Hidden Things

A range of audio tapes are strewn across the dark floor. Some are in their boxes or loose nearby. Other boxes are unopened. At the top left is an open red doorway showing yellow light shining into that side of the room. The artist's name is at the top right with the album's name below it. The graphic artist has signed the work at bottom right.

Studio album by Paul Kelly & the Messengers

Released

May 1992

Recorded

1986–1991

Genre

Folk rock

Length

70:43

Label

Mushroom, White

Producer

Guy Gray, Alan Thorne, Paul Kelly, Gavin Mackillop, Steve Gordon, Paul Petran, Steve Connolly

Paul Kelly & the Messengers chronology

Comedy
(1991)

Hidden Things
(1992)

Live, May 1992
(1992)

Singles from Hidden Things

"When I First Met Your Ma"
Released: April 1992

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Green Left Weekly	(favourable)

Hidden Things is an album by Australian folk rock group Paul Kelly & the Messengers released in May 1992 on Mushroom Records, which reached No. 29 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It also reached the Top 40 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. It is a collection of tracks recorded by Kelly and both his backing bands, the Coloured Girls and the Messengers, from 1986 to 1991, but were not issued on previous studio albums (except for "Bradman" and "Pastures of Plenty"). The album spawned a single, "When I First Met Your Ma", which was issued in April. Messenger band members provide lead vocals on "Hard Times" from its writer Steve Connolly, "Rock 'n' Soul" from its writer Jon Schofield. "Sweet Guy Waltz" is a slower version of "Sweet Guy" which was on 1989's So Much Water So Close to Home. The album was re-released in 2011 as Hidden Things: B-sides & Rarities.

Paul Kelly & the Messengers gave their last performance in August 1991, with Kelly set to pursue a solo career. He justified his decision: "We forged a style together. But I felt if we had kept going it would have got formulaic and that's why I broke it up. I wanted to try and start moving into other areas, start mixing things up". To round out their career, Kelly organised Hidden Things to collect previously released B-sides, stray non-LP tracks, radio sessions, and other rarities recorded from 1986 to 1991. Except for "Bradman" and "Pastures of Plenty", the tracks had not appeared on earlier albums by Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls or Paul Kelly & the Messengers. The album spawned a single, "When I First Met Your Ma", which was issued in April.

The album was issued in May 1992, after the group had been disbanded, and reached No. 29 on the ARIA Albums Chart. That same month, Kelly recorded a set of solo performances which were later released as the double live album, Live, May 1992.

Tracks for Hidden Things were recorded between 1986 (by Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls) to September 1991 (by Paul Kelly & the Messengers). The line-up of both bands was: Michael Barclay on drums and backing vocals; Peter Bull on keyboards; Steve Connolly on lead guitar (lead vocals on "Hard Times"); Kelly on guitar, lead vocals (except "Hard Times", "Rock 'n' Soul") and harmonica; and Jon Schofield on bass guitar. The album includes a cover version of Australian Crawl's 1983 number-one hit, "Reckless" which was recorded in 1988 and originally released by Paul Kelly & the Coloured Girls as part of the 1989 "Dumb Things" double single. The lead single from the album, "When I First Met Your Ma", describes Kelly's courting of his first wife Hilary Brown – they met at the Kingston Hotel during an early gig by his band The Dots and were introduced by Kelly's then-girlfriend, Juliet. "Sweet Guy Waltz" is a slower version of "Sweet Guy" which was issued as a single from 1989's So Much Water So Close to Home.

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Wikipedia