Post (Paul Kelly album)

Infobox Album
Name = Post
Type = studio
Artist = Paul Kelly


Released = May 1985
Recorded = Silverwood Studios, Sydney
(January–February 1985)
Genre = Acoustic
Length =
Label = White Label / Mushroom
Producer = Clive Shakespeare, Paul Kelly
Reviews = * AllmusicRating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:a9fwxqehldje~T1 link]
Last album = "Manila"
(1982)
This album = "Post"
(1985)
Next album = "Gossip"
(1986)
Misc = Singles
Name = Post
Type = single
Single 1 = From St. Kilda to Kings Cross
Single 1 date = April 1985

"Post" is the first solo album by Australian singer-songwriter rock musician, Paul Kelly.cite web |url=http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/k/kellypaul.html |title=Paul Kelly |publisher=Australian Rock Database |editor=Magnus Holmgren |accessdate=2008-08-15 ] 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.cite book |last=Kelly |first=Paul |coauthors=Kate Judith, National Educational Advancement Programs|title=Don't start me talking: lyrics 1984–2004 |year=2005 |publisher=National Educational Advancement Programs |location=Carlton, Vic. |isbn=9781864780994] He recorded "Post", which was self-funded (at a cost of $3,500)cite news |url=http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22018071-5003425,00.html |title=Paul Kelly has no answers |publisher="The Courier Mail" |last=McMahon |first=Bruce |date=2007-07-07 |accessdate=2008-08-14 ] with Michael Barclay on drums and Steve Connolly on guitar; guest performers included bass guitarist Ian Rilen (Rose Tattoo, X),cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20040930231503/www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=978 |last=McFarlane |first=Ian |authorlink= Ian McFarlane |publisher=Allen & Unwin |year=1999 |isbn=1-86448-768-2 |accessdate=2008-08-18 ] cite web |url=http://www.amws.com.au/pk/bio/1997.html |title=Paul Kelly Australian singer-songwriter |publisher=Other People's Houses |editor=Eva Blanda |year=1997 |accessdate=2008-08-17 ] keyboardist Peter Bull and guitarist Graham Lee.

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,cite book |url=http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an41896781 |title=Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia |last=Jenkins |first=Jeff |coauthors=Ian Meldrum |year=2007 |publisher=Wilkinson Publishing |location=Melbourne, Vic. |isbn=9781921332111 |accessdate=2008-08-17 ] it peaked at #46 on the Australian album charts,cite book |title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 |format=doc |last=Kent |first=David |authorlink= David Kent|publisher=Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. |year=1993 |isbn=0-646-11917-6 |accessdate=2008-08-27 ] 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.cite web|url=http://www.howlspace.com.au/en/dragon/dragon.htm|title=Dragon|publisher= Howlspace|accessdate=2008-09-19] Album liner notes - Paul Kelly : "Post"] 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.

Background

Paul Kelly and the Dots, 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), [cite web|url=http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/c/connollysteve.html|title=The Zimmerman|publisher=Australian Rock Database|editor=Magnus Holgrem |accessdate=2008-09-09] 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.

"Post" is a stark, personal collection of acoustic songs that highlight Kelly's broadly based songwriting skill. "Australian Rolling Stone" hailed "Post" as the best record of 1985.cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/24/1082719676103.html|title=Lure of hearth and home|publisher="The Age" |last=Aiton|first=Doug|date=2004-04-25|accessdate=2008-08-14] The album reached #46 on the Australian album charts, with only one single being 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 some of the tracks recorded for this session were re-recorded on Kelly's next album, the debut for Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, " Gossip". However according to others it is like Bruce Springsteen’s "Nebraska", where there is a beauty and delicateness in this rawer production, with the emphasis on the words, the melodies, the song structures that are the defining elements of Kelly as a songwriter. [cite web|url=http://www.wirelessbollinger.com/content/view/342/81/ |title=Paul Kelly: "Post" |publisher=Wireless Bollinger |last=Pearsall |first=Justin |date=2007-05-21 |accessdate=2008-09-19]

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.

Track listing

All tracks written by Paul Kelly.cite web |title=Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) search engine|publisher=APRA |url=http://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt |accessdate=2008-09-19 Note: requires user to input song title e.g. FROM ST KILDA TO KINGS CROSS]
# "From St. Kilda to Kings Cross" - 2:55
# "Incident on South Dowling" - 2:51
# "Look So Fine, Feel So Low" - 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

Chart positions and releases

Personnel

* Paul Kelly — guitar, vocals
* Steve Connolly — guitar
* Michael Barclay — drums

Additional musicians
* Chris Coyne — saxophone (tenor) (tracks 1 & 9)
* Ian Rilen — bass guitar (track 2)
* Peter Bull — keyboards (tracks 8, 9 & 11)
* Graham Lee — electric 12 string guitar (track 8), dobro guitar (track 10)
* Toni Allayis — vocals (track 11)
* Jimmy Niven — piano accordion (track 11)

Recording details
* Producer — Clive Shakespeare, Paul Kelly
* Engineer — Clive Shakespeare

Art work
* Cover, Sleeve Design — Yanni Stumbles
* Photography — Francince McDougall, Laurie Markham, Tom Takacs

References