"Before Too Long" is a song by Australian rock group Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as the first single from their debut double album, ''
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling.
Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...
''. It was released in June 1986 on the original White Label Records, a subsidiary of
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival Mu ...
. It reached No. 15 on the Australian
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...
Singles Chart, remaining for 19 weeks. The track was a surprise hit for Kelly at a time when chart success had eluded him and provided increased interest for the release of ''Gossip'', which would become his biggest mainstream success to that date.
The success of the single can partly be attributed to the accompanying video, which was directed by John Witteron, depicting Kelly as a long-suffering cab driver dealing with a night shift full of eccentric passengers.
At the 1986 Countdown Australian Music Awards the song was nominated for Best Male Performance in a Video and Best Single, losing out to
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a Teen idol, teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an Adu ...
's "
You're the Voice
"You're the Voice" is a song written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson, and recorded by the Australian singer John Farnham and released as a single in September 1986 ahead of his album ''Whispering Jack''. "You're the V ...
" in both categories.
In January 2018, as part of
Triple M
Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations.
The network dates back to th ...
's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Before Too Long" was ranked number 79.
Background
After recording his solo album, ''
Post
Post or POST commonly refers to:
*Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries
**An Post, the Irish national postal service
**Canada Post, Canadian postal service
**Deutsche Post, German postal service
**Iraqi Post, Ira ...
'' in early 1985, Paul Kelly established a full-time band in Sydney. It included
Michael Armiger
Michael William Armiger is an English-born Australian guitarist and teacher. He has been a member of various groups including Paul Kelly Band (1983–84), Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls (1985–86), John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong (1987– ...
(bass guitar, rhythm guitar), Michael Barclay (drums, ex-
Weddings, Parties, Anything
Weddings, Parties, Anything. was an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1999. Their name came from The Clash song "Revolution Rock". Musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Austr ...
) and Steve Connolly (lead guitar). Bass guitarist Jon Schofield and
keyboardist
A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...
Peter Bull soon joined.Spencer et al, (2007), Kelly, Paul and the Coloured Girls entry. Retrieved 21 March 2010. Through a joke based on
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
's song " Walk on the Wild Side", the band became known as Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls.McFarlane, , retrieved 14 March 2010. Armiger left and the Coloured Girls line-up stabilised in late 1985 as Barclay, Bull, Connolly and Schofield.
In April 1986, the band entered Trafalgar Studios and released their debut 24-track double LP, ''
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling.
Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...
'' in September. It included remakes of four songs from ''Post''. ''Gossip'' peaked at No. 15 on the Australian
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...
Albums Chart. Charting singles from the album were "Before Too Long", released in June ahead of the album, which peaked at No. 15 on the related Singles Chart and "Darling It Hurts". "Before Too Long" was written by Kelly; its success is partly due to the accompanying video, which was directed by John Witteron, depicting Kelly as a long-suffering cab driver dealing with a night shift full of eccentric passengers.
A trimmed version of ''Gossip'', featuring 15 tracks on a single LP, was released in the United States by
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
in July 1987.
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
's Mike DeGagne noted that " tbursts at the seams with blustery, distinguished tunes captivating both the somberness and the intrigue thrown forward from this fine Australian storyteller".
The album was co-produced by Kelly with Alan Thorne (
Hoodoo Gurus
Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner (songwriter, lead singer and guitarist) and later joined by Richard Grossman (bass), Mark Kingsmill (drums), and Brad Shepherd (guitar, vocals, ha ...
,
The Stems
The Stems are a garage punk (fusion genre), garage punk band formed in Perth, Western Australia in late 1983. They were founded by Dom Mariani in late 1983. The Stems are heavily influenced by 1960s garage rock and 1970s power pop. The band ini ...
) who, according to music journalist
Robert Forster
Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in ''Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in ''The Delta Force'' (1986), ...
(former
The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout it ...
singer-songwriter), helped the band create "a sound that will not only influence future roots-rock bands but, through its directness, sparkle and dedication to the song, will also come to be seen as particularly Australian. Ultimately, it means the records these people made together are timeless".
Due to possible racist connotations, the band changed its name for international releases to "Paul Kelly and the Messengers". They made a US tour, initially supporting
Crowded House
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later ban ...
and then headlining, travelling across the US by bus. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' rock critic
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles (born October 25, 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.
Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls' second album, '' Under the Sun'', was released in late 1987 in Australia and New Zealand; and early 1988 in North America and Europe (under the name Paul Kelly and the Messengers). On the Kent Music Report Albums Chart it reached No. 19 with the lead single "
To Her Door
"To Her Door" is a song by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as a single ahead of their second album, '' Under the Sun'' (released in North America and Europe as by Paul Kelly and the Messengers). The single was released in September ...
", written by Kelly, peaking at No. 14 on the related singles chart.
Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls
* Michael Barclay – drums, backing vocals
* Peter Bull – keyboards, backing vocals
* Steve Connolly – guitar, backing vocals
* Paul Kelly – acoustic guitar, lead vocals
* John Schofield – bass guitar, backing vocals
Additional musicians
* Astrid Munday – backing vocals
Production details
* Producer – Alan Thorne, Paul Kelly
* Engineer – Alan Thorne
* Studio – Trafalgar Studios, Sydney
Art work
* Cover art – Ann Richmond (picture sleeve)