One For The Ages
Paul Kelly
Melbourne Recital Centre
August 9, 2013
Even if you didn't know initially, once you've listened to it, you can probably figure out that Paul Kelly's 19th album, Spring and Fall, effectively charts the path of a relationship - all the way through from its beginning, middle, to its eventual end. It's been good company during my drives up to Kyneton the last few months and there's still something new to find every time I listen to it.
Kelly has done this type of show before with Stolen Apples, where the first half is spent playing the new record straight through, with little conversation or banter between songs. Each number also sticks closely to the arrangements on the album, not too much noodling or improvising at all. With Spring and Fall, you can almost draw a line from one song to the next, as it documents the progression from the giddy excitement of a new love (New Found Year) and the sheer adoration of one's significant other (For The Ages), to the restlessness and expectations of being in said relationship (Gonna Be Good, Someone New).
Less straight forward is the latter part of the record, which Kelly himself describes as its second side. It traces the downward slide of a union, starting with Time And Tide, and working its way up to None Of Your Business Now (whose sentiments I'm sure everyone has felt at some stage, whether they relate to a romantic breakup, or a spat between friends or family). None of the vitriol, hurt or vehemence is lost live, it's actually all the more vivid. I remember doing pathology in undergrad, and we had a section on wound healing, with one of the stages called "resolution". Spring and Fall's closer, Little Aches and Pains, is very much the sound of a person who has come a long way to get perspective in the aftermath of a failed relationship.
I've lost count of how many times I've seen Paul Kelly play, and it honestly never gets boring. As Neil Finn once said, it doesn't matter whether you've written a song from personal experience or not, when you sing it you still have to convince the listener that you really mean what you're singing. They have to believe you. Without fail, Paul Kelly does this every single time. Although the songs apparently don't always come easily, he still has a beautiful economy with words - a skill which never fails to mystify long-winded people like me. He's never afraid to mess around with his band lineup either, which perhaps is what helps keep things sounding remarkably fresh. That said, a recent staple has been nephew Dan, who co-wrote the majority of the songs on Spring and Fall.
It must require a good rapport and trust, to let a bunch of players in to interpret the music you've written. And Kelly is visibly generous in the way he does this. The latter half of the show, as he's become accustomed to doing, is geared to playing a mixed bag of old and newer tunes, which realistically is probably what most punters have come to hear. I have to admit that Spring and Fall, with its story arc, really does lend itself to being played through in order from start to finish, and I was very keen to hear it live anyway. Amongst the staples like To Her Door and Deeper Water, treats included the rarer Bradman and Our Sunshine (Ned Kelly's parents' pet name for him as a child). For me though, whenever I hear it, Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air, with just the band around the one microphone, is sublime. Regardless of the personnel, the way their voices blend so perfectly always gives me goosebumps.
These days, I often vacillate when it comes to gigs. There are only a handful of acts where I never do this, and it's a given that I'll be sitting around hitting Refresh on the day tickets go on sale. PK is definitely one of them. It's like old friendships where no matter how long it's been since you've seen one another, you can always just pick up right where you left off.
Melbourne Recital Centre
August 9, 2013
Even if you didn't know initially, once you've listened to it, you can probably figure out that Paul Kelly's 19th album, Spring and Fall, effectively charts the path of a relationship - all the way through from its beginning, middle, to its eventual end. It's been good company during my drives up to Kyneton the last few months and there's still something new to find every time I listen to it.
Kelly has done this type of show before with Stolen Apples, where the first half is spent playing the new record straight through, with little conversation or banter between songs. Each number also sticks closely to the arrangements on the album, not too much noodling or improvising at all. With Spring and Fall, you can almost draw a line from one song to the next, as it documents the progression from the giddy excitement of a new love (New Found Year) and the sheer adoration of one's significant other (For The Ages), to the restlessness and expectations of being in said relationship (Gonna Be Good, Someone New).
Less straight forward is the latter part of the record, which Kelly himself describes as its second side. It traces the downward slide of a union, starting with Time And Tide, and working its way up to None Of Your Business Now (whose sentiments I'm sure everyone has felt at some stage, whether they relate to a romantic breakup, or a spat between friends or family). None of the vitriol, hurt or vehemence is lost live, it's actually all the more vivid. I remember doing pathology in undergrad, and we had a section on wound healing, with one of the stages called "resolution". Spring and Fall's closer, Little Aches and Pains, is very much the sound of a person who has come a long way to get perspective in the aftermath of a failed relationship.
I've lost count of how many times I've seen Paul Kelly play, and it honestly never gets boring. As Neil Finn once said, it doesn't matter whether you've written a song from personal experience or not, when you sing it you still have to convince the listener that you really mean what you're singing. They have to believe you. Without fail, Paul Kelly does this every single time. Although the songs apparently don't always come easily, he still has a beautiful economy with words - a skill which never fails to mystify long-winded people like me. He's never afraid to mess around with his band lineup either, which perhaps is what helps keep things sounding remarkably fresh. That said, a recent staple has been nephew Dan, who co-wrote the majority of the songs on Spring and Fall.
It must require a good rapport and trust, to let a bunch of players in to interpret the music you've written. And Kelly is visibly generous in the way he does this. The latter half of the show, as he's become accustomed to doing, is geared to playing a mixed bag of old and newer tunes, which realistically is probably what most punters have come to hear. I have to admit that Spring and Fall, with its story arc, really does lend itself to being played through in order from start to finish, and I was very keen to hear it live anyway. Amongst the staples like To Her Door and Deeper Water, treats included the rarer Bradman and Our Sunshine (Ned Kelly's parents' pet name for him as a child). For me though, whenever I hear it, Meet Me In The Middle Of The Air, with just the band around the one microphone, is sublime. Regardless of the personnel, the way their voices blend so perfectly always gives me goosebumps.
These days, I often vacillate when it comes to gigs. There are only a handful of acts where I never do this, and it's a given that I'll be sitting around hitting Refresh on the day tickets go on sale. PK is definitely one of them. It's like old friendships where no matter how long it's been since you've seen one another, you can always just pick up right where you left off.
posted by yossarian | 11:28 AM
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