Archives

2021 – To his door: how Paul Kelly found a whole new audience – By Madison Connaughton for The Sydney Morning Herald

Maddison ConnaughtonNOVEMBER 13, 2021 While many assume Paul Kelly’s halcyon days were the 1980s and ’90s, his three No. 1 albums have all been released in the past four years. That’s thanks to a new generation of collaborators and audiences – including the children of his original fans. Paul Kelly freely admits he’s become “one of those people”. One of those people who finds solace, even joy, plunging into the freezing winter waters of Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay. “It might be... View Article

2004 – Kelly’s Blues – Geoffrey Himes for Baltimore City Paper

2004 – It’s Easy to Write About Love Gone Wrong  –  for Baltimore City Paper

1998 – Borrowed Words, New Music  –  for Sunday Herald

1991 – The Prolific Paul Kelly  –  By Brian Wise for The Age

1989 – The Blindside Attacker  –  By Dominic Roskrow for NZ Herald

by dominic roskrow Perhaps it’s his dark fascination with the strange and unusual. Perhaps it’s his passion for painting the big picture, or his uncanny knack of saying the things most people prefer to remain unsaid. But Paul Kelly seems to be making a career out of attacking pop music on its blindside with devastating results. While lesser singer-songwriters have connected themselves with trying to come to terms with that old evergreen, lurrve, Kelly’s dealt with violence against women, prostitution... View Article

1993 – The Music of Poetry  –  By John Forbes for The Age

writes JOHN FORBES Song writing is one the most difficult verbal arts. It requires simple, direct language that addresses the Big Issues with artless precision. One slip and the words turn into clichéd tokens. But Paul Kelly can do this and make it look easy. His songs are passionate, direct and forceful. The world of Kelly’s songs is the standard one of urban, romantic individualism-against a backdrop of city streets, travel, work, bars, drugs, love triumphant and love gone wrong.... View Article

2012 – Rolling Stone review How To Make Gravy

Paul Kelly Writes 568-Page Liner Notes for Career-Spanning Box Set By Jason Cohen, Rolling Stone (30 March 2012) With his beetle brow, bald crown, big ears and gaunt cheekbones, Paul Kelly could play the heavy in a British gangster film, especially when he wears a shiny suit (on the first night of his current U.S. tour, in Austin, Texas it was maroon). Instead – someone notify the Guinness Book of Records – the Australian singer-songwriter’s current claim to fame might... View Article

2009 – Thoughts in the Middle of a Career: Paul Kelly’s “Songs from the South”  –  By Robert Forster for The Monthly

By Robert Forster, The Monthly It can seem futile trying to chase down biographical material on Paul Kelly because, just as he’s ducked the glare of mainstream pop stardom, his self-effacement and unease with his past have left the songs to sketch the details, a situation he probably feels comfortable with. The bones of the story are: he is born into a large Adelaide family in 1955; his father dies when Kelly is 13; he begins playing the guitar at... View Article

2010 – ‘The A-Z Recordings’ Review  –  By Michael Dwyer for The Age

By Michael Dwyer, The Age THIS eight-CD box, recorded live over six years, solo or with spare accompaniment by Dan Kelly and occasionally Sian Prior, is a wonder of many layers. The first is the genius of its conception. Here, 105 alphabetically selected titles spanning decades are equals, liberated from currency, popularity and other fleeting concerns that would deem one more viable than another on any other setlist or compilation. The second is how consistently compelling that are. Old or... View Article