(Bonus Disc contains 10 new songs) Some of us who should know better pronounce "love songs" with a silent "silly" - as if there were a higher kind. Paul Kelly’s new collection, Ways and Means, containing nineteen unruly examples of the species (plus two breezy instrumentals), shows the prejudice for what it is. His new songs roil and seethe with feeling, wondering at their own abandon and delighting in the ride. ‘Beautiful Feeling’ unfolds like a flower, shy stirrings blooming to proud radiance. ‘48 Angels’ begins as awestruck adoration and loses itself in rapture. Elsewhere, loss of self is an explicit aim: in ‘Won’t You Come Around’, the singer anxiously assures his lover: "only you can make this brain shut down". This vision of oblivious bliss isn’t wholly rose-tinted., ‘To Be Good’ may be raucous and cavalier, with barrelhouse piano, but it’s also haunted: by the ghost of Hank Williams and a persistent vision of sin. Having toured for most of 2002, Kelly decided, as he puts it, "to throw the balls up in the air again": to assemble a new set of accompanists. The new combination -- slide guitar, backing falsetto, "dweeby keyboard lines," and a Curtis Mayfield/Stones 70’s vibe -- clicked. The album was recorded without fuss in Melbourne last winter, with producer Tchad Blake cocking an ear for the performance that was ragged but right. They’re fresh and resilient and full of love. Produced by Tchad Blake & Paul Kelly Paul Kelly - Lead Vocal and Acoustic Guitar Peter Luscombe - Drums & Percussion Bill McDonald – Bass Dan Luscombe - Electric Guitar, Slide and Keyboards Dan Kelly - Electric Guitar, Banjo and Fiddle Graeme Lee – Pedal Steel on Forty Eight Angels, Beautiful Feeling and Little Bit O’ Sugar Bruce Haymes – Piano on To Be Good Takes A Long Time