Gossip

It’s tempting to believe that Paul Kelly was always an accepted legend of Australian song, but it wasn’t until his fourth album that he achieved his long-sought commercial breakthrough. By then he had already cut a pair of early LPs (which he has since disowned), followed by 1985’s critically adored solo effort Post and the assembly of a versatile backing band dubbed The Coloured Girls (later renamed The Messengers, due to the racial connotations associated with the name)—a reference to Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side”.

Gossip is the bold double-album statement that finally brought Kelly’s literate, observation-rich songwriting to the mid-’80s mainstream. Overflowing with ideas and conviction, these 24 tracks cement his as a sharp new poetic voice nurtured from storied city pubs and ramshackle sharehouses. Kelly had already flexed his talent for sharing recognisable characters and settings with the earlier gem “From St. Kilda to Kings Cross”, but Gossip proved even more devoted to chronicling youthful urban misadventures and epiphanies alike. “Leaps & Bounds” name-checks iconic Melbourne sports stadium the MCG, while “Adelaide” salutes Kelly’s birthplace, and “Darling It Hurts” and other songs roam across all walks of Sydney nightlife.

Flanked by guitarist Steve Connolly, drummer Michael Barclay, keyboardist Peter Bull and bassist Jon Schofield, Kelly made a convincing case for pub rock’s thoughtful (and overdue) coming of age. There’s an outspoken sense of social conscience in “Maralinga (Rainy Land)”, about British atomic weapon testing affecting South Australia’s Indigenous population. There are flashes of rascally wit too, as you’d expect from a distinctly Australian voice, and several worthy songs from Post are revisited with the full-band treatment.

Making the most of its expanded run time, Kelly and band range from ringing guitar pop—“Before Too Long” and “So Blue” actually rival R.E.M. for jangling brightness—to punk-indebted muscle (“Down on My Speedway”) and even bluesy reggae (“Last Train to Heaven”). That ambitious jukebox approach foreshadowed some of the far-reaching stylistic detours of Kelly’s multi-decade career, from dub and bluegrass to television scores and piano-flecked jazz.

As a firm bridge between underground credibility and wider success, Gossip established Kelly as an Australian role model who’s been looked up to by artists such as Courtney Barnett (who has performed with him) and Angus & Julia Stone. That commercial validation also allowed Kelly to help elevate such collaborators as Archie Roach and Linda and Vika Bull, both as a producer and via his round-robin touring and recording project Merri Soul Sessions.