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."
Under the Sun is the second album by Australian rock group Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls and was originally released in December 1987 by Mushroom Records. In the North American and European markets, it was released by A&M Records in 1988 with the band credited as Paul Kelly & The Messengers, with a different track order and listing.
Wanted Man is a folk rock album by Paul Kelly and was originally released in July 1994. It was issued on Mushroom Records in Australia and was Kelly's first solo studio album after disbanding his previous group, The Messengers. Tracks 1–10 were recorded at three Los Angeles studios while tracks 11–13 were recorded in Melbourne. It was produced by Kelly, Randy Jacobs and David Bridie. The cover art for Wanted Man is a colophon rendering of Australia's legendary outlaw Ned Kelly as a guitarist and was painted by David Band.
"Throw Your Arms Around Me" is a song by Australian rock band Hunters & Collectors first released as a single in November 1984 by White Label for Mushroom Records. A re-recorded version of the song later appeared on the band's 1986 album Human Frailty. Written by bass guitarist John Archer, keyboardist Geoffrey Crosby, drummer Douglas Falconer, trumpet player Jack Howard, recorder/mixing engineer Robert Miles, vocalist/lead guitarist Mark Seymour and trombone player Michael Waters. The song captures the intensity of sensual love at the same time portraying its fleeting nature with lyrics including "And we may never meet again, So shed your skin and let's get started".
"Before Too Long" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as the first single from their debut double album, Gossip. It was released in June 1986 on the original White Label Records, a subsidiary of Mushroom Records. It reached No. 15 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, remaining for 19 weeks. The track was a surprise hit for Kelly at a time when chart success had eluded him and provided increased interest for the release of Gossip, which would become his biggest mainstream success to that date.
"Power and the Passion" is the second single from Midnight Oil's 1982 album 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The song is one of the band's most famous, and it was performed on every Midnight Oil tour since the issue of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 as well as at the WaveAid concert.
"Wide Open Road" is a single released in 1986 by Australian rock band The Triffids from their album Born Sandy Devotional. It was produced by Gil Norton and written by David McComb on vocals, keyboards and guitar. The B-side "Time of Weakness" was recorded live at the Graphic Arts Club, Sydney, November 1985 by Mitch Jones, mixed by Rob Muir. "Dear Miss Lonely Hearts" was recorded at Planet Sound Studios, Perth and produced by the Triffids. "Wide Open Road" reached No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart in 1986, and No. 64 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. In May 2001 the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, named "Wide Open Road" as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time.
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.
"Treaty" is a protest song by Australian musical group Yothu Yindi, which is made up of Aboriginal and balanda (non-Aboriginal) members. Released in June 1991, "Treaty" was the first song by a predominantly Aboriginal band to chart in Australia and was the first song partly in any Aboriginal Australian language to gain extensive international recognition, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play singles charts. The song contains lyrics in Gumatj, one of the Yolngu Matha dialects and a language of the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land in northern Australia.
"Cool Change" is a song by Australian rock group Little River Band written by lead singer Glenn Shorrock. It was released in August 1979 the second single from their sixth album, First Under the Wire. The song peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of 19 January 1980.
"Science Fiction" is a song by Australian rock/new wave group Divinyls, which was the lead single from their first studio album Desperate. Released in December 1982, "Science Fiction", peaked at No. 13 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The B-side, "I'll Make You Happy" is a cover of The Easybeats 1966 hit.
"Even When I'm Sleeping" is a song by Australian band Leonardo's Bride that was the second single from their first studio album, Angel Blood. Released on 13 April 1997, "Even When I'm Sleeping" peaked at No. 4 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Singles Chart in July 1997 and was certified gold.
"Darling It Hurts" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls released in September 1986 as the second single from their first double album, Gossip. The song, written by Kelly with lead guitarist Steve Connolly, reached No. 25 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart in October. It was issued in 1987 on A&M Records in the United States, where it reached No. 19 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. Due to possible racist connotations the band changed its name, for international releases, to Paul Kelly and the Messengers. According to Allmusic's Mike Gagne, "Kelly's pain can be felt as he describes an ex-girlfriend of his who has turned to prostitution."
"Dumb Things" or "I've Done all the Dumb Things" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as the fourth single from their second album, Under the Sun. It was released by Mushroom Records imprint White Label Records in January 1989 and reached No. 36 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Singles Chart. In the US, it was released under the band name, Paul Kelly and the Messengers, which reached No. 16 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. A music video, directed by Larry Williams, was provided for the single – a still from the clip is used as the single's cover.
"Sweet Guy" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Messengers released in June 1989 as the lead single from the studio album, So Much Water So Close to Home. The song was written by Kelly – his first from a woman's point of view. He co-produced the track with Scott Litt. The single was released in June 1989 on the Mushroom Records label. It reached No. 53 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and the Top 40 in New Zealand. The song was later covered by Renée Geyer on Difficult Woman (1994), Adalita Srsen on Before Too Long.
"Careless" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Messengers, released in October 1989 as the second single from their 1989 studio album, So Much Water So Close to Home. The song was written by Kelly and co-produced with Scott Litt. The single was released in October 1989 on the Mushroom Records label. It peaked at number 116 on the ARIA singles chart. The song was later covered by Renée Geyer on Difficult Woman (1994), Angie Hart on Women at the Well (2002), and Ozi Batla on Before Too Long (2010).
"Leaps and Bounds" / "Bradman" is a double A-sided single by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls released in January 1987. "Leaps and Bounds" is from their debut double album, Gossip (1986). "Bradman" did not appear on a studio album until the international version of Under the Sun (1988). The single reached top 100 in the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. Due to possible racist connotations the band changed its name, for international releases, to Paul Kelly and the Messengers. In 1997, Kelly was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, at the ceremony Crowded House paid tribute to Kelly and performed "Leaps and Bounds". In October 2003, Xanthe Littlemore covered "Leaps and Bounds" for the tribute album, Stories of Me – A Songwriter's Tribute to Paul Kelly. In 2005, rock music writer, Toby Creswell described two of Kelly's songs: "Leaps and Bounds" and "From Little Things Big Things Grow" in his book, 1001 Songs. For the former, Creswell observed "The grand themes of [his] work are all there – Melbourne, football, transcendence and memory... [he] is a detail man – the temperature, the location, foliage". On 26 March 2006 Kelly performed at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in Melbourne, singing "Leaps and Bounds" and "Rally Around the Drum". In February 2009 Patience Hodgson, Glenn Richards and Kelly performed "Leaps and Bounds" at the Myer Music Bowl for SBS-TV's concert RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl. On 29 September 2012 Kelly performed "How to Make Gravy" and "Leaps and Bounds" at the 2012 AFL Grand Final although most of the performance was not broadcast on Seven Network's pre-game segment.
The A to Z Recordings is an eight-volume live album by Australian rock musician, Paul Kelly, which was released on 24 September 2010 on Gawd Aggie Records in Australia and Universal Import in North America. It had been recorded from a series of performances from 2004 to 2010 on Kelly's A to Z Tours in various locations. The tours led to Kelly writing his memoir, How to Make Gravy, also in September 2010. Kelly's A to Z Tours continued until March 2012. Rolling Stone's Jason Cohen described the release as "a 106-track, eight-CD boxed set culled from Kelly's now-trademark A to Z live performances" and, with the associated memoir, Kelly "might be creating the world's longest CD liner notes" at 568 pages.
"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.
