Paul Kelly
Stolen Apples
EMI



This is a somewhat more sombre, perhaps even melancholic effort from Australia's foremost singer/songwriter Paul Kelly, especially compared to 'Foggy Highway', his 2005 release which was full of country/hillbilly melodies provided by the Stormwater Boys. Not that 'Stolen Apples' isn't brilliant; it is. Consider that it features nephew Dan, drummer Peter Luscombe, and super session players guitarist Dan Luscombe and bassist Bill McDonald and you have all the ingredients for a superb album.

The opener Feelings Of Grief, with its oboe like chords, is a slow ode to the subject of grief, summing up in but four simple verses the emotions one goes through. However, the second track God Told Me To opens up with roaring guitar, in a vein and story that one B. Springsteen could put his name to. Whilst there is no title song, Stolen Apples Taste The Sweetest certainly wins second prize, and if you've ever had the "pleasure" and then guilt of eating stolen fruit (here a metaphor for anything that you shouldn't) you will understand when Kelly sings "Stolen apples, plucked down in their prime/Stolen apples, hanging heavy on my mind".

One thing I've always liked about Kelly is he is able to convey a unique Australian experience in his music. Think Bradman, From St Kilda To Kings Cross and From Little Things. Here its homage to painters Queenie McKenzie and Rover Thomas on the superb The Ballad Of Queenie And Rover, a gorgeous tale of a relationship of a mixed blood girl and a jackaroo.

'Stolen Apples' is not an album to dance to, although Kelly D. and Luscombe churn out some hot riffs. This is an album that rewards with each additional listen, where new nuances pop up all the time.

Mark Liebelt