Post (Paul Kelly album)
Encyclopedia
Post is the first solo album by Australian singer-songwriter
rock music
ian, Paul Kelly
. Kelly had moved to Sydney by January 1985, after leaving his Melbourne-based Paul Kelly Band and the breakup of his marriage to Hilary Brown.
The album was produced by Clive Shakespeare
(Sherbet
guitarist) and Kelly, it was released in May 1985 by the independent White Records label and leased to Mushroom Records
, it peaked at #46 on the Australian album charts, with only one single, "From St. Kilda to King's Cross", released in April which failed to chart. The name of the album, Post relates to both being 'after' significant changes in Kelly's life and to the sense of a 'signpost' to future directions. Kelly dedicated the album to Paul Hewson, keyboardist and songwriter for New Zealand/Australian band Dragon
who had died of a heroin overdose in January. Kelly has described Post as a concept album
dealing with addictions - not necessarily heroin addiction - but various forms, he has also denied that the songs were autobiographical
but that he wrote about the world around him.
, had released two albums in the early 1980s, Talk
and Manila
, but they had little chart success. Kelly had become involved with the Melbourne drug culture, the Dots disbanded in 1982 after numerous line-up changes and Kelly formed the Paul Kelly Band. Kelly's first marriage, to Hilary Brown, had broken up in late 1984; likewise the Paul Kelly Band had ended too. Kelly had moved to Sydney by January 1985, where he recorded Post in the studio of Sherbet
guitarist Clive Shakespeare
. It was self-funded (at a cost of $3,500), with Michael Barclay on drums and guitarist Steve Connolly (The Zimmerman), guest performers on the album included bass player Ian Rilen
(Rose Tattoo
, X
), Peter Bull (Flaming Hands, Grooveyard) on keyboards and guitarist Graham Lee
. They spent two weeks recording at Clive Shakespeare
's studio, Shakespeare engineered the album and co-produced with Kelly, it was released in May 1985 on the independent label White Label Records, and licensed to Mushroom Records
.
The term 'post' has a few layers of meaning for Kelly in this album, i.e. post Kelly’s childhood and youth in Adelaide, post his life in Melbourne, particularly post his involvement with the Melbourne drug culture, post the death of his musician friend, Paul Hewson. Kelly dedicated the album to Hewson, who was a keyboard player and songwriter for the Australian/New Zealand
band, Dragon
, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985. 'Post' also relates to a marker or 'signpost', pointing to a new direction, and even a way to 'post' his account of the world. Kelly has described Post as a concept album
dealing with addictions - not necessarily heroin addiction - but various forms, he has also denied that the songs were autobiographical
but that he wrote about the world around him.The album was re-released in 1990 as one of Mushroom's Midprice Masters and was re-released again in 2006 by Mushroom.
magazine hailed Post as the best record of 1985. The album reached No. 46 on the Australian Kent Music Report
Albums Chart, with only one single released, "From St Kilda to King's Cross", which failed to chart. The album is thought by some critics to be more of a demo recording, as four tracks were re-recorded by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls for their debut album Gossip
in 1986. However according to others it is like Bruce Springsteen
’s Nebraska
, where there is a beauty and delicateness in this raw production, with the emphasis on the words, the melodies, the song structures that are the defining elements of Kelly as a songwriter.
^^ = later re-recorded for Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls' 1986 album, Gossip
Additional musicians
Recording details
Art work
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
ian, Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
. Kelly had moved to Sydney by January 1985, after leaving his Melbourne-based Paul Kelly Band and the breakup of his marriage to Hilary Brown.
The album was produced by Clive Shakespeare
Clive Shakespeare
Clive Richard Shakespeare is an English-born Australian guitarist and producer and he is a co-founder of Sherbet which had commercial success in the 1970s including their number one singles, "Summer Love" in 1975 and "Howzat" in 1976.-Biography:Clive Shakespeare was born in England in 1949 and his...
(Sherbet
Sherbet (band)
Sherbet was one of the most prominent and successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. Their biggest singles were "Summer Love" and "Howzat" , both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the UK. Though the band's success in the U.S...
guitarist) and Kelly, it was released in May 1985 by the independent White Records label and leased to Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records is an Australian recoJrd company formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in Melbourne in 1972. After its sale in 1998, it merged into Festival Mushroom Records. From 2005 to 2009, it is one of the record labels operated by Warner Bros...
, it peaked at #46 on the Australian album charts, with only one single, "From St. Kilda to King's Cross", released in April which failed to chart. The name of the album, Post relates to both being 'after' significant changes in Kelly's life and to the sense of a 'signpost' to future directions. Kelly dedicated the album to Paul Hewson, keyboardist and songwriter for New Zealand/Australian band Dragon
Dragon (band)
Dragon is a popular New Zealand rock band, they were formed in Auckland, New Zealand in January 1972 and relocated to Sydney, Australia in May 1975. They were previously led by singer Marc Hunter and are currently led by his brother bass player Todd Hunter...
who had died of a heroin overdose in January. Kelly has described Post as a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
dealing with addictions - not necessarily heroin addiction - but various forms, he has also denied that the songs were autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
but that he wrote about the world around him.
Background
Paul Kelly and the DotsPaul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
, had released two albums in the early 1980s, Talk
Talk (Paul Kelly album)
Talk is the debut album by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Dots and was originally released on 30 March 1981 by Mushroom Records and re-released in 1990. Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons leader Joe Camilleri produced seven of the eleven tracks with the rest produced by either Martin Armiger or...
and Manila
Manila (album)
-Chart positions and releases:-Track listing:All tracks written by Paul Kelly, except where noted.# "Forbidden Street" – 7:30# "Clean this House" – 4:46# "Alive and Well" – 3:10# "Skidding Hearts" – 3:32...
, but they had little chart success. Kelly had become involved with the Melbourne drug culture, the Dots disbanded in 1982 after numerous line-up changes and Kelly formed the Paul Kelly Band. Kelly's first marriage, to Hilary Brown, had broken up in late 1984; likewise the Paul Kelly Band had ended too. Kelly had moved to Sydney by January 1985, where he recorded Post in the studio of Sherbet
Sherbet (band)
Sherbet was one of the most prominent and successful Australian rock bands of the 1970s. Their biggest singles were "Summer Love" and "Howzat" , both reaching number one in Australia. "Howzat" was also a top 5 hit in the UK. Though the band's success in the U.S...
guitarist Clive Shakespeare
Clive Shakespeare
Clive Richard Shakespeare is an English-born Australian guitarist and producer and he is a co-founder of Sherbet which had commercial success in the 1970s including their number one singles, "Summer Love" in 1975 and "Howzat" in 1976.-Biography:Clive Shakespeare was born in England in 1949 and his...
. It was self-funded (at a cost of $3,500), with Michael Barclay on drums and guitarist Steve Connolly (The Zimmerman), guest performers on the album included bass player Ian Rilen
Ian Rilen
Ian William Rilen was an Australian musician, he was bass guitarist and songwriter with Rock N' Roll band Rose Tattoo and led punk rock group X also providing lead guitar, rhythm guitar and vocals...
(Rose Tattoo
Rose Tattoo
Rose Tattoo is an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, that was formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice Boys", "We Can't Be Beaten" and "Scarred for Life"...
, X
X (Australian band)
X is an Australian punk rock band, formed in Sydney in 1977 and led by the late Ian Rilen. The band has split and reformed several times.Although X has had several members, its sound has been defined by two distinctive elements: Rilen's basslines and Steve Lucas's guitar...
), Peter Bull (Flaming Hands, Grooveyard) on keyboards and guitarist Graham Lee
Graham Lee (Australian musician)
Graham Lee is an Australian rock musician and record producer, best known as the steel guitar player of the 1980s band The Triffids, where he was nicknamed 'Evil Graham Lee'....
. They spent two weeks recording at Clive Shakespeare
Clive Shakespeare
Clive Richard Shakespeare is an English-born Australian guitarist and producer and he is a co-founder of Sherbet which had commercial success in the 1970s including their number one singles, "Summer Love" in 1975 and "Howzat" in 1976.-Biography:Clive Shakespeare was born in England in 1949 and his...
's studio, Shakespeare engineered the album and co-produced with Kelly, it was released in May 1985 on the independent label White Label Records, and licensed to Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records is an Australian recoJrd company formed by Michael Gudinski and Ray Evans in Melbourne in 1972. After its sale in 1998, it merged into Festival Mushroom Records. From 2005 to 2009, it is one of the record labels operated by Warner Bros...
.
The term 'post' has a few layers of meaning for Kelly in this album, i.e. post Kelly’s childhood and youth in Adelaide, post his life in Melbourne, particularly post his involvement with the Melbourne drug culture, post the death of his musician friend, Paul Hewson. Kelly dedicated the album to Hewson, who was a keyboard player and songwriter for the Australian/New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
band, Dragon
Dragon (band)
Dragon is a popular New Zealand rock band, they were formed in Auckland, New Zealand in January 1972 and relocated to Sydney, Australia in May 1975. They were previously led by singer Marc Hunter and are currently led by his brother bass player Todd Hunter...
, he died of a heroin overdose in January 1985. 'Post' also relates to a marker or 'signpost', pointing to a new direction, and even a way to 'post' his account of the world. Kelly has described Post as a concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
dealing with addictions - not necessarily heroin addiction - but various forms, he has also denied that the songs were autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
but that he wrote about the world around him.The album was re-released in 1990 as one of Mushroom's Midprice Masters and was re-released again in 2006 by Mushroom.
Professional reviews
According to Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, Post is a stark, personal collection of acoustic songs that highlight Kelly's broadly based song writing skill. Australian Rolling StoneRolling Stone Australia
Rolling Stone Australia is an Australian-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published monthly, it is the Australian edition of the United States' Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone was initially released in Melbourne in May 1970 as a supplement in Revolution, an...
magazine hailed Post as the best record of 1985. The album reached No. 46 on the Australian Kent Music Report
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
Albums Chart, with only one single released, "From St Kilda to King's Cross", which failed to chart. The album is thought by some critics to be more of a demo recording, as four tracks were re-recorded by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls for their debut album Gossip
Gossip (album)
Gossip is the double LP debut album by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls. Produced by Alan Thorne and Paul Kelly, it was released on Mushroom Records in September 1986, which peaked at No. 15 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart, and achieved gold record status...
in 1986. However according to others it is like Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
’s Nebraska
Nebraska (album)
-Themes:The album begins with "Nebraska", a first-person narrative based on the true story of 19-year-old spree killer Charles Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, and ends with "Reason to Believe", a complex narrative that renders its title phrase into contemptuous sarcasm...
, where there is a beauty and delicateness in this raw production, with the emphasis on the words, the melodies, the song structures that are the defining elements of Kelly as a songwriter.
Chart positions and releases
| Year | Chart | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Australian Albums Chart Kent Music Report Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998... |
46 |
| Format | Country | Label | Catalogue No. | Year |
| LP | AUS | White Label/Mushroom | L38401 | 1985 |
| Cassette | AUS | White Label/Mushroom | C38401 | 1985 |
| CD | AUS | Mushroom | MUSH32276.2 | 1990 |
| CD | AUS | Mushroom | 32276 | 2006 |
Track listing
All tracks written by Paul Kelly, except where noted.- "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" – 2:55
- "Incident on South Dowling" – 2:51^^
- "Look So Fine, Feel So Low" (Kelly, Maurice Frawley) – 3:17^^
- "White Train" – 3:03^^
- "Luck" – 3:17
- "Blues for Skip" – 3:09
- "Adelaide" – 3:38^^
- "Satisfy Your Woman" – 4:25
- "You Can Put Your Shoes under My Bed" – 3:54
- "Standing on the Street of Early Sorrows" – 4:25
- "Little Decisions" – 3:17
^^ = later re-recorded for Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls' 1986 album, Gossip
Personnel
- Paul KellyPaul Kelly (musician)Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals - Steve Connolly – guitar
- Michael Barclay – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Additional musicians
- Chris Coyne – saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
(tenorTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
) (tracks 1 & 9) - Ian RilenIan RilenIan William Rilen was an Australian musician, he was bass guitarist and songwriter with Rock N' Roll band Rose Tattoo and led punk rock group X also providing lead guitar, rhythm guitar and vocals...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(track 2) - Peter Bull – keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(tracks 8, 9 & 11) - Graham LeeGraham Lee (Australian musician)Graham Lee is an Australian rock musician and record producer, best known as the steel guitar player of the 1980s band The Triffids, where he was nicknamed 'Evil Graham Lee'....
– electric 12 string guitar (track 8), dobro guitarDobroDobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
(track 10) - Toni Allayis – vocals (track 11)
- Jimmy Niven – piano accordionPiano accordionA piano accordion is an accordion equipped with a right-hand keyboard similar to a piano or organ. Its acoustic mechanism is more similar to that of an organ than a piano, as they are both wind instruments, but the term "piano accordion"—coined by Guido Deiro in 1910—has remained the popular...
(track 11)
Recording details
- Producer – Clive ShakespeareClive ShakespeareClive Richard Shakespeare is an English-born Australian guitarist and producer and he is a co-founder of Sherbet which had commercial success in the 1970s including their number one singles, "Summer Love" in 1975 and "Howzat" in 1976.-Biography:Clive Shakespeare was born in England in 1949 and his...
, Paul Kelly - Engineer – Clive Shakespeare
Art work
- Cover, Sleeve Design – Yanni Stumbles
- Photography – Francince McDougall, Laurie Markham, Tom Takacs