Paul Kelly - The A to Z Recordings (Live, 8CD) (2010)

Back in 1990, Texas songwriter Butch Hancock staged a massive, six-night event entitled No Two Alike, wherein he played six straight evenings at Austin's Cactus Cafe. In the process, he recorded 140 of his own songs without repeating one. He then released the output later on cassette tapes. The reason for citing Hancock in a Paul Kelly review, particularly this one, is simply to establish the only precedent for this wonderful eight-disc live box set, the A to Z Recordings. Between 2004 and 2010, the revered Australian songwriter would perform his now legendary A to Z concerts, during which he would play two (largely) unplugged sets per evening for four nights, performing many of his songs, all in alphabetical order. Issued in Australia in 2010 and re-released in Europe and the United States in 2012, The A to Z Recordings is quite literally a staggering document. Kelly displays here that even in the maddening sprawl of alphabetical order, he is a master storyteller who understands the balance of drama, humor, romance, tragedy, and history. The simplicity and economy of his melodies underscore a poet's gift for sensory impression that morphs into nearly physical detail with startling accuracy, gritty yet romantic resonance, and depth. His complex yet recognizable characters and conjured scenes and circumstances are rife with the conflicts, joys, pleasures, sorrows, griefs, celebrations, and the amorous and familial loves and losses of everyday life. His songs can be gritty and graceful, sometimes simultaneously. Check "Beggar on the Street of Love," "(The Ballad Of) Queenie and Rover," "Blues for Skip," "Other People's Houses," "Shane Warren," and ""Standing on the Street of Early Sorrows," for a few examples of these 105 selections. The recording quality here is consistently warm, precise, even pristine. The booklet contains loads of artwork, and single and double sentence observations about these songs. The A to Z Recordings is indispensable for Kelly fans. Hearing these songs in stripped-down form is to aurally glimpse them as they were written, revealing the songwriter's resonance and considerable depth. This box set is being re-released along with remastered versions of Kelly's early catalog, and his 2012 album, Spring and Fall. What The A to Z Recordings accomplishes in total, is to reveal to the rest of us what Kelly fans have known for decades: that he is a songwriter whose peers are few; they include Townes Van Zandt, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, and Ronnie Laine.

Track List:

CD 1. Night One, Act One
01. Adelaide (03:48)
02. After the Show (03:04)
03. Anastasia Changes Her Mind (02:34)
04. Be Careful What You Pray For (02:55)
05. Beautiful Promise (03:03)
06. Before Too Long (03:42)
07. Beggar on the Street of Love (03:14)
08. Behind the Bowler's Arm (03:00)
09. Big Fine Girl (02:40)
10. Blues for Skip (03:18)
11. Bradman (07:11)
12. (The) Cake and the Candle (03:23)
13. Careless (03:45)
14. Change Your Mind (03:48)
15. Charlie Owen's Slide Guitar (03:29)
16. Cities of Texas (03:52)

CD 2. Night One, Act Two
01. Coma (03:12)
02. Cradle of Love (02:51)
03. Deeper Water (04:35)
04. Desdemona (04:03)
05. Difficult Woman (03:50)
06. Don't Explain (03:02)
07. Don't Harm the Messenger (03:57)
08. Don't Stand So Close to the Window (02:57)
09. Don't Start Me Talking (03:00)
10. Down to My Soul (02:55)
11. Dumb Things (03:13)
12. Emotional (04:56)
13. Every Fucking City (03:53)
14. Everybody Wants to Touch Me (02:57)
15. Everything's Turning to White (04:50)

CD 3. Night Two, Act One
01. (The) Foggy Fields of France (03:54)
02. Foggy Highway (03:28)
03. Forty Miles to Saturday Night (02:21)
04. Forty-eight Angels (03:58)
05. From Little Things Big Things Grow (06:37)
06. From St Kilda to Kings Cross (03:34)
07. Gathering Storm (02:36)
08. God Told Me To (03:31)
09. (The) Gift That Keeps on Giving (03:32)
10. Glory Be to God (03:09)
11. Going About My Father's Business (02:49)
12. How to Make Gravy (05:41)

CD 4. Night Two, Act Two
01. I Can't Believe We Were Married (02:57)
02. I Close My Eyes and Think of You (04:06)
03. I Don't Know Anything Anymore (02:10)
04. I Keep on Coming Back for More (04:01)
05. I'd Rather Go Blind (03:07)
06. If I Could Start Today Again (02:47)
07. I Wasted Time (02:38)
08. I Won't Be Your Dog (05:10)
09. Jandamarra/Pigeon (02:11)
10. Jump to Love (02:40)
11. Just About to Break (03:11)
12. King of Fools (02:30)
13. Lately (03:33)
14. Leaps and Bounds (03:24)

CD 5. Night Three, Act One
01. Little Boy, Don't Lose Your Balls (02:09)
02. Love is the Law (03:59)
03. Love Never Runs on Time (03:07)
04. Luck (03:37)
05. Maralinga (Rainy Land) (04:00)
06. Meet Me in the Middle of the Air (02:09)
07. Midnight Rain (04:24)
08. My Way is to You (04:23)
09. No You (04:15)
10. Nothing but a Dream (03:53)
11. (The) Oldest Story in the Book (04:22)
12. One More Tune (04:15)
13. Other People's Houses (06:44)

CD 6. Night Three, Act Two
01. Our Sunshine (03:52)
02. Please Myself (02:46)
03. Pretty Place (02:59)
04. (The Ballad Of) Queenie and Rover (04:15)
05. Rally Round the Drum (04:42)
06. Randwick Bells (04:20)
07. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (02:59)
08. Shane Warne (03:38)
09. Smoke Under the Bridge (04:16)
10. Somebody's Forgetting Somebody (03:41)
11. Somewhere in the City (03:38)
12. South of Germany (02:37)

CD 7. Night Four, Act One
01. Standing on the Street of Early Sorrows (04:58)
02. Stolen Apples (03:54)
03. Stories of Me (02:54)
04. Stupid Song (03:37)
05. Summer Rain (03:02)
06. Sweet Guy (04:21)
07. Sydney from a 747 (03:07)
08. They Thought I Was Asleep (03:31)
09. Thoughts in the Middle of the Night (05:12)
10. To Her Door (03:38)
11. Until Death Do Them Part (03:05)

CD 8. Night Four, Act Two
01. When I First Met Your Ma (04:43)
02. Winter Coat (04:13)
03. Won't You Come Around? (02:54)
04. Would You Be My Friend? (02:57)
05. You Broke a Beautiful Thing (04:52)
06. You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed (03:56)
07. You Can't Take It with You (03:08)
08. Your Little Sister is a Big Girl Now (03:15)
09. Young Lovers (03:19)
10. You're 39, You're Beautiful and You're Mine (02:49)
11. Your Loving is on My Mind (03:27)
12. Zoe (02:55)