It was a scene many a music scribe would have witnessed. Paul Kelly sitting in a record company board room politely fulfiling his media commitments in promotion of a new album, and always (if it's summer) within eyeshot of his other passion, a TV screen beaming out a telecast of the day's play of a cricket test. "Hayden's just gone for a paltry 37" he tells me after one of the few times recently Australia's opening batsman Matthew Hayden had not scored a century. That's why Kelly is held in such high regard by the Australian public. He not only tells stories about everyday Australia, he is everyman Australia.

The new album being promoted is "Ways and Means', a double disc featuring 21 songs all linked with a thread to the theme of love. Love lost, love found, love gone wrong, old love, new love, even love of the surf. Kelly's trademark contemplative lyrics are once again on display, but more prominent this time is his enthusiasm and investigation of sounds. Tagging along on his sonic adventure are long time buddies Peter Luscombe on drums, Bill McDonald on bass, and a family connection with Dan Luscombe (Peter's brother) and Dan Kelly (Paul's nephew) both on guitars. The icing on the cake for everyone was the good fortune to acquire respected producer Tchad Blake to tweak the studio knobs and help make their sonic vision become a reality.

It wasn't Kelly's intention to create an album specifically about love, that's just the way it turned out. "Most of my songs are about love anyway," said Kelly. "Usually a song starts out as a sound or riff or feel.

For instance with a song like 'Beautiful Feeling' it was just this feeling, a groove that grew and it was just a natural thing. I like to think there are no rules."

The sounds, riffs and feel of Ways and Means can be attributed as much to the band as to Paul alone. From the outset Kelly sought to make this project a real band effort, perhaps capturing some of that unique spirit evident on some of his most memorable work with The Messengers. Over half of the songwriting credits on the new album are collaborations with band members.

Reinforcing the 'band' ethic of the album are the two instrumentals which sit either end of the album. 'Gunnamatta', the album opener is Kelly's ode to the Australian surf which like Midnight Oil's 'Wedding Cake Island', conjures images of iridescent blue skies, vast expanses of hot golden sand and loud and powerful waves crashing to shore. In closing disc two 'Let's Fall Again' is no less cinematic, invoking thoughts of the end of a journey, heading home along the Great Ocean Road reflecting on life.

"It seemed to begin with waves, and then to end that way was a nostalgic type of thing to do, a couple of bookends to the album. And I love the surf," offered Kelly as an explanation.

Producer Tchad Blake's influence is quite evident on Ways and Means, his familiar atmospheric feel is all over this disc. Drummer Pete Luscombe not only enjoyed the end result, he very much approved of Blake's entire approach to the recording.

"I think with Tchad you didn't have to do things perfectly. Better was not always good. In context of this album it's better to have a quality album with an edge than a perfectly played and recorded album with no soul. He tried a lot of different things, with microphone placement and amp sounds. Tchad loved the sound the Dans were getting and they got on well too," said Pete.

"Yeh," chipped in Kelly. "There was a lot of reverb and delay and was it was quite funny, Dan Luscombe was adding things while the tape was running, he was finding new things as he went along. Tchad didn't allow too much of that though."

There's a fantastic swaggering bar room piano sound Blake achieves on the song 'To Be Good Takes A Long Time'. Luscombe illuminates on that track. "We wanted that honky tonk piano sound, but Tchad just got Bruce Haymes to record the piano bit twice and changed the pitch so there was a bit of cheating on that one."

Often songs were recorded directly after the completion of a restaurant meal together. The red wine flowed as Blake held court with his tales of past recordings including those with Peter Gabriel, who apparently has a problem knowing when to finish an album. The camaraderie and positive vibe followed them into the studio.

The collaborative spirit in which Ways and Means was produced is sure to translate into some great live shows once the band hit the road. As for the album, Kelly would like to "sell a few", he said. "That's the first thing. Then hopefully it's something people will play in 5 years time."

If there's any justice left in a world that often celebrates musical mediocrity, this should be one of Kelly's biggest successes.

Visit: www.paulkelly.com.au