Paul Kelly: Seventy Reviews – Reflections on Aging from a Greater Musician Than Ever | Paul Kelly

pOl Kelly is 70 years old and has never looked older. He’s just headlined his first arena tour — which sold out. In an industry as ageist as Australian music, this is a great career path; There has been no sudden revival of interest, nor a belated rediscovery of his vast catalogue. Slowly, over the course of a career spanning fifty years, Kelly became ubiquitous.

Over-familiarity comes at a price. There are people who never listened to Kelly and seem to be deeply upset by his success. Much of the disapproval seems to stem from the annual “How to Make Gravy” celebration, Kelly’s perpetual birthday from prison. They never want to hear another word from Joe, a villain who has already been the subject of Kelly’s second most famous song, To Her Door.

Seventy is the title of Kelly’s 30th studio album, which is about aging, regret and reflections on how the world will continue to turn long after we’re gone. “The Magpies” — a song based on a Dennis Glover poem that Kelly first recorded on his album “Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds” — will continue to be a hit. Joe’s ghost still taunts Rita from beyond the grave. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

This is a traditional Kelly album featuring classic folk rock arrangements and elegantly crafted lyrics. The band is there: guitarists Ashley Naylor and his nephew Dan Kelly, drummer Peter Luscombe, bassist Bill McDonald and Cameron Bruce on keyboards. The only absentees are long-term backing singers Vika and Linda Paul, with Meg Washington and Rebecca Barnard guesting on one song each.

With no real surprises, all one can do is play each song on its own merits. That may be difficult in the case of Rita Wrote a Letter, given that it’s the third installment in Joe’s trilogy, but it’s bound by a strong melody that’s hard to argue with; Give it a few listens and it will stick like glue. It’s Keeping Good Company: These 13 songs (including the bookends “Tell Us a Story,” Parts I and II) are warm, memorable, and easy to like.

Of course, death haunts seventy. The body keeps score tells us how time and bad habits catch up with us all; In I’m Not Afraid of the Dark, Kelly looks the grim reaper in the eye: “An old man thinks he’s still a boy / Sad songs never make me sad.” Speaking of being a boy, Kelly is still obsessed with sex, and rages against the death of light on Made for Me, with Barnard cooing at his side.

Seventy comes almost a year after Kelly’s last album, Fever Longing Still. He is in such a rich state of form, he seems unable to stop the music from flowing. If you’re a long-term Kelly fan, your only real competition will be the songs already included in Your Life Story. You might say it’s all gravy from here.