Australia's Paul Kelly

Are there any Paul Kelly fans among us? Kelly, generally acknowledged to be Australia's finest singer/songwriter, has been putting out consistently excellent albums for 20 years, and yet he has only managed to develop a loyal, but relatively small cult following in the states. I would suggest that the uninitiated seek out "Songs From The South", his greatest hits CD, that was only released down under. I promise that you will not be disappointed!

Peter in New Hampshire

Wonderful songwriter, and I agree that the Songs from the South compilation is the best place to start. My review of that compilation is at [www.macdialup.com]

The (non-greatesthitesque) album to get is 'Post'

He's touring the U.S. this year! Another artist I didn't really know until Covid lockdown, I'm traveling for much of the fall, but will try and catch a show.

Wow, this was a very long-ago thread. I have seen Kelly once in the late 1990s, at a club in DC too small for his level of renown. Will have to look for his tour dates!

On closer inspection, it looks like he's opening for Shawn Colvin and Keb' Mo' for three weeks beginning September 14, but after that's over, he will do a club show in LA (Teragram Ballroom) and NYC (Le Poisson Rouge) in October with an appearance at the ACL festival in between. Not a big tour, but these are his first U.S. shows since 2017. The nice thing about the small venues is that it gives you a chance of seeing them up close without breaking the bank. FWIW, he seems to tour regularly every year in Australia, so if you're ever headed that way, it may be a better way to see him!

[www.paulkelly.com.au]

I was just looking at this tour list; nothing in the D.C. region to my disappointment but it sounds like he wouldn't get much of a full set opening for two other artists. Maybe a trip to New York for the show at le Poisson Rouge??

Yes, and surprised to see PK touring the U.S.

He's coming to Springfield, IL! On a Saturday night! And the UIS auditorium is actually a damn good venue. These are all good things.

Still not good enough to drag me out of the house to haul 70 miles up the interstate for. I have zero interest in seeing Shawn Colvin or Keb Mo- fine and worthwhile artists for sure, but no one I care about seeing live. And as you point out, Kelly's set is likely to be pretty truncated.

So it's tempting, but unless I find myself craving Springfield's life-shortening specialty dish that day, the horseshoe sandwich, I doubt I'll be going.

Paul is skipping Seattle on this go-'round. Once again, my reputation precedes me.

The damnedest thing: I am actually scheduled to be in New York for work two days after the Paul Kelly show. I have the train ticket already. Wondering if there is any way I could go up earlier to make it work, but those hotel rates in New York are murderous.

FWIW, the NYC show has a low-ticket alert and they already sold out of table seats. (All that's left is the standing GA section.) I'm not sure if it's too late for this to happen, but if they sell out, say, tomorrow, maybe they'll add another show?

EDIT: I'll have to take that back, Le Poisson Rouge is already booked the following nights.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2024 03:40AM by belfast.

The tour just got shorter. This was posted by his social media accounts:

Paul has to jump off the Keb’ Mo’ & Shawn Colvin US tour that has just been postponed until next year due to Keb’ Mo’ needing to take a pause for health reasons. The show at CityFolk in Ottawa is now off the cards, too. We’re sorry to everyone who’s planned to get to these shows in the coming weeks. Paul’s still heading over to play in LA, TXS & NYC. We wish Keb' Mo' an easy recovery and a great 2025 tour

Wow, that's too bad. I am not a fan of Keb' Mo' but hope everything works out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2024 09:35PM by zwirnm.

The show at LPR in NYC was awesome. I even saw him after the show and asked him when he would be back in the U.S. for a full-on tour, and it sounds like it'll happen next year so fingers crossed!

Perhaps as a nod to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Kelly introduced the final number of the main set by talking about the failed constitutional referendum to recognize Indigenous Australians which would have given them official representation to Australia's Federal Parliament and executive government. The vote took place one year ago today (October 14, 2023), so it seemed appropriate to respond with "From Little Things Big Things Grow." A personal favorite of mine as well - prior to the show, I looked up his setlist in L.A. and noticed he hadn't played it there, so I was wondering if I'd have to yell it out as a request. New songs sounded great too!

That's great, thanks for the update @belfast! I do love so much of the old Paul Kelly and the Messengers (and his perhaps-inappropriately named earlier band, Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls) material.

Ah, thanks Wikipedia:

Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls had been named for a lyric in Lou Reed's song "Walk on the Wild Side", but all North American and European releases were credited to Paul Kelly and the Messengers due to possible racist interpretations...

You're welcome! He had an incredible run with the Messengers - he continued to write and record great songs afterwards (the updated double-disc version of Songs from the South has a pretty great selection that stops at 2008) but those records may be his best. I'll also throw in the one preceding them, Post, which was my introduction to Kelly.

FWIW, a few months ago, I bought the original Australian CD's for the two credited to the Coloured Girls just to have something close to the original Australian versions of those albums. The one for Under the Sun actually had two bonus cuts, including "Bradman," and it restored the original artwork. The one for Gossip was missing three songs in order to fit it on a single disc, but that's still four more than the U.S. CD and it also had the original mixes for two more that had been remixed by Scott Litt for the U.S. release. A recent double-CD reissue restored Gossip to its original 24 tracks, but I was told it was mastered with quite a bit of compression.

I have a bunch of those early pressings, some of which I had acquired in New Zealand. Can't recall exactly which I have under which labels, but there is also a great live record, Live at the Continental and the Esplanade from concerts recorded in 1994 and 1995.