Stolen Apples
Paul Kelly
Score:82
Reviewer: Justin Pearsall
Label: EMI (Australia)
Reviewed: Jul 23rd '07, Released:2007
"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, Australian radio 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 typical elements of his songwriting, the poetic, everyday-detail lyrics and common chord progressions, which makes the new album such a revelation.
Musically, there are still moments of folk, rock, bluegrass and balladry. All of this styles have been a part of Kelly’s repertoire for some time now, but here they are interspersed with R ‘n’ B sleaze in ‘Right Outta My Head’ and the stadium like guitar lines of Dan Kelly on first single ‘God Told Me To’. the band too is in great form, easily handling the genre-changes and providing the appropriate weight and litheness to the songs.
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 ‘Sweetest Thing’.
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. 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 a great release and it’s a misjudgment on the part of Triple J to ignore it.
