Hey Now, Hey Wow: A Down Under Dream Duo Serves Up a Peerless Live Album

Pitch black. Rainy. Cold. Desolate. An empty bar at 10 p.m. on a Sunday. A full glass of whiskey. A head full of weighty thoughts and no one to share them with.

These are the conditions under whuch I most like to listen to the great Australian songwriter Paul Kelly. His music helps me navigate my way out of life’s darker corners, and whenever I put it on after a long layoff, I regret that I don’t listen to it more often.

Conversely, Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande are two artists where if I never heard another one of their songs again, it would be too soon. But earlier this year, these two pop stars–undeniably talented, even if their original output is suspect–dressed in animal-pajama onesies and posted a cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” online. It was magical, in part because of the duo’s delivery, but more because it reminded everyone just how timeless a tune Neil Finn had created.

It’s no surprise, then, that Finn, a New Zealander, and Kelly are two of the most enduring artists Down Under. In 2013, they united for a regional tour that must have been a dream to folk-pop fans in their native countries. Flanked by Kelly’s nephew Dan on guitar and Finn’s son Elroy on drums (along with bassist Zoe Hauptmannon bass), the duo released a live recording of their stop at Sydney Opera House in 2013, which has only now become available in the States.

Unlike when most mega-stars co-headline tours, Finn and Kelly toured very much as a band, occasionally swapping lead vocals on one another’s songs. In fact, a highlight of their 29-track double-disc, Goin’ Your Way, is when Finn takes the reins of Kelly’s dark, dreamy masterpiece, “You Can Put Your Shoes Under My Bed.” When harmonizing, the pair sound wonderful together, with Finn’s McCartney-esque tenor cut nicely by Kelly’s more penetrating, nasal delivery. And the band they’ve assembled proves that nepotism occasionally has its virtues.

“Don’t Dream It’s Over” and Kelly’s “Before Too Long” got the biggest reception from the live audience on the night of the recording, but it’s the pair’s piano playing that sparkles on the two best tracks: Finn’s “Four Seasons in One Day” and Kelly’s “Winter Coat.” Slowed almost to a dirge with decadent multi-part harmonies, it’s the latter that will put you in that desperate Sunday-night barroom, picking through the pieces of your life:

Years have come along
Years have gone
Some friends have risen
Some have moved on
And my old winter coat still hangs by my front door
Holding all the stories I don’t remember anymore

And when it gets freezing
Up in these cold, cold hills
I just put on my winter coat
My winter coat keeps me warm

Bartender, pour me another.