his entire career From St. Kilda To Kings Cross … Full Descriptionto God Told Me To, all packaged beautifully in a double CD cardboard softpack and slipcase. Disc 1 includes Dumb Things, Sweet Guy, How To Make Gravy, Before Too Long, To Her Door and many more. Disc 2 delves into Paul's catalogue from 1998-2008 including acclaimed albums such as Words And Music, Nothing But A Dream, Ways & Means and Stolen Apples as well as some of his more interesting collaborative efforts such as Stardust Five and Professor Ratbaggy Of particular interest to long-time fans will be the crowd favourite Every Fucking City from the long-deleted Roll On Summer EP as well as 2 tracks previously unreleased on CD, Thoughts In The Middle Of The Night and his tribute to the 'Sheikh of Tweak' Shane Warne.

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Paul Kelly - Songs From The South, Volumes 1 & 2 - 2008

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Review: Paul Kelly is an icon in Australia, though unfortunately fairly unknown throughout the rest of the world. For someone who writes so many top notch songs, Kelly shouldn't be as unknown as he is, but for decades he has been producing albums with some of the most binding and touching songs that his lyrics have become part of the final year’s English study in Victoria. Aptly titled, Songs From The South is a 20 track dip into Paul Kelly’s greatest work from 1987 to 1997, which barley touches the surface on the amount of great songs he has written.

Great singer-songwriters are poets: enticing words, capturing times and places, and conjure a sense of what it's like to be involved in their world. Kelly does that as well as anyone does, and perhaps better than most. You always feel as though he wears his heart on his sleeve and as you track through this retrospective album, you get a sense of the passages of his life.

Songs From The South first three songs, ‘ From St Kilda to Kings Cross,’ ‘Leaps and Bounds’ and ‘Before Too Long’ remind you why Kelly is such a timeless act since he can weave so many emotions into just three songs and have the ability to work his token lyrical beauty in to such amazing music. After these spectacular tracks close we are given ‘Dumb Things’ and ‘To Her Door.’ Two of Kelly’s more well know songs, but both completely different in composition. ‘Dumb Things’ is a more rock based tune while ‘To Her Door’ is classic ballad about a family falling apart and the husband trying to keep them together. ‘To Her Door’ is a great example of Kelly’s lyrical conviction, and leaves so much unsaid but fills you with hope.

"They got married early, never had no money
Then when he got laid off they really hit the skids
He started up his drinking, then they started fighting
He took it pretty badly, she took both the kids…

… He came in on a Sunday, every muscle aching
Walking in slow motion like he'd just been hit
Did they have a future? Would he know his children?
Could he make a picture and get them all to fit?
He was shaking in his seat riding through the streets
In a silvertop to her door…"

Throughout the album Kelly discusses many different cultural aspects, be it sport or law. ‘Bradman’ is an upbeat and happy tale of the great Australian cricketer and how so many people looked up to him, but then the album hits one of the more sadder points with ‘Everything is Turning To White.’ A sorrowful ballad about a molestation and murder of girl and how three men on a fishing trip came across her body and have to deal with the consequences and their conscience. The line There is so much more water, so close to home is the title to Raymond Carver's short story which Kelly gained his idea for the song from.

Eventually we come to the historic, ‘From Little Big Things Grow.’ A story about the Australian indigenous people and how in the 1960s, Aboriginal stockmen went on strike at the NT Wave Hill station. Led by Gurindji man Vincent Lingiari, they walked off the job and set up a camp at a place called Wattie Creek. The dispute over wages and conditions turned into a demand for land rights. It dragged on for years before eventually being resolved by the Whitlam government. This was a pivotal moment in Australian history, since it was the beginning of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, and basic Aboriginal Rights. Kelly’s song weaves through this story with extraordinarily clever lyrics:

"That was the story of Vincent Lingairri
But this is the story of something much more
How power and privilege can not move a people
Who know where they stand and stand in the law

From little things big things grow…"

As we wind into the final tracks of Songs From The South we come across me two favourite Paul Kelly songs, being ‘Deeper Water’ and ‘How To Make Gravy.’ ‘Deeper Water’ is once again Kelly at his story telling best, giving an example of how life comes the full circle and encompasses some of Kelly’s best lyrics to date, with fantastic lines like, Death doesn’t care who it destroys and Now the man meets a woman unlike all the rest / He doesn't know it yet but he's out of his depth. While ‘Deeper Water’ is one of my favourite songs, ‘How To Make Gravy’ would be probably every other Australians favourite. ‘…Gravy’ is the essential Australian Christmas carol. It is a letter written by a man to his brother at Christmas time and how he going to miss all the festivities and all the traditional family fun that it has. It is one of the most touching songs on the album and definitely a very fitting song to end such a spectacular album.

Songs From The South is the back catalogue of one of the greatest singer songwriters, and one of the most essential albums for any folk rock fan. While they may be Australian tales it doesn’t mean people from across the world can’t enjoy this masterful gem of an album, conveying so many different amazing stories that will make you want to listen to it over and over again. ~ sputnikmusic.com

Recommended Tracks

Deeper Water
How To Make Gravy
To Her Door
Dumb Things
From Little Things Big Things Grow
From St Kilda to Kings cross

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Paul Kelly - Songs From The South, Volumes 1 & 2 - 2008

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Paul Kelly - Songs From The South, Volumes 1 & 2 - 2008

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Paul Kelly - Songs From The South, Volumes 1 & 2 - 2008

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