King of the Pops Mr Villers is currently away holidaying while observing social distancing in his back garden, and while his normal eloquence will return next week, in his absence we briefly turn to Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly who has featured in more than one of our writers’ best americana albums of all time lists which we have been publishing in recent months. His ‘Words and Music’ album from 1998 begins with the line: “I’m so afraid for my country, There’s an ill wind blowing no good, So many lies in the name of history” which feels like as good a description of how many people are feeling this year for all kinds of different reasons, not all of them Covid-related. Continue reading “Pick of the Political Pops: Paul Kelly “Little Kings””
Welcome once again to AUK’s perilous expedition to identify the top 10 americana albums of all time. The process has generated some debate along the way, most recently concerning what actually constitutes ‘americana’. As far as this series is concerned, that has been left to individual writers to determine. No ground rules or parameters have been set other than the editor and myself reserving the right to ask writers to reconsider if we think that they have gone completely off course. So far, despite checking with each other about a couple of selections, everything has gone through without interference. However, just in case someone decides to chuck in a Pere Ubu album (as good as they are), we still reserve that right. Luckily this week’s AUK writer Jim Finnie, has thrown no such spanners into the works. I’m also delighted to see that his number one choice has finally been recognised in these lists. Over to you Jim…. 
When AUK reviewed Paul Kelly’s recent retrospective collection, ‘
It’s a point of pride for Australians that they don’t beat around the bush. So when it comes to reviewing ‘Songs From the South 1985-2019’, by one of that country’s greatest modern-day singer-songwriters, you could maybe get away with just writing “this album is stunningly and consistently brilliant, go out and buy it today.” (That way if the Editor got sarky about whether this new-found brevity of style had anything to do with the outgoing ‘festive season’ then you could claim you were reflecting the Aussies’ no-nonsense approach to life and that the comment summed up pretty neatly what you thought, anyway.) 
Paul Kelly is a big deal in Australia – his latest record went straight to number one and he supported Bob Dylan on his 2011 Aussie tour, although he still remains one of his country’s best-kept secrets for UK audiences. (But everyone knows what Neighbours is. Oh the injustice). The new album “Life is Fine” is a collection alive with energy and good humour, described by the Guardian as containing some of his “best songs in years”. Mark Whitfield caught up with him at the start of the UK leg of his current tour and chatted about how the new record came about, writing songs from poetry and why nobody does Hank Williams songs like Hank Williams.