[rating=8.00]
Paul Kelly’s Life Is Fine may not rise and fall on the chime of electric guitars as loudly as his 2015 live double CD with Neil Finn Goin’ Your Way. But that collaboration must’ve inspired Kelly’s latest solo album nonetheless because, in comparison to other recent and decidedly more arcane projects of his (original music set to works of Shakespeare in Seven Sonnets And A Song and a duo recording of songs often played at funerals called Death’s Dateless Night), this colorful piece of work is deceptively conventional.
In fact, like the best efforts of this Australian songwriter/musician, cursory listens suggest, and repeated listenings reveal, the nuance of poetry beneath a seemingly prosaic surface. While most of Life Is Fine is dominated by Cameron Bruce’s keyboards, the muscular guitars of Ashley Naylor and Dan Kelly hit with an invigorating impact on “Rising Moon” and “Finally Something Good.” Equally accessible, no less intelligent, and far quieter is “Firewood and Candles,” where the consistent, unified presence of Kelly’s band, not the least of which is a muscular rhythm section (bassist Bill McDonald and drummer Peter Luscombe) mirrors the detail in the material.
Likewise, Vika Bull’s lead vocal on “My Man’s Got A Cold” bears witness to the mix of self-confidence and humility that allows Paul Kelly to support the prominence of another voice on his own album. He doesn’t sing at all on that aforementioned track and only offers harmony to Linda Bull’s primary voice throughout “Don’t Explain,” thus offering a pair of artful role-reversals the likes of which correlates with the best of this man’s songs. As with these tunes and performances, he is adept at creating vivid characters who in turn conjure genuine drama, in both fictional and real-life settings.
Engineer and co-producer Steve Schram, played a vital part in maintaining the continuity of Life Is Fine. He applies his technical expertise without glossing over the ingenuity of the arrangements–organ dominates “Letter In The Rain,” while acoustic guitars form the foundation of “Josephina”–and, in doing so, he highlights the varied instrumentation. That longstanding attribute regularly employed on Kelly’s previous work(s) may not be so obvious for new listeners, but the virtue nevertheless carries weight.
The level of craftsmanship applied in the production of these twelve tracks is in direct proportion to their economy too. Ranging in duration from approximately three minutes (“Letter in the Rain”) to just over four (“Leah: The Sequel”), each cut exhibits a discipline comparable to that which the author uses as he marries words to melody. Still, as articulate as Paul Kelly is, (borne out by the full lyrics included in the CD booklet), he also knows how to let his recorded work speak for itself: the haunting likes of “I Smell Trouble” hit home as the last notes fade from Lucky Ocean’s pedal steel and during the cautionary tale of this climactic title song, its intimate mood compels reading the words start to finish, then playing the album all over again. As a result, Life Is Fine should turn out to be as durable a piece of work as any in Paul Kelly’s discography.
