AUSTRALIAN GIANT PAUL KELLY TAKES ON AMERICA.Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer People are always asking Australian troubadour troubadour One of a class of lyric poets and poet-musicians, often of knightly rank, that flourished from the 11th through the 13th century, chiefly in Provence and other regions of southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy. Paul Kelly about the words to his songs. And he's always giving them the same answer: ``The music throws up the lyrics.'' Sounds messy. But this is the way most of the 48-year-old singer-songwriter's tracks were penned on ``Ways and Means WAYS AND MEANS. In legislative assemblies there is usually appointed a committee whose duties are to inquire into, and propose to the house, the ways and means to be adopted to raise funds for the use of the government. This body is called the committee of ways and means. ,'' Kelly's new double CD that Rolling Stone rolling stone Noun a restless or wandering person hails as ``overflowing with catchy hooks and stick-in-your-gourd lyrics.'' The new album is the follow-up to 2001's ``Nothing but a Dream,'' which led the Aussie edition of Rolling Stone to crown Kelly a ``profound observer of simple things.'' Love, simple? Not in the storytelling songs featured in his newest set, which feels more like two separate albums anyway. Disc one is a more raucous set in that it focuses on love's beginnings, such as in the happy-go-lucky ballad ``Beautiful Feeling.'' That song grew around drummer Peter Luscombe's easy beat and the sunny groove it inspired. ``It just had this falsetto falsetto (fôlsĕt`tō) [Ital.,=diminutive of false], high-pitched, unnatural tones above the normal register of the male voice, produced, according to some theories, by the vibration of only the edges of the larynx. , soulful kind of Eddie Floyd vibe to it,'' Kelly says, referring to the Memphis soul Memphis soul is stylish, funky, uptown soul music that is not as hard edged as Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring tasteful, melancholic, melodic horns, organ, bass, and drums. singer who recorded for Stax. ``It suggests upbeat lyrics so the first thing I started singing was the chorus.'' On disc two, Kelly's songs are more atmospheric as they wallow wallow mud bath frequented by pigs, elephants, red deer, hippopotami as a cooling aid. in the fallout of love. Take ``You Broke a Beautiful Thing,'' which Kelly originally wrote for Renee Gayer, the Australian soul singer who's ``got lots of Aretha (Franklin) and Donny Hathaway Donny Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul musician. He signed with Atlantic Records in 1969, and with his first single "The Ghetto, Part I" (1970), Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music. in her voice. You should hear her version,'' he says. Combined, the double album ``evokes a variety of moonstruck moon·struck also moon·strick·en adj. 1. Dazed or distracted with romantic sentiment. 2. Affected by insanity; crazed. [From the belief that the moon caused insanity. moods,'' USA Today USA Today National U.S. daily general-interest newspaper, the first of its kind. Launched in 1982 by Allen Neuharth, head of the Gannett newspaper chain, it reached a circulation of one million within a year and surpassed two million in the 1990s. writes. That's to be expected. In the last 20 years, Kelly has turned out a string of albums, including 1987's ``Gossip,'' which introduced the folk-rocker to America. Here he's an unsung songwriter. Back home, Kelly can work with anyone he wants to. Born in the town of Adelaide, the sixth of nine children, Kelly initially dreamed of becoming a writer. Poetry and short stories eventually gave way to songwriting when at age 18 he got his first guitar. He's been hooked ever since. From the time he began performing, Kelly has formed and disbanded several groups of musicians just to keep the music fresh. ``At the same time, I like being in bands with the same people over long periods of time because I think that's the way you develop a unique sound,'' he says. Blues, country, rock, r&b - Kelly has played songs in every imaginable style and about every imaginable subject matter. In the last decade, he's broadened his music scope to include composing soundtracks for both television and film. His credits include the Ray Lawrence film ``Lantana lantana (lăntā`nə): see verbena. lantana Any of more than 150 shrubs that make up the genus Lantana in the verbena family, native to the New World and African tropics. ,'' which starred Anthony LaPaglia Anthony LaPaglia (born 31 January, 1959) (pronounced IPA: /ləˈpɑːljə/) is an Australian actor, best known for his role as FBI agent Jack Malone on the American TV series Without a Trace and Geoffrey Rush. For Kelly, soundtrack work affords him a break from having to come up with lyrics. ``You make up melodies or sounds without having to think it has to turn into a song, which is great,'' he says. ``I always have more music than I have lyrics anyway.'' On the new album, Kelly's love of instrumentals is apparent. ``We did a lot of jamming and came up with a lot of tunes that I didn't put lyrics to,'' Kelly says. And because he always liked the way Neil Young's self-titled release from 1969 opened with ``The Emperor of Wyoming,'' a Western-tinged instrumental, he decided to model his record after it. Only his two offerings suggest water and surf, which Kelly says ``is very Australian.'' Sandra Barrera, (818) 713-3728 sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com PAUL KELLY Where: Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. When: 8 tonight. Tickets: $15. Call (213) 480-3232 or www.ticketmaster.com. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Paul Kelly mixes recording and performing with occasional soundtrack work. |
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