Paul Kelly Stolen Apples by: Justin Pearsall Tue:24-Jul-07 Label: EMI Year: 2007 WB rating 91 out of 100

"If the ABC had more funding and it was deemed it was appropriate to have a Triple J for over 30-year-olds or over 40-year-olds, we would play him. His new record is great. But come on, we're Triple J! We can't keep playing Paul Kelly. We've played him since the late 1970s. Surely it's up to another station to take the criticism for not playing him. Go and hound Vega! They're still playing the same three songs of his from 20 years ago."  

Richard Kingsmill, Triple J’s Music Director speaking to The Age

Not considering any blame pointing at stations for not including Paul Kelly on their playlist, there is another aspect of Stolen Apples – larger than its unquestionable status as a ‘great’ album – which makes this decision by Triple J seem misguided: Stolen Apples is an extremely relevant album for any music fan, regardless of their age. A youth-specific broadcaster like the J’s has the ability to highlight Kelly as something more than the author of classics like ‘From Little Things, Big Things Grow’; someone more than a name in their parent’s record collection. By playing Stolen Apples to their audience, Triple J has the chance to breed an entirely new generation of Paul Kelly fans; such is the pull of these new compositions.

While there are still all the elements that ensure Stolen Apples is a Paul Kelly album – particularly the haunting ‘The Ballad of Queenie and Rover’, a timely depiction of the stolen generation – it is the way in which Kelly and band mutate these elements (poetic, everyday-detailed lyricism, traditional songwriting structures and his unique vocal twang) that makes the new album such a revelation.

Many long time fans may be shocked at the opening lines: ‘I’m gonna fuck her right out of my head” of ‘Right Outta My Head’. Here is a VCE-endorsed ‘poet’ characterising a downtrodden man, intent on banishing his ex-lover from his mind by bedding every moving presence within arms reach – Kelly’s tongue firmly in cheek as the character requests ‘Bill’ in his call out to potential maidens. But as surprising as the character’s sexual aggressiveness may seem, it is the musical setting which is truly more groundbreaking: the R ‘n’ B sleaze of the rhythm section, punctuated by its nineties-sounding organ embellishments, guiding Kelly through the verses which build and brood under the baritone harmonies.

The musical exploration evident throughout Stolen Apples is punctuated by the versatility in Kelly’s voice. Never before has he attempted so much, lifting his range into its higher register, sounding positively demonic in the concluding ‘dry’s of ‘Right Outta My Head’, raining down brimstone in the authoritative final verse of ‘God Told Me To’, and pouring enthusiasm in the preacher-at-the-pulpit chant of ‘Sweetest Thing’. Kelly’s exploration not only serves to empower the diverse genres contained in this album – broadly definable as rock, pop, balladry, folk and bluegrass – but also landscape Stolen Apples as a record of religious commentary – particularly the choir-like backing falsetto harmonies that offset the rambling, manic lead-part in the Gospel-styled conclusion to ‘The Lion and The Lamb’.

Stolen Apples is not a complete u-turn from Kelly’s past, however. The bluegrass influence of ‘Keep on Driving’ was explored on Smoke and nigh-on perfected during 2005’s Foggy Highway. But, rather than simply re-tread past efforts, Kelly and band, expand their pedigree, pushing ‘Keep on Driving’ at a frenetic tempo, the psychedelic-bluegrass of ‘Sweetest Thing’ made anew by Pete Luscombe’s syncopated, Carter Beauford-styled beat. While the limit-pushing in Kelly’s voice is a decisive factor in the album’s success, the band too is in great form, easily handling the genre-changes and providing the appropriate weight and litheness to the songs.

On the other side of 50, Paul Kelly has produced Stolen Apples, an album which sounds more invigorated, more alive, than any other recording in his 25-year career. Be it the quasi-violent rock sound of ‘Gold Told Me To’, the gravel-throated, groove-based ‘Right Outta My Head’ or the exuberance of ‘Lion and Lamb’; a boisterous and youthful vibe permeates the record redefining the prototypical image of Kelly as pub-rocker-cum-folk-strummer.

Relevant, diverse and powerful, Stolen Apples, embraces the qualities that have garnered Kelly his reputation, but allow these to spill over with passion and experimentation. It is, without a doubt, one of the finest releases of 2007.