Lost/Forgotten Album #251

[Jon]

Anyway, about a month or so ago I was checking out what was showing on one of our many movie channels and I came across a 1987 movie titles "Nightmaster" starring a young Nicole Kidman. It had something to do with ninjas and I figured I couldn't go wrong with ninjas AND Nicole Kidman.

Well, turns out the movie is bad. It has something to do with a paintball/karate game in a warehouse and it really makes no sense at all. It's also a complete waste of time except for a scene in a bar that features quite a lot of footage of a band.

As I'm watching and listening to the band, I'm trying to figure out why they sound so familiar. Sure, I could have fast forwarded the movie to get to the end credits, but rules are rules and I stuck with the movie until the bitter (but happy?) ending.

The reason why the songs sounded familiar is because I have the album. Imagine that! The three songs featured in the movie are from this week's featured album, "Gossip", by Paul Kelly And The Messengers.

The album was originally released in Australia in 1986 and featured 24 tracks as Paul Kelly And The Coloured Girls. The band name was taken from a lyric from Loe Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side". The album was released in the U.S. in 1987 with the band name changed to The Messengers, since some people might have played the racism card. The U.S release contained 15 tracks, but the CD release sontained 17 tracks. Confused yet?

How about some learning, courtesy of allmusic.com?

"Songwriter singer Paul Kelly captures Australia in his songs the way Bruce Springsteen or Ray Davies of the Kinks have encapsulated their homelands, and he does it with the musical energy and diversity of Elvis Costello. The sixth of nine children, Kelly was born in Adelaide in 1955. After school he wandered around Australian for a few years, working odd jobs, writing poetry, and thinking about a career as a short story writer. Somewhere along the line, already in his late teens, he picked up a guitar. Kelly made his public debut singing the Australian folk song "Streets of Forbes" to a Hobart audience in 1974, and two years later, he moved to Melbourne to join R&B pub band the High Rise Bombers. With a large lineup and three songwriters, the band's splintering was inevitable, Kelly forming his own group, Paul Kelly & the Dots.

Kelly immediately established himself as his peers' favorite songwriter. On nights off, Melbourne's musicians went to see him. He also had a big fan at Mushroom Records. One of the company's PR people locked herself in a room, refusing to come out until Mushroom signed Paul Kelly & the Dots. The result was two roots rock albums, Talk and Manila, that Kelly himself was never completely happy with, for he was a perfectionist. By late 1984, Kelly had broken up the Dots and moved to Sydney, where he recorded a defining solo album called Post. Without a record contract and no real idea how the album was going to be released, Post was recorded over two weeks on a shoestring budget, delivering the essence of Paul Kelly in a loosely structured song cycle signposting Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney place names the way Springsteen speaks of New Jersey. On the strength of that album, Mushroom picked up Kelly's contract again, and the singer formed a new group, Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls (a reference to Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side").

In September 1986, Kelly's songwriting skills spilled over four sides of the 14-song double album Gossip. Recorded in just a month, the classic Australian rock album attained gold sales and produced the hit singles "Darling It Hurts" and "Before Too Long." The album included three re-recorded songs from Post. Gossip was also the record that introduced Kelly to American audiences when it was released by A&M Records in July 1987, edited down to a 15-song single album. In the meantime, the group returned to the studio to record a collection of 14 new Kelly originals for its second Australian album, Under the Sun. To avoid misunderstandings, the group changed its name to Paul Kelly & the Messengers with the release of July 1989's So Much Water, So Close to Home album. The new album was produced by Scott Litt of R.E.M. notoriety and its songs were colored by American influences and experiences. After one more album, Comedy, Kelly decided the group had gone as far as it could, and to avoid the risk of repeating themselves, he dissolved the Messengers with a farewell tour.

For the next two years, Kelly recharged his batteries with a set of diverse activities, like performing in Australia and America, producing the groundbreaking Charcoal Lane album by aboriginal songwriter Archie Roach, collaborating on Yothu Yindi's "Treaty," writing songs for his acting role in the stage play Funerals and Circuses about racial tensions in small-town Australia, and releasing his first book of poetry, Lyrics. His second studio solo album, 1994's Wanted Man, spread his musical influences as wide as his activities. His 1997 greatest-hits album Songs from the South sold double platinum. In 1999, he delivered two very different albums at the same time, a bluegrass album with Uncle Bill called Smoke and a technology-influenced album as part of a new group, Professor Ratbaggy. Kelly stayed prolific in the 21st century, releasing Nothing But a Dream in 2001, the double-disc Ways & Means in 2004, the bluegrass-inflected Foggy Highway in 2005, and Dirt in 2006."

This isn't complete without the allmusic.com review:

"Paul Kelly's first American release on A&M just happens to be his most valiant effort. Gossip bursts at the seams with blustery, distinguished tunes captivating both the somberness and the intrigue thrown forward from this fine Australian storyteller. His longing for the past, whether it's the simplicity of adolescence or the rekindling of a failed relationship, is revealed in startling clarity through dark-toned guitar and lonely harmonica. Kelly's anecdotes are far from the run-of-the-mill type, since he has a way of expressing mood by shaping both his words and his instruments to the situations he sings about. On "Last Train to Heaven," his lyrics are sparse and repetitive, but the steel guitar conjures up a hollow, distant feeling. In more intricate songs, like "Darling It Hurts," Kelly's pain can be felt as he describes an ex-girlfriend of his who has turned to prostitution. Many of the themes here deal with the "down on your luck" character, weighted down from small-town life or the loss of a sweetheart. Never dry or boring, all the songs from Gossip involve an introspection into the lifestyles of many different people, sometimes with remarkable resemblances. This true-to-life approach to Paul Kelly's songs is what separates him from other musicians of the same manner. And, like other Aussie artists, Kelly remains to be influenced by other European or North American musicians or styles, making Gossip a select group of absorbing songs."

For those wondering, the three songs featured in the movie mentioned above are "Darling It Hurts", "Stories Of Me" and "Down On My Speedway". 

Gossip

1. Last Train To Heaven
2. Before The Old Man Died
3. Leaps And Bounds
4. Incident On South Dowling
5. Don't Harm The Messenger
6. Somebody's Forgetting Somebody (Somebody's Letting Somebody Down)
7. The Execution
8. Darling It Hurts
9. Before Too Long
10. Look So Fine, Feel So Low
11. Stories Of Me
12. Tighten Up
13. Down On My Speedway
14. White Train
15. Randwick Bells
16. Adelaide
17. Songs About My Father's Business

Availability: Starts around $8 used. However, even though it's listed as "Paul Kelly And The Coloured Girls", it appears to be the 17 track version. Still confusing.....

[Scott]

[Scott]

All I Know is that this has 17 tracks. But you've since schooled me on not complain about the number of tracks on an album post in this forum so I wont mention the perfect CD length this week, which is 10-12, but that's beside the point.

It's interesting that the album cover art screamed Eddie and The Cruisers at first glance (Hey an April Wine reference!) and then I also thought of Springsteen before I read that he is the Oz Boss wannabe. Its like prophetic or something...

I really liked that opening track it had really cool cerebral undertone and nice elements of that ooey-gooey melodic goodness I love so much. But the vocals are a detractor and the very high pitched keyboards do take away from it as well. Those keyboards seem to make multiple appearances along the way. Too bad to!

As I get about halfway in, it seems to drift in an out of the background for me. I don't not like it, but its not grabbing at my attention. And I'm not hearing much of a Springsteen connection in the overall tone and feel so I'm not sure why the comparison.

However, some things are clear... like, this could use more geetar work and less keyboard, and his vocals are not very interesting, and the keyboard really sound off to me, and finally the songwriting - it's just not there.

Maybe this works in Oz, maybe it hasn't, who's to know? But for me these three words sum it up... Lost In Translation.

[RJhog (Admin)]

First, the perfect album length is 9 to 11 songs, except for Bat Out Of Hell, it was perfect at 7 tracks.

The first song has a bit of a reggae feel, but I can also sort of "smell" Australia in it.  But it never really goes anywhere. I can see where Scott is coming from regarding the vocals, but they aren't that bad.  At least not so far.  I like track two a little better.  

Next few tunes are just there.  Scott is also correct about this needing a bigger guitar presence.  Sounds like they'll do a solo out of just about any instrument...except maybe the guitar.  But hey, the songs aren't too long.

Some of this stuff sounds like late 80's or early 90's alternative music.  Don't Harm The Messenger sounds like something Dreams So Real could have recorded.  

This just kind of meanders through the next few songs, with a U2 guitar style on The Execution and just a hint of Midnight Oil on Darling It Hurts.  Before Too Long kicks it back to the late 60's.  Actually, this could be a Smithereens song quite easily.  It was sound a hell of a sight better.  Even though I'd like to hear some more lead guitar, I will say that the rhythm playing is quite good.

Stories Of Me is the best song here.  Simple accompaniment with just a keyboard and sax, but it's quirky cool.  

The rest is just there, other than the final track.  It's kind of good.  It appears as though the last two songs on the player may be titled wrong.  They don't match up with the track listing in the post.  So, overall, not a terrible experience in the least, but nothing that makes me think it shouldn't be lost.  Now maybe you'd be kind enough to post one of those early Thunder albums...