Paula Kelley - The Trouble With Success

  by John Clarkson

published: 4 / 4 / 2004

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There is a tendency amongst critics to claim every time a new Paula Kelley album comes out that she has at last found her creative niche. Now the Boston-based singer songwriter's fifth album and second solo album has hit the shops and here we are again and various music writers are once more proclaiming that she has finally discovered her real voice. It is not true. The real truth is that Paula Kelley found her voice years and years ago somewhere back in the early or mid 90's and since then has continued to expand and to build on it with each new record. Whether 'The Trouble with Success' is the ever dependable Miss Kelley's finest hour (or 50 minutes) remains yet to be seen and is something which only time will tell. It is, however, another fine record from a consistently fine performer. Kelley has appeared in various guises over the years. She first came to prominence in 1992 with the Drop Nineteens, a shoegazing act, with whom she played guitar, sang the occasional vocal, and stayed together with long enough to record an album, 'Delaware'. Her next project, Hot Rod, found her moving to centre stage, and were essentially a grunge act, but also took in the odd vocal harmony. Much under-rated, they recorded a single, little-heard album, 'Speed Danger Death' (1993) before splitting. Kelley's third band, Boy Wonder, extended on these vocal harmonies further, and merged them with an indie guitar sound. They released an album, 'Wonder-Wear' (1997) and a five-song EP, 'Break the Spell' (1999) in a different line-up before also breaking up. Kelley turned solo, and her long-held fixation with the Beach Boys and the Bee Gees reached full fruition with her debut solo album, 'Nothing/Everything' (2001), which is the most 60's sounding of all her records. Now she has moved on again. Many of the trademarks familar to Kelley's previous records-the syrupy vocals, the bittersweet, sometimes acidic lyrics and, of course, the snappy vocal harmonies-are still very much in evidence. 'The Trouble with Success' is, however, a big band record, and owes as much a debt to Julie London and Alma Cogan as it does to Brian Wilson and the Gibb brothers. A few of the tracks, such as the tender, piano-led 'The Rest of You' and the gutsy 'September Eyes', in which she appears with just her regular band, sound like overspills from 'Nothing/Everything'. The majority though find her fronting either the 21 piece Paula Kelley Orchestra or the 11 strong Paula Kelley choir and occasionally on tracks such as the majestic 'Girlfriend' both. At first, to be honest, the mass of swirling strings, flutes and trumpets is overwhelming, but there is an underlying melody and catchiness to even the most complex of these tunes, and 'The Trouble with Success', while perhaps heard initally in stages, grows with each new listening. The subtitle of this record is 'And How You Fit into the World', which has perhaps lead to some of the critical responses. Paula Kelley could never be accused of having made the same record twice. 'The Trouble with Success', far from being the work of someone who has hit a winning streak after years of blundering around in the musical wilderness, is instead the latest in a long line of records from a versatile musician who has created her own place in the world by pushing her own boundaries and limits a little further with each new recording. For that, Paula Kelley should be commended.

Track Listing:-

1 My Finest Hour (Enter)
2 A New Time
3 Could There Be Another World
4 The Girlfriend
5 How Many Times
6 My Finest Hour
7 The Rest of You
8 I'd Fall in Love With Anyone
9 Night Racer
10 September Eyes
11 Friday Came
12 Where Do You Go
13 My Finest Hour (Exit)

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