| Artist: | Paul Kelly |
| Studio: | 28 |
| Ep: | 4 |
| Compilation: | 8 |
| Live: | 6 |
| Video: | 4 |
| Singles: | 67 |
| Music Videos: | 42 |
| Soundtrack: | 9 |
The discography of Paul Kelly, an Australian rock artist, includes solo releases, those from various bands that Paul Kelly has led, and material from the related projects.[1] Paul Kelly, under various guises, has released twenty-eight studio albums, sixty four singles, forty-two music videos, and contributed to ten film / television soundtracks and scores.[2]
In August 1978, Paul Kelly and the Dots was formed from the remains of Melbourne band High Rise Bombers.[1] In 1979, they released their debut single, "Recognition", on Mushroom Records and followed with other singles in 1980 including "Billy Baxter" in October, which peaked at No. 38 on the National singles charts.[3] Their debut album Talk followed in March 1981, which peaked at No. 44 on the National albums charts.[3] Their single "Alive and Well", from the second album, Manila, had a video clip directed by Jack Egan in July 1982.[4] After the Dots folded in late 1982, Kelly was without a recording contract.[5] The Paul Kelly Band was formed in 1983, however by late 1984, Kelly had disbanded this group.[1] His next solo release was the single "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" in April 1985, with the associated album Post.[3]
By mid-1985, Kelly had formed Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls and their first single was "Before Too Long" in June 1986, which peaked at No. 15 and was followed by a double LP Gossip in September, which peaked at No. 15.[3] Gossip was trimmed back to a single LP for its 1987 international release on A&M Records under the name Paul Kelly and the Messengers.[1] [6] Australian releases still used Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls.[1] [3] "To Her Door" was released in September 1987 and peaked at No. 14 on the Australian singles charts.[3] "Dumb Things", another single from the album Under the Sun, was released in 1988 in Australia,[3] [7] and the US.[6] By 1989's So Much Water So Close to Home album the band were known as Paul Kelly and the Messengers in all markets, the album peaked at No. 10 with the next album Comedy from 1991 peaking at No. 12, but despite this success Paul Kelly and the Messengers disbanded in August 1991 with Hidden Things released in May 1992.[1] Kelly was already touring as a solo artist and recorded Live, May 1992, he subsequently recorded further material under his own name, as the Paul Kelly Band, Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions, and Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys.
In 1999, Kelly left Mushroom Records and signed with EMI Music to release Smoke by Paul Kelly with Uncle Bill, which is a bluegrass band; released at the same time was Professor Ratbaggy by Professor Ratbaggy, a dub reggae group formed by Kelly with members of the Paul Kelly Band.[1] Kelly toured with both Uncle Bill and Professor Ratbaggy. In a similar way Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions released Ways & Means in 2004 and became Stardust Five to release Stardust Five in 2006. In 2004, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television series Fireflies featured a score by Kelly and Stephen Rae,[8] [9] the associated soundtrack CD Fireflies: Songs of Paul Kelly included tracks by Kelly, Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions, Professor Ratbaggy, Paul Kelly with Uncle Bill, and "Los Cucumbros" by the Boon Companions featuring Sian Prior,[10] which was later a track on Stardust Five.[11] Stolen Apples from 2007 was credited to Paul Kelly and followed by the live DVD Live Apples in April 2008 credited to Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions.
| Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [12] | NZ [13] | ||||
| Talk |
| 44 | — | ||
| Manila |
| — | — | ||
| Post |
| — | — | ||
| Gossip |
| 15 | 34 |
| |
| Under the Sun |
| 19 | 25 |
| |
| So Much Water So Close to Home |
| 10 | 26 |
| |
| Comedy |
| 12 | 24 | ||
| Hidden Things |
| 29 | 39 | ||
| Wanted Man |
| 11 | 19 | ||
| Deeper Water |
| 40 | 30 | ||
| Words and Music |
| 17 | 44 |
| |
| Smoke (with Uncle Bill) |
| 36 | — |
| |
| ...Nothing but a Dream |
| 7 | 46 |
| |
| Ways & Means |
| 13 | — |
| |
| Foggy Highway |
| 22 | — |
| |
| Stolen Apples |
| 8 | — |
| |
| Spring and Fall |
| 8 | — |
| |
| The Merri Soul Sessions |
| 17 | — | ||
| Seven Sonnets and a Song |
| 9 | — | ||
| Death's Dateless Night |
| 16 | — | ||
| Life Is Fine |
| 1 | — |
| |
| Nature |
| 1 | 40 | ||
| Thirteen Ways to Look at Birds (with James Ledger featuring Alice Keath and Seraphim Trio) |
| 43 | — | ||
| Forty Days |
| — | — | ||
| Please Leave Your Light On[25] (with Paul Grabowsky) |
| 3 | — | ||
| Paul Kelly's Christmas Train |
| 1 [27] | — | ||
| Fever Longing Still |
| ||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. | |||||
| Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [29] | |||||
| Live, May 1992 |
| 72 | Solo live performances on 10 May 1992 at the Regal Theatre in Perth and 17 May at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne.[30] [31] | ||
| Live at the Continental and the Esplanade |
| — | Live performances by Paul Kelly Band from The Continental in Prahran on 19 September 1994 and the Esplanade Hotel in St. Kilda on 29 May 1995.[32] | ||
| The A – Z Recordings |
| 118[33] | Live performances by Paul Kelly for his A – Z Tours from 2004 to 2010. 105 tracks are listed alphabetically, they were typically performed over four nights. Kelly's memoir, How to Make Gravy, is the written companion to this box set.[34] | ||
| Conversations with Ghosts (with James Ledger, Genevieve Lacey & ANAM Musicians) |
| 65 | For a theatre production of the same name. First performed at Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne in October 2012.[36] | ||
| Goin' Your Way (by Neil Finn and Paul Kelly) | 5 |
| Live performance by Kelly and Neil Finn at the Sydney Opera House in early 2013.[38] They were backed by Dan Kelly on guitar, Elroy Finn on drums, Zoe Hauptmann on guitar and bass guitar. | ||
| Live at the Sydney Opera House[39] |
| 61 | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. | |||||
| Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS | NZ | |||||
| Songs from the South |
| 2 | 17 |
| Compilation subtitled Paul Kelly's Greatest Hits, also released with a bonus disc featuring "Tease Me" / "It Started with a Kiss". | |
| Songs from the South Volume 2 |
| 22 | — |
| Compilation of Kelly related material over the ten years since the earlier compilation. Also released as a 2× CD with Songs from the South, and released with a DVD Paul Kelly – The Video Collection 1985–2008, a collection of Kelly's videos made over the past 23 years together with several live performances. | |
| [41] [42] |
| 1 [43] | — | |||
| Time |
| 95 | — | |||
| Rivers and Rain |
| — | — | |||
| Drinking |
| — | — | |||
| People |
| — | — | |||
| Poetry |
| — | — | |||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. | ||||||
| Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [48] | ||||||
| Ways and Means |
| — | Live performances by Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions in support of the album of the same name.[49] | |||
| Live Apples |
| 10 |
| Subtitled Stolen Apples Performed Live in its Entirety Plus 16 More Songs from show on 20 September 2007 in Toowoomba, Queensland by Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions.[51] | ||
| The Video Collection 1985–2008 |
| 24 | A compilation of music videos spanning Kelly's career from 1985 to 2008. | |||
| Stories of Me |
| |||||
| Goin' Your Way (by Neil Finn and Paul Kelly) |
| 1[52] |
| The DVD or BD version of the live album of the same name. | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. | ||||||
| Album details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS | ||||
| The Dots (by The Dots) |
| — | ||
| How to Make Gravy |
| 34 [53] | ||
| Roll on Summer |
| 40 | ||
| Paul Kelly Exclusive CD |
| — | ||
| Won't You Come Around |
| 55 | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. | ||||
| Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Album | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [54] | US Main | US Mod | ||||||||||||||
| "Recognition" (by The Dots) | 1979 | — | — | — | The Dots (EP) | |||||||||||
| "Seeing Is Believing" | 1980 | — | — | — | non-album single | |||||||||||
| "Billy Baxter" | 38 | — | — | Talk | ||||||||||||
| "Low Down" | 1981 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Clean This House" | 1982 | — | — | — | Manila | |||||||||||
| "Alive and Well" | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Rocking Institution" | — | — | — | shared single release | ||||||||||||
| "Love Is the Law" | 1983 | — | — | — | Midnite Spares | |||||||||||
| "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" | 1985 | — | — | — |
| Post | ||||||||||
| "Before Too Long" | 1986 | 15 | — | — |
| Gossip | ||||||||||
| "Darling It Hurts" | 25 | 19 | — | |||||||||||||
| "Leaps and Bounds" / "Bradman" | 1987 | 51 | — | — |
| |||||||||||
| "Look So Fine, Feel So Low" | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "To Her Door" | 14 | — | — |
| Under the Sun | |||||||||||
| "The Execution" | — | — | — | Gossip | ||||||||||||
| "Forty Miles to Saturday Night" | 1988 | 85 | — | — | Under the Sun | |||||||||||
| "Don't Stand So Close to the Window" | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Dumb Things" | 36 | — | 17 |
| ||||||||||||
| "Sweet Guy" | 1989 | 53 | — | — | So Much Water So Close to Home | |||||||||||
| "Careless" | 116 | — | — |
| ||||||||||||
| "Most Wanted Man in the World" | 1990 | 74 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Pouring Petrol on a Burning Man" | 109 | — | — | single-only release | ||||||||||||
| "Don't Start Me Talking" | 1991 | 105 | — | — | Comedy | |||||||||||
| "Keep It to Yourself" | 146 | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Wintercoat" | 170 | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Hey Boys" (by Paul Kelly and Mark Seymour) | 1992 | 71 | — | — | Garbo | |||||||||||
| "When I First Met Your Ma" | 131 | — | — | Hidden Things | ||||||||||||
| "He Can't Decide" (by Paul Kelly, Vika Bull, Renée Geyer, Deborah Conway) | 1993 | 112 | — | — | Seven Deadly Sins | |||||||||||
| "Last Train" (by Paul Kelly and Christine Anu) | 93 | — | — | single-only release | ||||||||||||
| "Song from the Sixteenth Floor" | 1994 | 87 | — | — | Wanted Man | |||||||||||
| "Love Never Runs on Time" | 111 | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "God's Hotel" | 149 | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Give in to My Love" | 1995 | 129 | — | — | Deeper Water | |||||||||||
| "Deeper Water" / "Behind the Bowler's Arm" | 147 | — | — |
| ||||||||||||
| "How to Make Gravy" | 1996 | 144< | -- The EP charted in 2017 and 2018, not the song --> | — | — | How to Make Gravy EP | ||||||||||
| "Tease Me" / "It Started with a Kiss" | 1997 | 69 | — | — | Songs from the South [bonus disc] | |||||||||||
| "Before Too Long" | — | — | — | re-released as a single-only | ||||||||||||
| "Nothing on My Mind" | — | — | — | Words and Music | ||||||||||||
| "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" | 1998 | 196 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "I'll Be Your Lover" | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Roll on Summer" | 2000 | 40 | — | — | Roll on Summer EP | |||||||||||
| "Somewhere in the City" | 2001 | 106 | — | — | ...Nothing but a Dream | |||||||||||
| "Love Is the Law" | 194 | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "If I Could Start Today Again" | 2002 | 146 | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "The Gift That Keeps on Giving" | — | — | — | single-only release | ||||||||||||
| "Just About to Break" | 189 | — | — | ...Nothing but a Dream | ||||||||||||
| "Won't You Come Around" | 2003 | 55 | — | — | Won't You Come Around EP | |||||||||||
| "Beautiful Feeling" | 2004 | — | — | — | Ways & Means | |||||||||||
| "I Wish I Was a Train" (Paul Kelly and Troy Cassar-Daley) | 2004 | — | — | — | single-only release | |||||||||||
| "God Told Me To" | 2007 | — | — | — | Stolen Apples | |||||||||||
| "Right Outta My Head" | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "To Her Door" (live) | 2008 | — | — | — | Live Apples | |||||||||||
| "Whistling Cannonballs" [56] | 2011 | — | — | — | Bad Machines (Shane Nicholson album) | |||||||||||
| "New Found Year" | 2012 | — | — | — | Spring and Fall | |||||||||||
| "Firewood and Candles" | 2017 | — | — | — |
| Life is Fine | ||||||||||
| "With the One I Love"[57] | 2018 | — | — | — | Nature | |||||||||||
| "A Bastard Like Me"[58] | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "And Death Shall Have No Dominion"[59] | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "How to Make Gravy" | 37 | — | — |
| How to Make Gravy | |||||||||||
| "Every Day My Mother's Voice" (with Dan Sultan) [60] | 2019 | — | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Rally Round the Drum" (with Archie Roach) [61] | — | — | — | Tell Me Why (Archie Roach album) | ||||||||||||
| "When We're Both Old & Mad" (with Kasey Chambers)[62] | — | — | — | Songs from the South: 1985–2019 | ||||||||||||
| "Sleep, Australia, Sleep"[63] | 2020 | — | — | — | non-album single | |||||||||||
| "Hummin' to Myself"[64] | — | — | — | non-album single | ||||||||||||
| "If I Could Start Today Again" [65] | — | — | — | Please Leave Your Light On | ||||||||||||
| "Please Leave Your Light On" [66] | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Young Lovers" [67] | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "You Broke a Beautiful Thing" [68] | — | — | — | non-album single | ||||||||||||
| "Little Things" [69] | 2021 | — | — | — | Human? | |||||||||||
| "Every Step of the Way"[70] | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "Christmas"[71] | — | — | — | Paul Kelly's Christmas Train | ||||||||||||
| "Northern Rivers" | 2022 | — | — | — | Rivers and Rains | |||||||||||
| "Alone with You"[72] | 2023 | — | — | — | Mushroom: Fifty Years of Making Noise (Reimagined) | |||||||||||
| "Khawaja"[73] | — | — | — | tbc | ||||||||||||
| "If Not Now"[74] | — | — | — | tbc | ||||||||||||
| "Sing You Over" [75] | 2024 | — | — | — | Til My Song Is Done | |||||||||||
| "Taught by Experts" | — | — | — | Fever Longing Still | ||||||||||||
| "Going to the River with Dad"[76] | — | — | — | |||||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. | ||||||||||||||||
Notes
| Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS | |||||
| "From Little Things Big Things Grow" | 1991 | — |
| Comedy | |
| "Four Seasons in One Day" (with Angus Stone) | 2010 | — |
| He Will Have His Way |
| Year | Director(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| "Alive and Well" | 1982 | Jack Egan |
| "From St Kilda to Kings Cross" | 1985 | Ian Pringle[77] |
| "Before Too Long" | 1986 | John Witteron |
| "Darling It Hurts" | Claudia Castle | |
| "Leaps and Bounds" | 1987 | Mick Bell |
| "Bradman" | Jack Egan | |
| "To Her Door" | Claudia Castle | |
| "Forty Miles to Saturday Night" | 1988 | Sue Davis |
| "Dumb Things" | 1989 | Larry Williams |
| "Sweet Guy" | Claudia Castle | |
| "Careless" | Kimble Rendall | |
| "Don't Start Me Talking" | 1991 | John Reddon, John Witteron |
| "Keep It to Yourself" | Rob Wellington | |
| "When I First Met Your Ma" | 1992 | Paul Elliot |
| "Last Train" (with Christine Anu) | 1993 | Paul Elliot, Sally Bongers[78] |
| "Love Never Runs on Time" | 1994 | Ronny Reinhard |
| "Songs from the Sixteenth Floor" | Tony Mahony | |
| "Tease Me" | 1997 | Robbie Douglas Taylor |
| "It Started With a Kiss" | Robbie Douglas Taylor | |
| "Nothing on My Mind" | 1998 | Tony Mahony |
| "I'll Be Your Lover" | Tony Mahony | |
| "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" | Tony Mahony | |
| "Our Sunshine" | 1999 | Tony Mahony |
| "You Can't Take It with You" | Tony Mahony | |
| "Can't Fake It" | Tony Mahony | |
| "You're so Fine" | 2000 | Tony Mahony |
| "Somewhere in the City" | 2001 | Tony Mahony |
| "Love Is the Law" | Tony Mahony | |
| "If I Could Start Today Again" | 2002 | Tony Mahony |
| "Just about to Break" | Ben Saunders | |
| "Sure Got Me" | 2003 | Tony Mahony |
| "Wish I Was a Train" (with Troy Cassar-Daly) | Tony Mahony | |
| "Won't You Come Around" | 2004 | Ben Saunders |
| "The Mess We're In" (with Katy Steele) | 2005 | John Lang[79] |
| "You're Learning" (with Kasey Chambers, Stormwater Boys) | Rod McCormack, Paul Kelly[80] | |
| "They Thought I Was Asleep" (with the Stormwater Boys) | Rod McCormack, Paul Kelly | |
| "How to Make Gravy" (with the Stormwater Boys) | Rod McCormack, Paul Kelly | |
| "Meet Me in the Middle of the Air" (with the Stormwater Boys) | Rod McCormack, Paul Kelly | |
| "Shane Warne" | 2007 | Andy Doherty |
| "God Told Me To" | Natasha Pinkus | |
| "To Her Door" (live) | 2008 | Paul Drane |
| "Stolen Apples Are the Sweetest" | Paul Drane | |
| "Rally Round the Drum" | 2019 | Mushroom Creative House |
| "When We're Both Old & Mad" | Siân Darling[81] | |
| "Sleep, Australia, Sleep" | 2020 | Siân Darling[82] |
| "Hummin' to Myself" | Andy Doherty[83] | |
| "If I Could Start Today Again" | ||
| "Christmas" | 2021 | |
| Year | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Funerals and Circuses | 1992 | Musical score composed by Paul Kelly, for the play of the same name, written by Roger Bennett.[84] | |
| Seven Deadly Sins: Music from the ABC TV Series | 1993 | Tracks co-composed and performed by Kelly and others,[85] for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV miniseries, Seven Deadly Sins. | |
| Everynight... Everynight | 1994 | Co-composed by Kelly and Shane O'Mara,[86] both members of Paul Kelly Band. for the score of the feature film of the same name. | |
| The Big House | 2000 | Score composed by Kelly for the short film of the same name, directed by Rachel Ward.[87] | |
| One Night the Moon: Original Soundtrack | 2001 | Co-composed by Kelly, Kev Carmody, Maireed Hannan; for score and soundtrack of the short film of the same name, which is directed by Rachel Perkins. Kelly also starred in a lead role as Jim; his then-real life wife, Kaarin Fairfax, appeared as Jim's wife, Rose; and their daughter, Memphis Kelly, portrayed the couple's daughter, Emily.[88] | |
| Music for the Feature Film Lantana | Co-composed by Kelly, Stephen Hadley, Bruce Haymes and Peter Luscombe (also members of Professor Ratbaggy)[89] and Shane O'Mara, who are all members of Paul Kelly Band. Used for the score and soundtrack for the feature film, Lantana. | ||
| Silent Partner | Co-composed by Kelly, Gerry Hale[90] (of the band, Uncle Bill); used for the score of the feature film of the same name. | ||
| Fireflies: Songs of Paul Kelly | 2004 | Co-composed by Kelly and Stephen Rae, Kelly also provided the theme song, "Beautiful Feeling", from his solo album, Ways & Means.[91] Used on the score and soundtrack for the TV series, Fireflies. The CD includes tracks performed by Kelly, Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions, Professor Ratbaggy, Paul Kelly with Uncle Bill, and Boon Companions featuring Sian Prior. | |
| Tom White | Co-composed by Paul Kelly and the Boon Companions, for the score of the feature film of the same name.[92] [93] | ||
| Jindabyne | 2006 | Co-composed by Kelly and Dan Luscombe,[94] both members of Stardust Five and of Paul Kelly Band, for the feature film of the same name. |
| Year | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| "Hand Me Down", "Billy Baxter" (by Paul Kelly with Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons) | 1982 | Mushroom Evolution Concert | |
| "Only the Lonely Heart", "I Need Something Inside Me" (by Paul Kelly and the Dots) | Rocking Australia Live | ||
| "Special Treatment" (live) | 1989 | Building Bridges – Australia Has a Black History | |
| "Farewell Don + Edward Kelly" | 1993 | Going Home – Australian Artists, Australian Songs | |
| "When I First Met Your Ma" (acoustic version) | Triple M Cordless | ||
| "Ode to a Nightingale< | -- not Keats' poem -->" | 1996 | Native Tongue – Loudspeaker |
| "Madeleine"[95] | Lullaby and Goodnight | ||
| "Thanks a Lot" (Paul Kelly & Uncle Bill) | 1997 | Where Joy Kills Sorrow | |
| "Sunlander" (Paul Kelly & Uncle Bill) | 1998 | Not So Dusty – A Tribute to Slim Dusty | |
| "Leaps and Bounds", "Wide Open Road" (by Paul Kelly and Chris Bailey), "To Her Door" | Mushroom 25 Live | ||
| "Tease Me" | 1999 | Triple J - Lust for Live: Live at the Wireless 4 | |
| "Blues for Skip" | Liberdade: Viva East Timor | ||
| "Little Kings" | Music Live from the Panel | ||
| "To Her Door" | 2000 | Cold: Live at the Chapel | |
| "To Her Door", "Before Too Long" | Rock the Millennium: A Celebration of Australian Music | ||
| "Little Red Corvette" | 2001 | The Andrew Denton Breakfast Show – Musical Challenge Vol. 2 | |
| "Somewhere in the City" | Rove [Live] – ... Some Music | ||
| "Christmas Must Be Tonight" | The Spirit of Christmas 2001 | ||
| "Khe Sanh" | 2007 | Standing on the Outside: The Songs of Cold Chisel | |
| "Droving Woman" (by Paul Kelly, Glenn Richards, Missy Higgins) | Cannot Buy My Soul: The Songs of Kev Carmody | ||
| "Every Day My Mother's Voice" (featuring Jess Hitchcock) | 2020 | Music from the Home Front | |
