Paul Kelly

Certain Songs #1445: Paul Kelly & The Messengers – “Desdemona”

February 3, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Under The Sun
Year: 1987

If any record was going to break Paul Kelly in the U.S., it would have been Under The Sun. While there were some great songs on Gossip, it wasn’t quite as consistent as Under The Sun, which also boasted better production, to boot.

And better songs, too: I’ve already mentioned the insanely great “To Her Door,” but there was also the rollicking drum-fueled “Dumb Things,” the title track, which ended up with rave-up fueled by the “My Generation” chord changes, and the impossibly lovely “Desdemona.”

Certain Songs #1444: Paul Kelly and The Messengers – “To Her Door”

February 2, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Under The Sun
Year: 1987

This, ladies and gentlemens, is how you write a song.

There isn’t anything about “To Her Door” that isn’t totally and utterly perfection. Not a single fucking thing. For one thing, it’s a story song that leaves the end of the story unresolved, so it’s all about set-up and leaves the aftermath to your imagination. You know, like “Train From Kansas City,” only . . . well, we’ll get there presently.

But I will put it this way: there aren’t too many songs that can make the room blurry for me — that’s just not how I’m wired — but “To Her Door” is one of them.

Certain Songs #1443: Paul Kelly and The Messengers – “Look So Fine, Feel So Low”

February 1, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Gossip
Year: 1986

God, I love this song so much, I’m almost afraid of writing about it.

I bought both the U.S. versions Gossip and its follow-up, Under The Sun during the long, awful summer of 1988, which I spent reeling from multiple breakups — girls and bands — and out of all of the songs on both albums, “Look So Fine, Feel So Low” was the one that pierced me directly to my soul.

Certain Songs #1442: Paul Kelly and The Messengers – “The Execution”

January 31, 2019 by Jim Connelly

Album: Gossip
Year: 1986

There was a bit of an Australian invasion during the 1980s, probably sparked off by the surprising success of Men At Work, but throughout the decade, band like Hoodoo Gurus, The Church and Midnight Oil made splashes and even had hit singles, which, of course led to even more Australian signings.

One of those signings was a singer/songwriter named Paul Kelly, who along with his band — renamed from the problematic “Coloured Girls” (a “Walk on the Wild Side” reference) to the more generic “Messengers” — made music that somehow split the middle ground between Lloyd Cole & The Commotions and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.