Paul Kelly: Rivers and Rain

Rivers and Rain is the second in a series of themed compilations from Australian musician Paul Kelly. This compilation is made up of 21 tracks chosen by Kelly relating to water; when Kelly is travelling he always looks for the water, “be it a river, a lake, a canal, the sea or a swimming pool”. His songs often reflect this interest as do his album titles – see Deeper Water (1995) and So Much Water So Close To Home (1989), the latter named after the Raymond Carver short story.

The selection of tracks is drawn from at least 13 albums from Kelly’s career, from 1986’s Gossip to 2017’s Life Is Fine, with 2001’s Nothing But A Dream coming out on top with four tracks – “Midnight Rain”, “Pretty Place”, “I Close My Eyes And Think Of You” and “Smoke Under The Bridge”. There’s one new and previously unreleased track recorded in 2021, “Northern Rivers”, a striking love song set in contrasting landscapes.

Kelly’s more recent work is well represented by three tracks from Life Is Fine (2017), namely its title track, the melodic “Letter In The Rain” and the country tones of “Petrichor”, and two from Nature (2018), the atmospheric “Morning Storm” and the gentle “The River Song”.

Also of note is an impressive live rendition of “Moon River” with Neil Finn (from Goin’ Your Way, 2013), the upbeat gospel of “Hasn’t It Rained” with Vika and Linda Bull (from Presents the Merri Soul Sessions, 2014) and fan favourite “Everything’s Turning To White” (from Paul Kelly: Live, May 1992).

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