''So Much Water So Close to Home'' is an album by Australian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Paul Kelly and the Messengers and was originally released in August 1989. The title comes from a short story of the same name by author

Raymond Carver Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He published his first collection of stories, '' Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?'', in 1976. His breakout collection, '' What We Talk About ...

. Carver died in August 1988. Kelly co-wrote the score for the 2006 Australian film ''

Jindabyne Jindabyne () is a town in south-east New South Wales, Australia that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains, in Snowy Monaro Regional Council. It is a popular holiday destination year round, especially in winter. This is due to its p ...

'', which was also based on the same story. The entire album was recorded in the U.S. with producer

Scott Litt Scott Warren Litt (born March 10, 1954) is an American record producer who mostly works with artists in the alternative rock genre and is best known for producing six R.E.M. albums in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s during the band's most ...

, best known for his work with

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...

It was released on

Mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

/White Records in Australia & New Zealand and

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

for the rest of the world. The album peaked at #10 on the ARIA album charts, but none of its singles, "

Sweet Guy "Sweet Guy" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Messengers released in June 1989 as the lead single from the studio album, '' So Much Water So Close to Home''. The song was written by Kelly – his first from a woman's point of ...

", " Careless" and "Most Wanted Man in the World" had any Top 40 chart success. All tracks for the album were written by Kelly, Note: requires user to input song title e.g. YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU who provided

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

and also co-produced with Litt.

Background

Paul Kelly had formed Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls in 1985, named for a group mentioned by

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

in " Walk on the Wild Side". For international releases from 1987 on, they used the name Paul Kelly and the Messengers to avoid possible racist interpretations. They released ''

Gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumor, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Etymology The word is from Old English ''godsibb'', from ''god (word), god'' and ''sibb'', the term for the ...

'' in 1986 on

Mushroom Records Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival ...

in Australia and in 1987 on

for international release. '' Under the Sun'' was released in 1987 in Australia and in 1988 internationally. Their next album, ''So Much Water So Close to Home'' was released in 1989 as by Paul Kelly and the Messengers in all markets. It peaked at #10 on the ARIA album charts, but none of its singles reached the ARIA Top 40 Singles charts. The entire album was recorded in the U.S. with producer

, best known for his work with

Litt had re-mixed some of Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls' tracks from ''Gossip'' for its US release as by Paul Kelly and the Messengers. ''So Much Water So Close to Home'' was released on Mushroom/White Records in Australia and A&M Records in the United States and Europe in 1989. The title comes from a 1975 short story of the same name by author

(later collected in ''

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love ''What We Talk About When We Talk About Love'' is a 1981 collection of short stories by American writer Raymond Carver, as well as the title of one of the stories in the collection. Considered by many one of American literature's most ambitious ...

''). Album track, "Everything's Turning to White" is based on Carver's short story, it describes the tale of recreational fishermen who find a dead woman's body but continue their trip for three days before reporting their discovery to police. Kelly would go on to co-write the score for the 2006 Australian film ''

'', which was also based on the same story. In 1991 Paul Kelly and the Messengers released their next album ''

Comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

''.

Track listing

All tracks written by Paul Kelly. Side 1 # "You Can't Take It with You" – 2:43 # "

" – 3:38 # "Most Wanted Man in the World" – 3:38 # "I Had Forgotten You" – 2:59 # "She's a Melody (Stupid Song)" – 4:31 # "South of Germany" – 3:16 Side 2 # " Careless" – 2:57 # "Moon in the Bed" – 3:03 # "No You" – 4:19 # "Everything's Turning to White" – 4:11 # "Pigeon/Jundamurra" – 2:03 # "Cities of Texas" – 3:40

Personnel

Paul Kelly and the Messengers * Michael Barclay —

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

* Peter Bull — keyboards *

Steve Connolly Stephen James Connolly (1959–1995) was an Australian musician and record producer. He is primarily known as the lead guitarist and singer in Paul Kelly's backing band The Coloured Girls/Messengers from 1984 to 1991. Steve played melodical ...

—

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

* Paul Kelly — guitar, vocals,

* Jon Schofield —

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Additional musicians *

Steve Berlin Steven M. Berlin (born September 14, 1955, in Philadelphia) is an American saxophonist, keyboardist and record producer, best known as a member of the rock group Los Lobos and, before that, Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, the Blasters, and the Fl ...

—

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

(track 2) *

Lenny Castro Lenny Castro (born September 19, 1956) is an American percussionist from the Los Angeles area. He is one of the most prolific percussionists of all time, appearing on hundreds of albums, including those by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Maroon ...

—

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

s (track 5) *

Paulinho da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

—

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

(tracks 5, 7, 8) * John Logan — harmonica (track 12) *

Lucky Oceans Lucky Oceans (born Reuben Gosfield, 21 April 1951) is an American pedal steel guitarist and a former member of country and Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel. From 1995 to 2017 he was a broadcaster in Perth, Western Australia with the Austr ...

—

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

(track 6) Recording details * Producer —

, Paul Kelly * Engineer — Scott Litt ** Assistant —

Clif Norrell Clif Norrell is an American record producer, recording engineer, music mixer, and musician. He has worked with many prominent artists including Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M., Jeff Buckley, No Doubt, Rush, Faith No More, Shania Twain, Mick Jagger, D ...

, Jim Dineen * Sequencer — David Russo (tracks 5, 9, 10) * Studio —

Ocean Way Studios Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates recording facilities, but O ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

** Mastered — Precision Lacquer ** Mixed — The Grey Room

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1989 albums Albums produced by Scott Litt Paul Kelly (Australian musician) albums Mushroom Records albums