Soul Burning

Paul Kelly: Come Lay Some Lovin' On Me and Don't Burn Me
From: Don't Burn Me [Warner Brothers, 1973]

The trail of artists destroyed by cack handed marketing and promotion is a depressing one indeed. So common was this in the sixties and seventies that Artists-robbed-of-global-success practically has it's own category in my record collection.

Still, rather than once again harping on with pointless righteous anger about the shitty hand life can deal you let's celebrate the music instead.

Paul Kelly comes from the sweet soul stable of male vocalists, delivering a number of grown man soul albums in the early seventies. Wrongly dismissed as an Al Green imitator at the time, his albums actually offer an exceptionally high standard of soul music.

Don't Burn Me, his 1973 album, is a classic example of the Paul Kelly sound, showcasing Kelly's gorgeous vocal range. Come Lay Some Lovin' On Me is the kind of track that wouldn't seem out of place on an Hi album from the same period with it's subtle use of strings, organ and horn blasts.
Don't Burn Me again features the high quality production of brass and strings with Kelly delivering the kind of seemingly effortless vocals that never stop amazing me.

Kelly is still working in the music business and actually released a new album a couple of years back I'm yet to hear. You can actually read a pretty interesting article with him here (though you may want to reformat it first to avoid retinal damage).