STACK #253 November 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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70 NOT OUT P aul Kelly turned 70 in January this year. It’s been a great long story. Paul Kelly makes one for the ages with his sparkling new album. Make Gravy . Joe is dead, and Rita Wrote a Letter . Even when the songs

Paul Kelly

And there’s no sign of a full stop as he releases his 30th studio album, the aptly titled Seventy . Our most revered

are bittersweet, there’s a sense of celebration. “Sad songs never made me sad,” he sings in I’m Not Afraid of the Dark . And then in the final track: “And even if soon this old world is giving up the ghost, well, I don’t mind ’cause I’m right here with the ones I love the most.” Being our national balladeer, helping to shape our identity is not a burden. “To quote Robert Burns,” Kelly says, “I rhyme for fun.”

Seventy by Paul Kelly is out Nov 7 via EMI

songwriter still has some stories to tell. Indeed, the album is bookended by songs called Tell Us a Story (Part A) and Tell Us a Story (Part B) . In between, he does a song for his granddaughter ( Happy Birthday, Ada

Photo credit: Dean Podmore

HOT COLLABS

PK THROUGH THE DECADES

30 – At age 30, Paul Kelly releases his first great album, Post , which opens with the classic From St Kilda to Kings Cross . 40 – Releases his tenth album, Deeper Water . Includes his version of Difficult Woman , the song he wrote for Renée Geyer. 50 – Releases his one and only album with The Stormwater Boys, Foggy Highway , which landed in the book The 100 Best Australian Albums . 60 – Hits the road to promote his 20th studio album, The Merri Soul Sessions , featuring Vika & Linda, Clairy Browne, Kira Puru, and Dan Sultan.

Seventy includes

Mae ), delivers a tale of love ( Made for Me ), one of lust ( I Keep on Coming Back for More ) and adapts poems by W.B. Yeats ( Sailing to Byzantium ) and New Zealand’s Denis Glover ( The Magpies ). And, of course, there’s the sequel to the Christmas classic How to

Don’t Give Up on Me , which features Meg Washington, as well as Made for Me , featuring

CHART FACT

Explaining the inspiration for Seventy , the songwriter quotes Psalm 90 from the Bible: “We spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten.” Jeff Jenkins

Paul Kelly has had 13 Top 10 albums,

including four chart-toppers.

Rebecca Barnard.

TWO WICKED The second Wicked soundtrack is another winner.

A WICKED SUCCESS Last year’s Wicked was a box office smash, taking more than $750 million worldwide to become one of the biggest movie musicals of all time. It was also nominated for ten Academy Awards, including ‘Best Picture’.

the original musical. No Place Like Home (sung by Cynthia Erivo) and The Girl in the Bubble (Ariana Grande) were written specifically for the film. Opening with Every Day More Wicked , the album also features some big songs from the original production, including As Long As You’re Mine (Erivo and Jonathan Bailey), No Good Deed (Erivo) and For Good (Erivo & Grande). But fans of the original stage production can expect a few surprises. “In addition to two brand new songs, there is a lot that’s new in several other existing songs,” composer Stephen Schwartz reveals. “So, not only listeners coming to the score for the first time, but long-time fans of the original Broadway cast album, will have a great deal to discover.” Jeff Jenkins

L ast year was a Wicked Christmas, with the movie adaptation of the hit musical soaring to number one at the box office. One year later, the sequel arrives, telling the tale of the second part of the story, with the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good joined by Dorothy, who realises she’s not in Kansas anymore. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande reprise their roles as Elphaba Thropp and Glinda Upland. The soundtrack features two songs that were not in

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo

The first Wicked soundtrack hit number three in Australia, and two in the US.

Wicked: For Good is out Nov 21 via Universal

CHART FACT

THE TITLE The working title for the sequel was Wicked Part Two , but director Jon Chu decided to name the film after one of the show’s climactic songs: For Good .

50 NOVEMBER 2025

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