“All right, are you ready?” Paul Kelly asks as the album starts. He is talking to the other musicians, but we can’t help but answer with a resounding, “Yes!” for ourselves. A few years had passed without a new Paul Kelly album, and for fans, that is quite a long time. He announces the song, “Houndstooth Dress,” and so there is a kind of loose, playful, live vibe, which is great. On this track, he plays piano. This is one of the songs he played at the Teragram Ballroom show earlier this month, the only song that night that found him on the keyboard. This track also features some good stuff by his nephew Dan Kelly on electric guitar. There is a strong energy to this song, part of what makes it a good choice for lead track. That’s followed by “Love Has Made A Fool Of Me,” which establishes a very cool vibe immediately. Check out the opening lines, “I’m so sorry, heart/Here we are again/The bright new start/Has come to the old dark end.” Those are lines that all of us can relate to, having been there at one point or another. “The only one who couldn’t see/I’m afraid love has made a fool of me.” Ah, but we will willingly be fools, again and again, until the one day when things suddenly click, which is probably what we expect will happen each time. I love this song. Paul Kelly delivers a delicious vocal performance, aided by backing vocalists Vika Bull and Linda Bull.
“Taught By Experts” is a song that was included on a few earlier releases, including Live, May 1992 and Smoke, as well as the soundtrack to the television series Fireflies. The Live, May 1992 version is a nice solo rendition, and the Smoke version is a bluegrass rendering. This new version has a rather cheerful pop sound, particularly to the guitar work, which works really well. “Now everything has turned around/Down is up and up is down/You got your fingers burned.” That’s followed by “Hello Melancholy, Hello Joy.” This song has that delicious, familiar energy to Paul Kelly’s vocal line, that hint of punk that we love, helping make this track one of the disc’s highlights. “We’re the particle and the wave/We just don’t know how to behave.” Plus, this track features a horn section – Roscoe James Irwin is on trumpet, Kieran Conrau is on trombone, and Phillip Noy is on baritone saxophone. And it ends with a repetition of the word “Joy.” What more could you ask for?
“Northern Rivers” is another song Paul Kelly played at the recent Los Angeles show. Here is a taste of the lyrics: “She made friends with wild creatures/They were her dreaming, her study and her play/She’s kinda wild too, hard to keep in view/The more I know her, the less I do.” The wonderful guitar work seems to lift us, take off into the sky with her. And interestingly that guitar lead is followed by the lines, “Now the birds here have had their season/They’re all fed up and getting ready to fly.” And is that just a hint of a Polonius reference in the line, “Whatever she does, to herself she’s true”? After all, we know Paul Kelly is a Shakespeare fan. This album’s title is in fact a Shakespeare reference. The first line of Sonnet 147 is “My love is as a fever, longing still.” He slows things down then with “Double Business Bound,” a song that features a moving and outstanding vocal performance. “Oh, moon, hide your face, you don’t want to know/My enemies are all around/To my fate I’m solemnly wedded.” This track also contains some really nice work on keys. Cameron Bruce plays piano and organ. And Paul Kelly delivers some good stuff on harmonica. This is another of my personal favorites.
“Let’s Work It Out In Bed” has a catchy rhythm, particularly in that bass line, and a bit of a 1970s flavor. “Sometimes love takes a fall/Sometimes love can be blind/Love is all, let’s be kind, kind, kind,” Paul Kelly sings here. Oh yes! No matter what happens, no matter the troubles, love is really what it all comes down to. He follows that with “All Those Smiling Faces,” another song he played at the Teragram Ballroom show. The lyrics of this one contain some lines from a poem by Dana Gioia, “Finding A Box Of Family Letters.” “Ooh, get on the floor and dance/You don’t have forever/Ooh, get out there and dance/Soon we’ll all be together.” Life is so short, which is why I can never figure out how some folks choose to use their brief span of time to cause harm. Paul Kelly then changes gears with “Harpoon To The Heart,” a delightful country tune. It’s one I fell in love with instantly, and the line that cemented that love is, “And you don’t even know you’re Ahab in this tale.” We can hear in his vocal delivery how much fun he’s having here. Just see if you can keep from smiling while listening to this song, even as he sings, “Every day I hear the baying from behind/Like a hellhound with the scent/Your ghost’s relentless/Though I know your love is only in my mind.” Then “Back To The Future” has a sweeter vibe. “Do you remember our future?/Well, I do.” Those are great opening lines, right away hinting at a rift between the two people, between their perspectives, while one of them seems to want to repair that rift and return to that future they’d planned. Beautiful. Alice Keath provides some nice backing vocal work.
The first time I listened to this album, just before heading out to the Teragram Ballroom concert, one of the songs that really stood out for me was “Eight Hours Sleep.” It was my favorite track during that initial listen, and since then, my love for it has only grown. It’s an absolutely wonderful and moving song, and with a bit of sweet humor to it as well. And for those of us who never seem to get a full night’s sleep, it’s bloody perfect. It contains a reference to Macbeth, someone else who is unable to get a good night’s sleep. Paul Kelly sings, “Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,” a line that Macbeth speaks soon after murdering Duncan, when he thinks he hears a voice saying that Macbeth does murder sleep. (By the way, the liner notes booklet mistakenly has “sleeve” in place of “sleave” in the lyrics.) Plus, this track contains some gorgeous backing vocal work by Jess Hitchcock. This song was written by Paul Kelly, Billy Miller and Wendell Berry, and Billy Miller joins Paul Kelly on acoustic guitar and backing vocals. The album then concludes with another beautiful song, “Going To The River With Dad.” I was fighting tears when he played this one at the L.A. concert, though the story it relates is a cheerful one, remembered with fondness. Listening to this song, I am filled with memories of my dad, especially ones from my childhood. Here at home, I don’t bother fighting the tears, but just let them flow, though I am smiling all the while. “Trying to fill the unforgiving minute/With the full sixty seconds of living/Yeah, I’m still on the river with dad/With the birdsong bringing the dawn in.”
CD Track List
- Houndstooth Dress
- Love Has Made A Fool Of Me
- Taught By Experts
- Hello Melancholy, Hello Joy
- Northern Rivers
- Double Business Bound
- Let’s Work It Out In Bed
- All Those Smiling Faces
- Harpoon To The Heart
- Back To The Future
- Eight Hours Sleep
- Going To The River With Dad
Fever Longing Still is scheduled to be released on November 1, 2024
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