Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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Collection includes all studio albums by Australian alternative rock band from Sydney. In 2010, their album Diesel and Dust ranked no. 1 in the book The 100 Best Australian Albums.

Australia's Midnight Oil brought a new sense of political and social immediacy to pop music: not only did incendiary hits like "Beds Are Burning" and "Blue Sky Mine" bring global attention to the plight of, respectively, aboriginal settlers and impoverished workers, but the group also put its money where its mouth was – in addition to mounting benefit performances for groups like Greenpeace and Save the Whales, frontman Peter Garrett even ran for the Australian Senate on the Nuclear Disarmament Party ticket.

The band formed in Sydney in 1971 as Farm, and originally comprised guitarists Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey, drummer Rob Hirst, and bassist Andrew "Bear" James; Garrett, a law student known for his seven-foot-tall stature and shaven head, assumed vocal duties in 1975, and the group soon rechristened itself Midnight Oil. After months of sporadic gigs, they began making the rounds to area record companies; following a string of rejections, the group formed its own label, Powderworks, and issued their self-titled debut – a taut, impassioned collection of guitar rock which quickly established the Midnight Oil sound – in 1978.

After declaring their independence from the music industry, Midnight Oil grew increasingly active and outspoken in the political arena; after performing in opposition to uranium mining, they supported the Tibet Council before turning their attentions to the unfair practices of the local music industry, and formed their own booking agency in response to the monopoly exerted by area agents and promoters. With their 1979 sophomore effort, Head Injuries, the band scored their first hit single, "Cold Cold Change," and earned a gold record. James left the band the following year due to health problems; with new bassist Peter Gifford, they cut the EP Bird Noises, another chart success.

With 1981's Place Without a Postcard (recorded with producer Glyn Johns), Midnight Oil achieved platinum status on the strength of the smash "Armistice Day," which won the group an American deal with Columbia Records. Their follow-up, 1983's 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, spent over two years in the Australian Top 40; after 1984's Red Sails in the Sunset, Garrett made his run at Senate, losing by only a narrow margin. Participation in the Artists United Against Apartheid project followed, leading directly into Midnight Oil's increased interest in the battles of Australia's aboriginal settlers and a tour, dubbed "Black Fella White Fella," with the aborigine group the Warumpi Band.

The aborigines' plight came to the fore on 1987's Diesel and Dust, the Oils' breakthrough record; sparked by the hit single "Beds Are Burning," the album reached the U.S. Top 20 and made the band a household name. After bassist Dwayne "Bones" Hillman (ex-Swingers) replaced Gifford, Midnight Oil returned with 1990's Blue Sky Mining, which they followed with a concert outside of the Exxon corporation's Manhattan offices in protest of the company's handling of the Alaskan oil spill. (A film of the performance titled Black Rain Falls was later released, with profits going to Greenpeace.) The album Earth and Sun and Moon appeared in 1993, followed three years later by Breathe. Midnight Oil next resurfaced in 1998 with Redneck Wonderland. The Real Thing, only available in Australia, followed in 2001. It was a solid collection of new songs and live tracks from Midnight Oil's magnificent run at the Metro Theatre in Sydney. Capricornia, issued on Liquid 8 in spring 2002, marked the band's 14th album of their career.

In December, Peter Garrett announced his split from the band after 25 years. Garrett, who left Midnight Oil on good terms, wished to pursue other challenges.

Biography by Jason Ankeny, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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From early on, Midnight Oil earned their sound the way many great bands do – playing wherever and whenever they could, and their eponymous debut shows the influence of their days immersed in Sydney's pub rock scene. Though they hadn't quite hit on a signature sound, the raw, punkish energy of their guitar-driven debut is exciting, resulting in some excellent songs, especially the powerful opening track "Powderworks." But as great as the songs are, the attitude propelling them is equally important. Setting them apart from similar bands of this era was their spiking of hard rock (with its decidedly non-punk fetish for wailing guitar solos) with the amateurish zeal of punk, both leavened by an impressive yet subtle command of dynamics. Peter Garrett's voice bounces between a soaring falsetto and a strong, baritone bellow, Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey trade licks (Moginie switches often between guitar and organ), while Andrew James and Rob Hirst anchor the proceedings. Because of this, the album shifts moods frequently, but the transitions don't sound awkward because the band is firmly in control. The brevity of the album's length enhances this feeling – from the roaring "Used and Abused" to the moody "Surfing With a Spoon" and from the rapid-fire "Run By Night" to the down-tempo prog rock of "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained," the album is a pretty short ride, but an interesting one for the fan already acquainted with 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Diesel and Dust, and Blue Sky Mining and who is curious about the band's beginnings.

Review by James Haag, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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Still recording on their own Powderworks label, Midnight Oil broke through to commercial success in their native Australia with their second album, Head Injuries, which, like their debut, was a record full of tightly arranged, furiously played and sung, fast-paced rock & roll numbers. Lead singer Peter Garrett, singing angry, sometimes politically oriented (but not, at least to international listeners, entirely clear) lyrics, took a backseat to the guitar work of Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey and especially to the driving drumming of Rob Hirst. Head Injuries was a stirring collection that served notice Midnight Oil was ready to compete beyond the borders of Australia.

Review by William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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Midnight Oil went to England to record and turned to a major label (CBS Records) and a name producer (Glyn Johns) for its third full-length album. You might have expected this to make for a sonic breakthrough, but you'd be wrong. The band was experiencing growing pains, trying to stretch musically, and, at least at first, this made for a dilution of their hard rock focus moving toward a pop style they hadn't fully developed. Place Without a Postcard had its share of powerfully performed songs, but its sound was light compared to the band's first two albums, the stylistic experiments were not yet bearing fruit, and, with an emphasis placed on the vocals, Peter Garrett sounded overly strident.

Review by William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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Midnight Oil were already one of Australia's most popular bands when they made their American debut with 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and while some knowledge of the intelligent but physical hard rock of the group's first three albums might have made it a bit easier for U.S. audiences to swallow, 10, 9, 8… was a daunting first listen even for loyal fans. Blending an art rocker's sense of adventure and fondness for odd textures, a hard rocker's muscular force and love of power chords, and a peace punk's passion for an intelligent rant, Midnight Oil bore small resemblance to anyone on 10, 9, 8…, running from the dreamy but ominous "Outside World" and "Maralinga" to the bone-crushing fury of "Only the Strong" and "Somebody's Trying to Tell Me Something" while making a number of stops in between. Nick Launay's deliberately eccentric production made the most of the band's dramatically oddball approach (dig that panning! check out that drum sound!), and for an album that so often goes for the purposeful left turn, it's remarkably listenable and catchy, offering up one passionate anthem after another. The band's politics are both well considered and unapologetically upfront throughout, which probably didn't help much with sales in the United States, where dance singles traditionally don't feature the chant "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees," and questioning American foreign policy is uncommon on Top Ten albums (the album stayed on the Aussie charts for over two years, and "Power and the Passion" was a major success on the singles chart). As catchy as the Easybeats, as sweaty and hard-hitting as Rose Tattoo, and lots smarter than either, Midnight Oil were among the finest bands to emerge from Australia during the 1980s, and 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 was their first undeniably great album and still ranks with their very best.

Review by Mark Deming, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil's second international release found them ambitiously taking on a variety of lyrical causes in a variety of musical styles. Their basic approach, with its martial rhythms, chanted vocals, and guitar textures, served as a jumping-off place, but they always sounded more assured when they stuck to that, rather than trying other things. And the unrelentingly judgmental tone of the lyrics, sung with dead seriousness by Peter Garrett, tended to douse the album's potential enjoyment, too. (It's hard to dance when you're being lectured to.) It wasn't much of a surprise when Garrett decided to run for the Australian Senate shortly after this album's release.

Review by William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett has long been active in elective politics in Australia, and like any good politician, he knows that sometimes the most important thing is to get your message out to the masses, even it means speaking with a bit less force than might be your custom. While the hard edges and challenging angles of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and Red Sails in the Sunset made Midnight Oil bona fide superstars in Australia, they were little more than a rumor in most of the rest of the world, and for their sixth album, Diesel and Dust, Midnight Oil made some changes in their approach. On Diesel and Dust, there's less in the way of bruising hard rock like "Best of Both Worlds," nothing as eccentric as "Outside World," and very little as esoterically regional as "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers," while the production favors the tuneful side of the band's songwriting (which, truth to tell, was always there) and buffs away some of the group's harsher edges. As a result, Diesel and Dust isn't an album for hardcore Oils fans, but as a bid for a larger audience, it was both shrewd and well executed – it was the group's first real worldwide success, going platinum in America and spawning a massive hit single, "Beds Are Burning." While the album lacks the kick-in-the-head impact of their earlier work, Diesel and Dust also makes clear that the bandmembers could apply their intelligence and passion to less aggressive material and still come up with forceful, compelling music, as on the haunting "The Dead Heart" and the poppy but emphatic "Dreamworld." And as always, there was no compromise in the band's forceful political stance – most of the album's songs deal openly with the issues of Aboriginal rights (hardly an issue pertinent only to Australians), and one of Midnight Oil's greatest victories may well be writing a song explicitly demanding reparations for indigenous peoples, and seeing it top the charts around the world. And the closer, "Sometimes," may be the finest and most moving anthem the band ever wrote ("Sometimes you're beaten to the core/Sometimes you're taken to the wall/But you don't give in"). Diesel and Dust is that rarity, a bid for the larger audience that's also an artistic success and a triumph for leftist politics – even the Clash never managed that hat trick this well.

Review by Mark Deming, Allmusic.com

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Success didn't change Midnight Oil with their 1990 album Blue Sky Mining. The Australian band had finally broken through with their previous record, Diesel and Dust, but chart accomplishments didn't temper the group. Blue Sky Mining found lead singer Peter Garrett and the boys singing about familiar themes with their usual passion. The songs aren't quite on par with those from Diesel and Dust, but there's still enough here to make it a worthy follow-up. The lead track "Blue Sky Mine" deals with the oppression of the lower working class within the context of a mining company. The immediately catchy cut managed to find mid-chart success. Other notable tracks are the driving "Forgotten Years," which also managed a bit of airplay, and the menacing "Mountains of Burma." The band stumble only once, on the clumsy love song "Shakers and Movers."

Review by Tom Demalon, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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If Earth and Sun and Moon isn't Midnight Oil's best effort, it's certainly close. The band still sticks to themes that are close to its heart – the environment, native peoples, and other social causes – but rarely has it managed to fashion an album full of songs that are as musically intoxicating as on this 1993 release. "My Country" is full of jangling guitars and keyboards; the punchy title track has an infectious singalong harmony; and "Bushfire" adds some mean wah-wah guitar. The Oils managed to score some radio play on AOR and modern rock stations with the bracing "Truganini," the dramatic, piano-tinged rocker "Drums of Heaven," and the grinding shuffle of "Outbreak of Love." A satisfying release for longtime fans and new converts alike.

Review by Tom Demalon, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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Breathe strips away some of the big, detailed production of Earth and Sun and Moon, replacing it with a more direct sound while keeping the anthemic melodicism of the group's more recent records intact. The result is an album that is less ambitious than its predecessor, yet also more forceful, and Midnight Oil sounds enlivened in this less constricted setting. Breathe may not have the overall impact of Diesel and Dust and Earth and Sun and Moon, but it remains one of the group's best latter-day records.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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For this, its 12th full-length album, Midnight Oil re-hired producer Warne Livesey, who had worked with them on their biggest international successes, Diesel and Dust and Blue Sky Mining. He helped them to achieve a sound that was a virtual compendium of familiar late-'60s rock styles – Led Zeppelin on the title track, the Beatles on "Safety Chain Blues," the Who on "Blot," the Beach Boys on "Drop in the Ocean." At least, that was true musically; the vocals were sometimes so compressed they sounded like they were coming out of a bullhorn. Given the lyrics, that was appropriate, since the album was, as the band's press bio put it, "written and recorded in response to the rise of anti-Asia MP Pauline Hanson and her far-right One Nation Party." Outside of Australia, that could make the songs difficult to understand completely, although, for example, the environmentalist sense of "Concrete" and "Seeing Is Believing" were unmistakable, and the group's anger fueled its performances. Still, lines like "triumphalism gotta be a curse or even worse" probably sent more fans to the dictionary than the barricades. In Australia, the album went Top Ten, though it failed to chart in the U.S., which is less an indication of its local focus than of the group and/or its record company's diminished interest in the international market.

Review by William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com

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Midnight Oil - Complete Studio Albums 1978-2002 (11CD)

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With Capricornia, the Australian political rockers return with their first album of new material in four years. More than 25 years into their career, there's nothing surprising about Midnight Oil's approach at the turn of the millennium, but Capricornia finds them delivering their expected blend of melodic, muscular, and thoughtful guitar rock. They're still as righteously indignant as ever over the plight of the common man, although perhaps not quite as direct or focused. There's plenty of fire in the belly, though, on driving cuts like "Golden Age" and the tempered optimism of "World That I See," while they exhibit their trademark resilience on "Tone Poe." From its lovely, stripped-down intro, "Under the Overpass" (about the homeless) builds to a powerful climax, providing one of the album's highlights, and they work up a good head of steam on the forceful "Say Your Prayers" (which, musically, is reminiscent of U2's "Zoo Station"). Capricornia isn't likely to garner them a new audience, but it's equally unlikely to disappoint Oil's devoted fan base.

Review by Tom Demalon, Allmusic.com