So Much Water So Close to Home
So Much Water So Close to Home | ||||
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Studio album by Paul Kelly and the Messengers | ||||
Released | August 1989 | |||
Recorded | February–March 1989 | |||
Studio | Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles | |||
Genre | Folk rock | |||
Length | 40:58 | |||
Label | Mushroom/White (AUS/NZL) A&M (Rest of World) | |||
Producer | Scott Litt, Paul Kelly | |||
Paul Kelly and the Messengers chronology | ||||
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Singles from So Much Water So Close to Home | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
So Much Water So Close to Home is an album by Australian rock band Paul Kelly and the Messengers and was originally released in August 1989.[4][5] The title comes from a short story of the same name by author Raymond Carver.[6] Carver died in August 1988.[7] Kelly co-wrote the score for the 2006 Australian film Jindabyne, [8] which was also based on the same story.[6] The entire album was recorded in the U.S. with producer Scott Litt,[5] best known for his work with R.E.M. It was released on Mushroom/White Records in Australia & New Zealand and A&M Records for the rest of the world.[5] The album peaked at #10 on the ARIA album charts,[9] but none of its singles, "Sweet Guy", "Careless" and "Most Wanted Man in the World" had any Top 40 chart success.[9] All tracks for the album were written by Kelly,[10] who provided vocals, guitar and harmonica and also co-produced with Litt.[5]
Background
Paul Kelly had formed Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls in 1985, named for a group mentioned by Lou Reed in "Walk on the Wild Side".[4][5][11] For international releases from 1987 on, they used the name Paul Kelly and the Messengers to avoid possible racist interpretations.[4][11] They released Gossip in 1986 on Mushroom Records in Australia and in 1987 on A&M Records for international release.[5] Under the Sun was released in 1987 in Australia and in 1988 internationally.[5]
Their next album, So Much Water So Close to Home was released in 1989 as by Paul Kelly and the Messengers in all markets.[5] It peaked at #10 on the ARIA album charts,[9] but none of its singles reached the ARIA Top 40 Singles charts.[9] The entire album was recorded in the U.S. with producer Scott Litt,[5] best known for his work with R.E.M. Litt had re-mixed some of Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls' tracks from Gossip for its US release as by Paul Kelly and the Messengers.[4][5] So Much Water So Close to Home was released on Mushroom/White Records in Australia and A&M Records in the United States and Europe in 1989.[5]
The title comes from a 1975 short story of the same name by author Raymond Carver[6] (later collected in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love). Album track, "Everything's Turning to White" is based on Carver's short story,[12] it describes the tale of recreational fishermen who find a dead woman's body but continue their trip for three days before reporting their discovery to police.[13] Kelly would go on to co-write the score for the 2006 Australian film Jindabyne,[8] which was also based on the same story.[6] In 1991 Paul Kelly and the Messengers released their next album Comedy.[4][5]
Track listing
All tracks written by Paul Kelly.[10]
Side 1
- "You Can't Take It with You" – 2:43
- "Sweet Guy" – 3:38
- "Most Wanted Man in the World" – 3:38
- "I Had Forgotten You" – 2:59
- "She's a Melody (Stupid Song)" – 4:31
- "South of Germany" – 3:16
Side 2
- "Careless" – 2:57
- "Moon in the Bed" – 3:03
- "No You" – 4:19
- "Everything's Turning to White" – 4:11
- "Pigeon/Jundamurra" – 2:03
- "Cities of Texas" – 3:40
Personnel
Paul Kelly and the Messengers
- Michael Barclay — drums, backing vocals
- Peter Bull — keyboards
- Steve Connolly — lead guitar
- Paul Kelly — guitar, vocals, harmonica
- Jon Schofield — bass guitar
Additional musicians
- Steve Berlin — baritone saxophone (track 2)
- Lenny Castro — congas (track 5)
- Paulinho da Costa — percussion (tracks 5, 7, 8)
- John Logan — harmonica (track 12)
- Lucky Oceans — pedal steel guitar (track 6)
Recording details
- Producer — Scott Litt, Paul Kelly
- Engineer — Scott Litt
- Assistant — Clif Norrell, Jim Dineen
- Sequencer — David Russo (tracks 5, 9, 10)
- Studio — Ocean Way Studios, Los Angeles
- Mastered — Precision Lacquer
- Mixed — The Grey Room
Charts
Weekly charts
Chart (1989) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA)[14] | 10 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[15] | 26 |
Year-end charts
Chart (1989) | Position |
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ARIA Albums Chart[16] | 87 |
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA)[16] | Gold | 35,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
References
- ^ "Australian Music Report No 795 – 23 October 1989 > Singles: New Releases". Australian Music Report. Retrieved 30 October 2020 – via Imgur.com.
- ^ AllMusic review
- ^ Rolling Stone magazine review
- ^ a b c d e McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Paul Kelly'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86448-768-2. Retrieved 3 November 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Holmgren, Magnus. "Paul Kelly". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
- ^ a b c d "Jindabyne movie bios". Sony Films. Retrieved 12 May 2008.
- ^ "Literary Encyclopedia: Raymond Carver". The Literary Dictionary Company Limited. Retrieved 3 November 2008.
- ^ a b "Jindabyne (2006) - Full cast and crew". Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved 3 November 2008.
- ^ a b c d "Discography Paul Kelly". Australian Charts Portal. Retrieved 3 November 2008.
- ^ a b "Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) search engine". APRA. Retrieved 2 November 2008. Note: requires user to input song title e.g. YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU
- ^ a b Jenkins, Jeff; Ian Meldrum (2007). Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia. Melbourne, Vic.: Wilkinson Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921332-11-1. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
- ^ Farber, Jim (2 November 1989). "Paul Kelly: So Much Water So Close to Home". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 22 May 2009. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
- ^ DeGagne, Mike. "So Much Water, So Close to Home Overview". allmusic. Retrieved 3 November 2008.
- ^ "Australiancharts.com – Paul Kelly – So Much Water So Close to Home". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- ^ "Charts.nz – Paul Kelly – So Much Water So Close to Home". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- ^ a b "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Albums Chart – 1989 (61–100)". imgur.com. Retrieved 28 April 2016. N.B. The triangle symbol indicates platinum certification.
- v
- t
- e
- Talk
- Manila
- Post
- Gossip
- Under the Sun
- So Much Water So Close to Home
- Comedy
- Hidden Things
- Wanted Man
- Deeper Water
- Words and Music
- Smoke
- Nothing But a Dream
- Ways & Means
- Foggy Highway
- Stardust Five
- Stolen Apples
- Spring and Fall
- The Merri Soul Sessions
- Seven Sonnets & a Song
- Death's Dateless Night
- Life Is Fine
- Nature
- Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds
- Please Leave Your Light On
- Paul Kelly's Christmas Train
- Fever Longing Still
- Live, May 1992
- Live at the Continental and the Esplanade
- Songs from the South
- Songs from the South – Volume 2
- The A to Z Recordings
- Conversations with Ghosts
- Goin' Your Way
- Live at the Sydney Opera House
- Songs from the South: 1985–2019
- "Billy Baxter"
- "From St Kilda to Kings Cross"
- "Before Too Long"
- "Darling It Hurts"
- "Leaps and Bounds"/"Bradman"
- "To Her Door"
- "Dumb Things"
- "Sweet Guy"
- "Careless"
- "Last Train"
- "How to Make Gravy"
- "God Told Me To"
- "Every Day My Mother's Voice"
- Seven Deadly Sins: Music from the ABC TV Series
- Everynight ... Everynight
- One Night the Moon: Original Soundtrack
- Lantana: Music for the Feature Film
- Silent Partner
- Fireflies: Songs of Paul Kelly
- Tom White
- Jindabyne
- Professor Ratbaggy
- Stardust Five
- Paul Kelly – Stories of Me
- Before Too Long: Triple J's Tribute to Paul Kelly