The short answer
Post is often treated as the beginning of the familiar Paul Kelly catalogue. Released in 1985, it was a solo reset after earlier band albums, not his first record. Understanding its songs, format and place between the Dots and Gossip explains why an apparently modest album can matter without inventing an immediate chart triumph.
Chronology
A timeline of the turning points
Earlier Dots albums
Talk and Manila precede the solo record.
Post
A Sydney recording period produces an album opening with From St Kilda to Kings Cross.
Gossip
A fuller band album follows; it is a different recording project.
Anniversary pressing
The official store presents a 40th-anniversary vinyl edition, not a newly recorded 1985 album.
Solo debut does not mean a musician without earlier records
The NFSA’s vinyl catalogue lists Talk in 1981 and Manila in 1982 before Post in 1985. Robert Forster’s retrospective describes Kelly’s lost recording deal, the end of a band and his arrival in Sydney by early 1985.
Post therefore belongs to a change in working circumstances. Calling it a solo debut can be useful; calling it his first record erases the Dots. The distinction also changes the story of artistic development: the musician making this quieter album had already worked through band arrangements, recording sessions and disappointing professional outcomes.
The opening journey connects two cities without becoming a travel guide
From St Kilda to Kings Cross opens the official album sequence. The title links Melbourne and Sydney, and the film study guide describes the song as both a journey and an attachment to Melbourne. Adelaide, placed later on the record, returns to another city associated with Kelly’s upbringing.
These place names give the songs a recognisable Australian setting, but their usefulness is not a list of landmarks. Movement becomes a way to describe distance, memory and uncertain belonging. That is an interpretation of the selected songs’ documented subject matter, not a claim that every scene reproduces an exact journey or private conversation.
A spare sound allowed different emotional situations to sit together
The official discography characterises Post as largely acoustic, with intimate portraits and yearning. The original sequence moves from From St Kilda to Kings Cross through songs including Look So Fine, Feel So Low and Blues for Skip, rather than presenting one continuous plot.
The study guide connects Blues for Skip with writer’s block and an older blues melody. The album’s range therefore includes the difficulty of making songs as well as the relationships and places they describe. These are observations supported by the guide and track record; no new transcription of the recordings or claim of a complete musicological analysis is being made.
Record versions explain dates that can otherwise look contradictory
The NFSA catalogue identifies the 1985 White Label LP as L38401 and the 1985 From St Kilda to Kings Cross single as K9666. It also lists the song on a 1991 single’s reverse side. That later appearance does not move the original song or album into the 1990s.
The official store’s 40th-anniversary pressing marks another release format in 2025. Its coloured vinyl and accompanying material belong to the anniversary product, not to the circumstances of the original recording. Keeping an album, a single, a later reappearance and a reissue separate lets readers follow the work without turning every catalogue date into a new composition.
Biography context
Explore Australia through connected lives
Connected biographies
The songwriter before and after Post
1955–
Paul Kelly
Singer-songwriter, bandleader, collaborator and authorPaul Kelly is an Australian singer-songwriter whose recordings connect recognisable places and ordinary lives with bands, literary influences and collaborative music-making.Read biographyQuick answers
Common questions
- When was Post originally released?
- 1985. The 2025 official-store pressing marks its 40th anniversary rather than a new original album.
- Was it Paul Kelly’s first album?
- It was his solo turning point after the Dots had released Talk in 1981 and Manila in 1982.
- Is From St Kilda to Kings Cross on Post?
- Yes. It opens the official track sequence. The NFSA also records a separate 1985 single.
- Is Post the same record as Gossip?
- No. Post is the 1985 largely acoustic solo record; Gossip is a different 1986 album associated with his fuller band sound.
Primary and institutional sources
How this history was checked
The NFSA’s selected printed-page-283 entries establish physical releases; the official track list and selected film study-guide discography establish the album’s contents and described sound. Forster’s criticism is attributed rather than treated as a chart result. Full albums, the documentary and the complete study guide were not consumed. The image shows Kelly in 2011, not during the 1985 sessions. This article was reviewed on 24 October 2026.
- National Film and Sound ArchiveAustralian Vinyl Record Catalogue, Part 2: Paul Kelly entries, printed page 283
- Robert Forster / The Monthly, republished by Paul KellyThoughts in the Middle of a Career, 2009
- Paul Kelly official storePost: 40th-anniversary edition and original album track sequence
- Paul Kelly: Stories of Me, official study guideSelected discography: Post, Gossip and their different musical contexts
- National Portrait GalleryPaul Kelly: Adelaide, early performance, recordings and memoir
- Tim Pierce / Wikimedia CommonsPaul Kelly at Rockwood Music Hall, 26 September 2011: exact original and CC BY-SA 3.0 grant