Words & Music [Original recording reissued]

Paul Kelly | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 19, 1998)
• Original Release Date: May 19, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Vanguard Records
• ASIN: B000005ZAZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,443 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #76 in Music > Indie Music > Alternative Rock > Singer Songwriters

Track Listings

1. Little Kings

2. I'll Be Your Lover

3. Nothing On My Mind

4. Words And Music

5. How To Make Gravy

6. Gutless Wonder

7. Tease Me

8. I'd Rather Go Blind

9. She Answers The Sun (Lazybones)

10. Beat Of Your Heart

11. It Started With A Kiss

12. Glory Be To God

13. Saturday Night And Sunday Morning

14. Charlie Owen's Slide Guitar

15. Melting

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Penetrating Wordsmithing from the Land Down Under, September 22, 2000

By 

dev1 (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Words & Music (Audio CD)

Paul Kelly has been satisfying the appetite of Australian music lovers since 1981. He personifies Australia the same way that Bruce Springsteen does in the United States, and the Clash in the UK. Album fifteen, Words and Music, crosses the continents and the oceans to the United States: not unique to his homeland, his flair for Pop and tender ballads is universally strong. Kelly reminds me of Elvis Costello's word plays, Dave Edmunds' roots rock & roll, and Nick Lowe's quirky take on Pop.

His characters are real, like the kind of people that one might meet during their day-to-day routine. With a touch of nostalgia, he submits to middle-age (Nothing On My Mind); pays tribute to those who inspired him to be a musician (Words And Music); and a lonesome tale about spending Christmas in jail (reminding me on Tom Waits "I've hit bottom" narratives). The band is tight: jangling Byrds-like guitars (She Answers The Sun-Lazy Bones), stellar melodic lead guitar work (I'll Be Your Lover), and electronic distorted voice and guitar soul grunge rockers (Tease Me). I admire the band because, despite their technical mastery and passion, they don't upstage Kelly's vocals.

Outstanding tracks - more than a few. Someone must tell me if the romantic and melodic lead guitar on `I'll Be Your Lover' is Kelly's Les Paul Signature. `Tease Me' is an R&B ride through distorted guitars and vocals from outer space. And `Saturday Night And Sunday Morning' reminds me of the blues rocker that Jagger/Richards should have composed, but Kelly beat them to the punch. `Melting' demonstrates Kelly's lack of pretension - few artists could pull off such a love song. Words And Music rocks the furniture and shakes the walls, and stabs deep into the heart. Gee, I think I'll move to Australia.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Aussie from down under arrives at the top, April 1, 2004

By 

Bob - See all my reviews

This review is from: Words & Music (Audio CD)

Words and Music is an awsome CD. It starts with "Little Kings," possibly Kelly's best hit, and never dies down. "Glory be to God" is a song that is bound to be hit once people start buying this CD. Paul Kelly and his band show that people really can put together a hit rock group from a bunch of unheard of musicians.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Words and Music is much more than words and music..., February 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Words & Music (Audio CD)

I ran into this album while I was vacationing in Australia, and have not taken it out of my CD player since! Super guitar and drum riffs, I am especially intrigued by "Gutless Wonder", with its soulful jazz influences. But what is best about this artist is his gutwrenching lyrics--a comical twist to the pressures of the '90's--love, country, and the corporation!