PAUL KELLY Reflects on Rivers and Rain, Out July 29
“One of the finest songwriters I have ever heard, Australian or otherwise.” – ROLLING STONE
“An extraordinary songwriter, with an especially keen eye for lyrical detail.” – TROUSER PRESS
Kelly “writes some of the most accomplished erotic love songs in pop.” – LOS ANGELES TIMES
PAUL KELLY
REFLECTS ON RIVERS AND RAIN
DIGITAL RETROSPECTIVE COLLECTION
DUE JULY 29 via GAWD AGGIE/COOKING VINYL RECORDS
“Everything Turns to White” and “Love Never Runs on Time”
are among the classic Kelly tunes contained in this 21-track water-themed compilation.
Rivers and Rain
JULY 18, 2022 (Melbourne, Australia) — Water has been an elemental image in Paul Kelly’s music. “If I were to make a compilation of all my ‘water’ songs, the track list would be overflowing,” he laughs at his appropriate wordplay. So, for the second installment of his themed compilation series, the Australian singer/songwriter says he “decided to narrow the channel to rivers and rain,” which have personal significance to him. “One of the great pleasures in life is lying in bed listening to the rain or reading a book in a nook inside as rain falls outside,” Kelly muses about the transformative power of water in motion. “You can dream by a river; court and picnic by a river; sail or row or float down a river, and drown in a river.”
Filled to the brim with songs from his five decades of exceptional music making, the 20 tracks of Rivers and Rain are skimmed from his much-admired albums, such as his award-winning releases Nothing But A Dream, Goin’ Your Way, Life Is Fine, and Nature, as well as his epic eight-CD retrospective, The A-Z Recordings. The lone unreleased track, “Northern Rivers,” is a 2021 recording that Kelly describes as “a love song set in contrasting landscapes.”
Lyrically ebbing and flowing with water imagery, the collection envelops the music with poetic attachments to rivers and rain. In “When a Woman Loves a Man,” a river serves as a metaphor for how love can deepen over time, “Smoke Under the Bridge” is a place where a man comes to terms with his life. Rain represents a love lost on “Petrichor” but signals a sign of change in “Smell Like Rain.”
photo credit: Michael Hili
Song stream: “Northern Rivers”
Hailed as a literary songwriter, Paul Kelly has turned to literature for inspiration on occasion. This compilation features the darkly ironic “Life Is Fine,” where Kelly sets a Langston Hughes poem to music. One of Kelly’s best-known songs, “Everything Turns to White,” was inspired by a Raymond Carver short story and Rivers and Rain presents an especially powerful, stripped-down rendition that comes from 2010’s The A-Z Recordings. Rivers and rain also loom large on two exquisite story-songs about indigenous Australians: a cover of L.J. Hill’s poignant “Pretty Bird Tree” and Kelly’s heartbreaking “Maralinga (Rainy Land),” about the British doing nuclear tests on land near indigenous communities.
Beyond showcasing the depth of Paul Kelly’s songwriting talent, Rivers and Rain reveals the breadth of his musicianship, too. The gentle “Summer Rain” is performed simply with piano and strings, and an atmospheric electric guitar radiates throughout “Midnight Rain.” From Paul Kelly and the Messengers’ 1992 Hidden Things is a folk-rocking version of Woody Guthrie’s “Pastures of Plenty.” There is a twangy gospel-ish quality to the rather solemn “Gathering Storm” while a country soul vibe enlivens “I Close My Eyes and Think Of You.”
Kelly explored his interest in soul and gospel music on 2014’s The Merri Soul Sessions, which is represented here with the Sunday morning foot-stomper “Hasn’t It Rained” and the rousing “Smells Like Rain,” featuring Linda Bull on lead vocals. Kelly also reveals an appreciation for standards with his affectionate take of the Henry Mancini/Johnny Mercer classic, “Moon River,” done as a subdued duet with Neil Finn (Crowded House) from their 2013 live album Goin’ My Way.
The 21 songs on Rivers and Rain epitomize what Finn described as the unique and powerful way “Kelly mixes up everyday detail with the big issues of life, death, love and struggle.” Critic Darren Wang proclaimed Kelly’s work displays “a transparency into the craft of songwriting that is unsurpassed in pop music today”, while All Music Guide’s Thom Jurek lauds Kelly’ as “a songwriter whose peers are few; they include Townes Van Zandt, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, and Ronnie Lane.” Revered in his homeland, Kelly has been inducted into the Australian Record Industry Association’s Hall of Fame and earned the prestigious title of an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to the arts.
Paul Kelly will continue to digitally release more themed compilations in the near future.
Rivers and Rain
Track List
1. Northern Rivers (Previously Unreleased)
2. Letter In The Rain – Life is Fine
3. The River Song – Nature
4. When A Woman Loves A Man – Spring and Fall
5. Petrichor – Life Is Fine
6. Pretty Bird Tree – Death’s Dateless Night
7. Morning Storm – Nature
8. Smells Like Rain – The Merri Soul Sessions
9. Summer Rain – Wanted Man
10. Pastures Of Plenty – Hidden Things
11. Everything’s Turning To White – The A-Z Recordings
12. Midnight Rain – Nothing But a Dream
13. Life Is Fine – Life Is Fine
14. The Pretty Place – The A-Z Recordings
15. Love Never Runs On Time – The A-Z Recordings
16. I Close My Eyes and Think Of You – Nothing But a Dream
17. Hasn’t It Rained – The Merri Soul Sessions
18. Smoke Under the Bridge – Nothing But a Dream
19. Gathering Storm – Smoke
20. Moon River (Live with Neil Finn) – Goin’ My Way
21. Maralinga (Rainy Land) – The A-Z Recordings
