| Nature | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 12 October 2018 | |||
| Label | EMI Music Australia | |||
| Paul Kelly chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Nature | ||||
Nature is the 24th studio album by Australian musician Paul Kelly, released on 12 October 2018. [4]
At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, the album won ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album.
In August 2017, Paul Kelly released his 23rd studio album Life Is Fine. The album was a success, giving Kelly his first ever ARIA number-one album, and winning four ARIA Music Awards at the ARIA Music Awards of 2017. With most of the songs written over the course of several years and dating back to the recording sessions for albums such as The Merri Soul Sessions , Seven Sonnets & a Song and Life Is Fine, Nature focuses on human nature's small place in the natural world. Kelly said: "I didn't realise I had the makings of another album until I put the songs in a folder and saw the titles staring me in the face. Sometimes you don't know what you're doing until you look back. I think of Nature as a companion piece to Life Is Fine, itself full of moons, rain, rocks, rivers, seas, smells and lovers." [5] [6]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [7] |
| Herald Sun | [8] |
| PopMatters |   [9] |
Mikey Cahill from the Herald Sun described how Kelly in Nature is "staying relevant and relishing the opportunity to pump out another 12 mostly great songs." [8] PopMatters ' Steve Horowitz opined, "[he] put five classic poems by major writers on his latest album of a dozen songs... While it's wonderful that Kelly brings these words to life for non-poetry readers to enjoy, there is something tawdry about the whole affair." [9] Brian Parker from Your Music Radar indicated, "Conceptually this album works, where there is something otherworldly about it. It seems to question the existence of nature and the forces of nature, the human soul, the cycle of birth and death, and of the beauty of being alive, in love, but also the gravity of the inevitable." [10]
All music written by Paul Kelly and Bill McDonald.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" | Dylan Thomas | 2:26 |
| 2. | "With the One I Love" | Paul Kelly | 2:29 |
| 3. | "A Bastard Like Me" | Kelly | 2:34 |
| 4. | "Little Wolf" | Kelly | 2:54 |
| 5. | "With Animals" | Walt Whitman | 2:23 |
| 6. | "Bound to Follow (Aisling Song) (featuring Kate Miller-Heidke)" | Kelly | 4:06 |
| 7. | "Seagulls of Seattle" | Kelly | 3:00 |
| 8. | "Morning Storm" | Kelly | 3:00 |
| 9. | "Mushrooms" | Sylvia Plath | 2:56 |
| 10. | "The River Song" | Kelly | 2:12 |
| 11. | "God's Grandeur" | Gerard Manley Hopkins | 2:17 |
| 12. | "The Trees" | Philip Larkin | 2:23 |
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [11] | 1 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [12] | 40 |
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor Ratbaggy and Stardust Five. Kelly's music style has ranged from bluegrass to studio-oriented dub reggae, but his core output straddles folk, rock, and country. His lyrics capture the vastness of the culture and landscape of Australia by chronicling life about him for over 30 years. David Fricke from Rolling Stone calls Kelly "one of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise." Kelly has said, "Song writing is mysterious to me. I still feel like a total beginner. I don't feel like I have got it nailed yet".
Tribal Voice is the second studio album by Yothu Yindi, released in September 1991 on the Mushroom Records label. The album peaked at number 4 on the ARIA Charts and was certified 2x Platinum.
...nothing but a dream is a studio album recorded by Australian singer-songwriter, Paul Kelly. It was released on 13 August 2001 via EMI Records, which peaked at No. 7 on the ARIA Albums Chart and No. 46 on the Official New Zealand Music Chart. It was also released in the United States on Cooking Vinyl and included four tracks from Kelly's earlier extended play, Roll on Summer (2000). In Australia and New Zealand the album provided three singles, "Somewhere in the City", "Love Is the Law" (October) and "If I Could Start Today Again".
Hidden Things is an album by Australian folk rock group Paul Kelly & the Messengers released in March 1992 on Mushroom Records, which reached No. 29 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It also reached the Top 40 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. It is a collection of tracks recorded by Kelly and both his backing bands, the Coloured Girls and the Messengers, from 1986 to 1991, but were not issued on previous studio albums. The album spawned a single, "When I First Met Your Ma", which was issued in April. Messenger band members provide lead vocals on "Hard Times" from its writer Steve Connolly, "Rock 'n' Soul" from its writer Jon Schofield. "Sweet Guy Waltz" is a slower version of "Sweet Guy" which was on 1989's So Much Water So Close to Home. The album was re-released in 2011 as Hidden Things: B-sides & Rarities.
Christopher John Wilson was an Australian blues musician who sang and played harmonica, saxophone and guitar. He performed as part of the Sole Twisters, Harem Scarem and Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, and fronted his band Crown of Thorns. Wilson's solo albums are Landlocked, The Long Weekend, Spiderman (2000), King for a Day, Flying Fish (2012) and the self titled Chris Wilson (2018).
Vika and Linda, also known as Vika and Linda Bull, are an Australian vocal duo consisting of Vika Susan Bull and her younger sister, Linda Rose Bull. They came to prominence after singing backing vocals in Joe Camilleri's band The Black Sorrows from 1988. They left that group early in 1994 to start their duo with a self-titled album appearing in June that year. The duo scored their first number 1 album in 2020, with their retrospective 'Akilotoa: Anthology (1994-2006).
Daniel O Kelly is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has released music under the name of Dan Kelly and as part of the Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males.
How to Make Gravy is a four-track EP by Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly and was originally released on 4 November 1996 on White Label Records in Australia. The title track was written by Kelly and earned him a 'Song of the Year' nomination at the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Music Awards of 1998. It tells the story of a newly imprisoned man writing a letter to his brother, in which the prisoner laments that he will be missing the family's Christmas celebrations. The same character appears in Kelly's earlier songs, "To Her Door" (1987) and "Love Never Runs on Time" (1994). The gravy recipe is genuine – Kelly learnt it from his first father-in-law. It was covered by James Reyne on the 2003 tribute album, Stories of Me: A Songwriter's Tribute to Paul Kelly and on Reyne's 2005 acoustic album And the Horse You Rode in On. It has also been covered by David Miles, Luca Brasi, From Nowhere, Semicolon, Ghostwriters, Karl Broadie and Lawrence Agar. In September 2010, Kelly titled his memoirs, How to Make Gravy. On 29 September 2012 Kelly performed "How to Make Gravy" and "Leaps and Bounds" at the 2012 AFL Grand Final.
Daniel Leo Sultan is an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, actor and author. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 he won Best Male Artist and Best Blues & Roots Album for his second album, Get Out While You Can. At the 2014 ceremony he won Best Rock Album for Blackbird, which had reached number four on the ARIA Albums Chart. In 2017, Sultan's record Killer was nominated for three ARIA awards: Best Male Artist, Best Rock Album, and Best Independent Release. Sultan's debut children's music album Nali & Friends was named Best Children's Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019.
"To Her Door" is a song by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as a single ahead of their second album, Under the Sun. The single was released in September 1987 and reached No. 14 on the Australian singles charts.
Rebecca Barnard is an Australian singer, songwriter, producer and musician. She was the lead singer of the band Rebecca's Empire from 1993 to 2000, and has forged a solo career since her debut album, Fortified, was released in 2006. Her second solo album, Everlasting, was released in 2010. After a lengthy break of just under seven years, Barnard released her third solo album in 2017, called Music for Listening and Relaxation. Barnard is a Melbourne based musician.
Courtney Melba Barnett is an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. Known for her deadpan singing style and witty, rambling lyrics, she attracted attention with the release of her debut EP, I've Got a Friend Called Emily Ferris. International interest came with the release of The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas in October 2013.
"Last Train to Heaven" is a song written by Paul Kelly for the album, Gossip, which was performed by his group, Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls. It was re-written as "Last Train", a dance-orientated remake, and is the first single released by Christine Anu. Anu and Kelly performed "Last Train" as a duet, which was issued on 20 September 1993 and peaked at No. 93 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart in the following month. It was listed at No. 61 on national radio, Triple J's Hottest 100 for 1993.
Goin' Your Way is a live album collaboration recorded by Neil Finn and Paul Kelly during a performance at the Sydney Opera House on 10 March 2013. It was released on 8 November as a stand-alone 2× CD, Blu-ray or DVD; or in a Limited Edition Deluxe version with all three formats. From 18 February to 18 March, Finn and Kelly undertook a joint tour of Australia, they performed tracks from their respective careers, including re-interpreting each other's work. The CD album peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart while the DVD reached No. 1 on the related Music DVD Chart.
Before Too Long: Triple J's Tribute to Paul Kelly is a 3× CD tribute album by Various Artists of tracks originally performed by Australian singer-songwriter, Paul Kelly, which was released by ABC Music on 12 February 2010. Two discs were recorded at two live concerts, sponsored by national radio station, Triple J, on 13 and 14 November 2009 at the Forum Theatre. The concerts celebrated Kelly's 30th year as a recording artist and were organised by Richard Kingsmill, musical director at Triple J. Kingsmill invited a variety of Australian artists to choose tracks to perform. The third disc consists of Kelly's originals of most of the live tracks. The related video recording of the concerts was issued on 19 February as 2× DVD with 26 live concert tracks on the first disc and back stage interviews with Kelly and some of the performers on the second disc. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2010 the album won Best Original Soundtrack and the video recording was nominated for Best Music DVD.
The Merri Soul Sessions or Paul Kelly Presents: The Merri Soul Sessions is the twentieth studio album by Australian musician, Paul Kelly, which was issued on 12 December 2014 on his own label, Gawdaggie Records, and distributed by Universal Music Australia. Kelly provided lead vocals on two of its eleven tracks, the rest featured vocals by either Clairy Browne, sisters Vika and Linda Bull, Kira Puru, or Dan Sultan. The album debuted at No. 17 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
"Two Wings" is the third studio album by Australia vocal duo Vika & Linda Bull. The album was released in August 1999 and debuted and peaked at number 34 on the Australian ARIA Charts in September 1999.
Alexandra Lahey is an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Her debut album, I Love You Like a Brother was released on 6 October 2017 and peaked at No. 15 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
Life Is Fine is the 23rd studio album by Australian musician Paul Kelly, released on 11 August 2017. The album debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart with sales of 6,198 units. It is Kelly's first number-one album in Australia.
Seven Sonnets & a Song is the twenty-first studio album by Australian musician, Paul Kelly, which was issued on 22 April 2016 on his own label, Gawdaggie Records, and distributed by Universal Music Australia. Kelly composed music for seven sonnets by William Shakespeare and a poem, "My True Love Hath My Heart", by Philip Sidney. The album debuted at No. 9 on the ARIA Albums Chart, becoming Kelly's fourth top 10. It was nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2016.