Paul Kelly
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Ways and Means - Paul Kelly Album Review
Album Review
It only takes a glance at the reverse of the album cover to tell that Paul Kelly is from the old school of thinking, none of these nine track albums because your material is shallower than a politician's promise that are polluting the industry these days . Two discs containing 21 tracks that explores all angles of the theme of love more comprehensively than an Anthropology student's dissertation. Opening track the instrumental 'Gunnamatta' will have you stomping down the street like a Country & Western star determined to win the heart of an unrequited love. The C & W genre is the most adhered to one on this sometimes tender sometimes cynical album. Some of the slower tracks like 'Your Lovin' Is On My Mind' is instrumentally very similar to the heart felt 'Leizah' on the 'Magic & Medicine' album from the promising Wirral band 'The Coral'.
The typical narrative style of the C & W genre appears on the insightful and cynical 'Young Lovers', whereby the colourful Mr.Kelly poignantly points out that everyone was a young lover once. The influence of John Cash and Bob Dylan is prevalent in the slow and thoughtful tracks 'You Broke A Beautiful Thing' and 'To Be Good Takes A Long Time', in which the titles reallydo tell all. "Ways & Means" is Paul's ninth studio album since 1985. The honesty and tenderness exuded by this Antipodean songster is captivating enough on record, so what he will be like on his up and coming UK tour? Is a prospect to drool over, as the venues will probably see a hall of people more captivated than an infant witnessing his/her first snowfall?
