Paul Kelly: Stolen Apples (EMI)

Albums by Paul Kelly are like local buses: if you miss one it probably doesn't matter, another will be along soon.

My guess is he has made at least a couple of dozen albums, which means that this album might just pass people by as yet another Kelly album.

That would be a shame because he is still at the top of his game and is such a seasoned songwriter that his work never falls below a particularly high threshold.

One one level you could argue that there is little here he hasn't done before -- the Middle Eastern intro to Feelings of Grief excepted -- but that would be to deny the sheer craftsmanship and passion that drives his work.

Dark ballads, love songs, Outback narratives, religion, lost souls . . .

So you may read about this in other places, but then again you may not.

He might just go past people like a local bus. Still worth catching though.