Customer Reviews

Capricornia

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

On 2 December 2002 Midnight Oil announced that Peter Garrett would be calling it quits. That's 25 years and 14 full-length albums. That's quite a track record. I seem to recall the Beatles tried something like this when they were ready to call it quits - a "back to roots" attempt, something that resulted in Get Back and which was so bad McCartney had to crawl back to Martin on his knees.

The Oils have returned to their roots here. Watch the video on the CD to get an appreciation for what they're doing: The pan of the instruments is the same on every track. The guitar on the left is Martin, the one on the right (with occasional keyboard) is Jim, Rob's drums are out back, Bones is on the bottom, and Peter is up front. This is so effective it defies description.

Many might say Diesel and Dust is their finest; others will say it's Head Injuries. Still others no doubt like Earth and Sun and Moon; but this is arguably the best they've ever done. And what a way to end a show.

And if you've never seen these guys live, you really missed it. And I don't mean on the telly either: I mean live, preferably in a little steamy pub somewhere so Peter Garrett looms over you like the son of Boris Karloff and the precision of the guitars attacks your senses and the drums and all the rest...

The first time I saw Midnight Oil, it took the venue management fifteen minutes to get the crowd under control. I was standing with their sound engineer in the middle of this sea of people. He wasn't even phased. In the end the management had to threaten to close the place if the crowd didn't calm down. In the meantime the venue had pressured their sound system to its limits in an attempt to drown out the hooting public. Fifteen minutes of foot stamping and clapping and shouting and cheering - fifteen very long, very tense minutes. Yes, you had to be there. And that is the effect these guys and girls have on people. To call them cult would be an understatement.

What a way to go. Thank you, all you Oils, for the one exceptional experience in rock. Peter, Rob, Martin, Jim, Bones, Gary Morris, Peter Gifford, Neil Murray, Andrew James, and all the rest, the crews, the roadies: I hope you realise what you've done for the world you live in. Thank you very much. Godspeed to you all.

Longtime musical champions of the earth and its indigenous peoples, Midnight Oil built their reputation on superb songwriting, topical issues, and their legendary live shows. This version of Capricornia is no exception.Familiar Oils' themes of corporate greed, pollution of the earth, human rights, and homelessness are found throughout(no surprise here), but the music is a return to the Diesel and Dust and Blue Sky years. Crackling guitar work and a live feel make songs like "Golden Age", "Too Much Sunshine", and "Capricornia" irresistable.All the tracks are excellent, with "Tone Poem" and "Under The Overpass" other standouts. Bonus tracks are "Kiss That Girl", a typical Oils rocker with outstanding dual guitars, and "Pub With No Beer", an Australian standard. Three CD-Rom videos are "Forgotten Years", "Mosquito March", and "Luritja Way" live at Cold Chapel in 2002.I have always found the Oils' music to be uplifting and inspiring, and this album fills the bill.Never ones to back down, the Oils go out the way they came in- on their own terms. Apparently their last album, this one's a gem.

After their last two disapointing studio efforts ("Breathe" & "Redneck Wonderland"), one might wonder if Midnight Oil were still capable of making music filled with hooks, melodies, & memorable choruses. All doubts melt away with the refreshing intro to "Golden Age", the lead track on "Capricornia". With its chiming duel guitars & melody, one can't help but be reminded of the Midnight Oil of old...the sound is earily similar to both "Diesel and Dust" and "Earth and Sun and Moon". The entire album is great, & best enjoyed when listened to as a whole rather than one track at a time. Any of the first three songs could be released as singles (Golden Age, Too Much Sunshine, Capricornia), but this album's strengths lies in its shifting mood swings from song to song. A must have for even the casual Midnight Oil fan.

Capricornia, Midnight Oil's final recording, is the band's most consistent from start to finish since Blue Sky Mining. After several listens, I think it deserves to be considered as one of 6 essential Midnight Oil records to own (along with 10,9,8..., Red Sails in the Sunset, Diesel and Dust, Blue Sky Mining, and Scream in Blue (Live)).

Warne Livesey, who produced Diesel and Dust, returns for this record, and does another outstanding job, helping to modernize and update the Midnight Oil sound for the 21st Century. Livesey subtly softens the edges of the guitar and vocal sound without sacrificing the overall power of each, or the fast pace of the songs. Guitar melodies with softer, bass pickup tones are emphasized, and subtle electronica beats and sounds are interspersed to give the record a modern feel. The volume level of this CD significantly greater than the earlier CDs, probably by 50% or so. Jim Moginie, who has been involved in writing almost every Midnight Oil song over their long career, appears to have had more free reign to let his ideas come to fruition as he initially envisioned them, rather than having the band take a demo and rework it. As a result, the band members take their lead from his guitar, and the songs have a more consistent feel and pace from beginning to end.

In another difference, the traditionally strong and loud backing vocals of Hirst, Moginie and Hillman (which are a combination of a co-lead vocal and a harmony vocal) are appropriately deemphasized in order to allow Peter Garrett the space to take center stage. Garrett has never sounded better as a lead singer, and Livesey seems to believe in Garrett's abilities more than Garrett himself or the band ever did. On many songs, it is difficult to discern the unique markers of Garrett's voice. He sounds like a singer, not a personality with a mic. The music used to be made to fit to Garrett. On this record, Garrett fits the music. The lyrics are also different this time around, as the writing is more subtle, personal and not quite as direct or in your face as older classics like 'Truganini' or 'Beds are Burning'.

The songs overall have a stronger focus on melody, a brisk pace with few groove killers, and if you didn't know it was Midnight Oil, you'd think this was a young band in their 20's. The difference is that young rock bands in the first decade of the 21st century suck, but this record and this band are great.

Now for the songs:

1. Golden Age - A fast paced guitar rock song that is based on a melodic, jangly guitar riff (which sounds as if it was played on a 12 string guitar or with an effect that simulates the dual octaves of a 12 string) by Moginie that I don't get tired of hearing. Rotsey does an excellent job of playing off Moginie's riff (which was always a band strength). The song has the pace of earlier Midnight Oil songs, but is hummable, singable, and is a great change of direction for a group known for the power rocker and the emphatic rock ballad. The selective use of backing vocals, sometimes buried beneath the lead vocal enables the song to glide at its smooth and fast pace without any unnecessary breaks in the groove.

2. Too Much Sunshine - A subtly eclectic rock song that begins with a heavier guitar, processed (and slightly distorted vocals) and a harder drum sound and then transitions to a bridge with a softer, cleaner, echoed guitar riff by Rotsey, followed by a rocking chorus. This one sounds like a track the Red Hot Chili Peppers could've done on By the Way or Stadium Arcadium. The pace is again fast and breezy. Moginie gives another stellar performance.

3. Capricornia - The best pop song Midnight Oil has ever done. The tasteful, jangly guitar melodies of Moginie and Rotsey echo Johnny Marr circa The Smiths. Garrett handles the role of lead singer on a melodic song very well. His vocals are appropriately doubled, echoed and spaced to make them effective in this context.

4. Luritja Way - My favorite track on this CD. Subtle melodies and transitions, beautiful, driving acoustic guitars that recall REM's "Me in Honey" or earlier Midnight Oil tracks like 'Sleep' or 'Minutes to Midnight', a deep bass and a brisk pace make this song instantly likeable and memorable. Garrett again shines on vocals with Hirst providing backup lower in the mix, and a lead vocal in the break.

5. Tone Poem - A solid rock song with a great lead guitar by Moginie. This song has good, eminently listenable guitars, space during the verses, a steady rock beat, and a chorus that grows on you with each listen.

6. A Crocodile Cries - a brief piano instrumental/interlude by Moginie. It works like an intermission in a film. The last time they did something like this was the horn/big band instrumental `Bakerman' on Red Sails in the Sunset.

7. Mosquito March - Probably the closest thing to grunge punk that this band has done. The guitars range in tone from clear and deeply resonant to thickly distorted, and the changes between intro to verse to bridge to chorus are seamless. Livesey perfectly compresses the guitars to prevent them from overwhelming the pace of the track and the hypnotic quality of the Garrett's singing. This one also reminds me of the kinds of rock songs the Chili Peppers play today.

8. Been Away Too Long - A relatively short, fast paced rock song with a verse that builds up to a blistering chorus. This song is a bit too repetitive and doesn't have the hypnotic feel of Mosquito March.

9. Say Your Prayers - The most electronica and synthesized track on the record. The song is actually based on a bluesy acoustic guitar riff, typical of older Midnight Oil songs, but is buried under a nicely crafted industrial sound reminiscent of U2 circa Achtung Baby or Zooropa. The horns which helped made Diesel and Dust a special record make a return appearance on this track. This one has got a nice groove and grows on you with each listen.

10. Under the Overpass - A song that begins as an acoustic folk ballad, and then evolves into an industrial blues song and later into a U2 like rock ballad. Moginie's guitar tone and sound is the closest he has come to The Edge (though all of these bands came out of the same post-punk era of guitar playing). Another memorable track.

11. World That I See - a melodic rocker ode to the environment. As has become typical with this record, a fast, crisp pace, excellent guitar melodies, a deep bass, selective use of distorted guitars (on the chorus) and nice vocal harmonies. An enjoyable track. They sound like a band 20 years younger than they are.

12. Poets and Slaves - This six minute slow ballad that alternates between blues, guitar rock and a piano ballad is closer to the experimentation that the band did on Red Sails in the Sunset. Though the pace is much slower and the song takes a while to build, the guitar parts are nicely played (including slide guitar) and the song seems to grow on me with each listen.

If this was Midnight Oil's final statement (and with Peter Garrett's career as a Labour member of parliament and shadow minister blossoming that is most likely the case) then there is no better way to go out then with a performance like this one. This is probably one of the best alternative rock records of this decade.

They were the planet's greatest band. Capricornia would be their final record, at least with the bald giant. Frontman Peter Garrett left last year for 'greener' pastures.

Capricornia is another completely satisfying Midnight Oil record, especially for fans (though reading some of the recent reviews that's in question). It's clear to me that they are still at the top of their game. Like all of their albums this one sounds like they really TRIED. They fall back to a more straightforward sound, abandoning the dabblings in electronica that peppered releases of the past, on "Red Sails," 'countdown,' "Diesel and Dust," and later, "Redneck Wonderland." "Capricornia" rests more in the family of their best work, "Blue Sky Mining," "Earth and Sun and Moon," and "Breathe." It's fitting that their final record is in this category, because it is where their strength lies. The fact that they can hold up an 'electronic' sound AND a stripped-down, more acoustic sound, just demonstrates the group's awe-inspiring versatility.

It's hard to imagine a world without the Oils, having been a huge fan since Red Sails in the Sunset (I know, they'd already been around a while but hey). As evidenced by this last record, the band has lost none of the energy or swagger it ever had. Redneck Wonderland was a bit of an overshot, but the energy of it was contageous and, like every Oils release, it was brilliant. With each passing record, Midnight Oil showed musical growth and unrelenting energy, but maintained the same message, same politics, and still kept their signature sound. they changed with the times and yet stayed the same. They never ever stopped singing about their homeland, never tried to become an 'american hit' because that's where the money is. They stayed loyal. This gives me a tremendous amount of respect for them but it also likely led to their demise. Their unwillingness to compromise stunted the growth of their fan base. Someday, something had to give.

When you heard Midnight Oil, you knew exactly who you were hearing. Garrett's voice is unlike any other's and is unmistakeable, one of the greats in rock's glorious history. I'm certain we'll hear from him again. all we can hope for now is some recognition down the road for the work they accomplished for Greenpeace and other organizations, but most of all their contribution to the musical landscape the world over.

The screams have finally stopped. The few of us who heard them are forever grateful and inspired to do a bit of our own.

I've been thinking about what I should say about this album for about a month. I don't feel qualified anymore to break down the content of most of it, though you can be pretty well assured it is primarily engined by political ideas (or ideals); I lived in Australia for long enough to know how fervently the populace embraces the political arena (there is NO apathy concerning it) and the Oils were foremost in music in addressing just about every hot-button topic (and very well, I might add) but I have been away for a long while and have not kept up, having plenty here to occupy me in that regard. Peter Garrett has given up tilting at windmills musically and has, as it were, entered the fray for real, as a member of the Australian legislature, and I hope he is realizing his dream of effecting change. The fervor to do so always burned in his eyes, and I would love to hear one of his speeches; I know they are eloquent.

That said, this lamentably final entry by the Oils is arguably their most tuneful to date. It has passion, good writing, and great musicianship. Put up against Diesel And Dust, their other very singable - and probably most famous - recording, I would be hard pressed to choose between them.Capricornia starts out by grabbing you off your seat with "Golden Age", which immediately became a favourite of mine; throughout, the jangling guitars and drum-heartbeat make me dance in my car seat. "Too Much Sunshine" would appear to be about what we are doing to the environment - always high on the Oil's list - and further in, "Under The Overpass" seems to be about the homeless. As I said, I've been out of it for some time, so the bulk of this CD is likely addressing Australian issues I am not qualified to expound upon, but some things do come through loud and clear. If you screw up the environment, be prepared to be bit in the butt. Quite a few songs here carry that message, in Peter's characteristic howl.

There are no draggy songs here - the one possible exception being the slow-beat "Poets And Slaves", which makes up for it by being melodic and listenable - and the whole of it makes one sad that there will not be any more. This was the premier band to come out of Australia - not just my opinion - and they fed a need in music that is not so well addressed in an industry that embraces hiphop and soaring vocals these days. This album will stand the test of time in being considered one of the great works of its genre. There is no way you can sit there immobile while listening to it. I wish there would be more; i am glad they went out on such a stylish, well-done note.

"Capricornia," for the first time since 1993's "Earth and Sun and Moon" (or maybe 1990's "Blue Sky Mine"), finds the right recorded balance between Midnight Oil's folkie pop songwriting talents and the rage 'n' roll of its live performances.

Bands that can rock with only acoustic guitars are pretty rare, and Midnight Oil is one of them. Some of their best material, from "The Dead Heart" on 1988's mega-hit "Diesel and Dust" album to "Luritja Way" from this new one, thrums along like a freight train on the power of strummed chords, unamplified and undistorted. But if you wanted that much acoustic guitar from them, you'd have bought the Oils' countrified 1996 disc "Breathe" with its Emmylou Harris duets -- and hardly anyone did, right?

The band's real power is in their still-explosive live show , and that power comes from amping up the acoustic thrum with jangly overdrive and chugging bass lines, pop melodies, and the occasional Who-style freakout. Go too far, and Midnight Oil becomes a ranting, atonal punk-metal band on record, as it almost did on "Redneck Wonderland" four years ago. Hold back too much, and the band turns in a decent but too-polite "MTV Unplugged" appearance.

Hit the sweet spot, as "Capricornia" does, and you have the kind of record that shakes your booty and twigs your brain at the same time. A great British-invasion 12-string guitar riff meets surprising lyrical optimism in "Golden Age." Hammering drums and guitars blend with pretty harmonies in "Too Much Sunshine." Droning sitar-style electric fingerwork smacks into lyrics as dense as Elvis Costello in "Tone Poem."

The band's current North American tour (just go see them, you won't regret it) will doubtless show these tracks, and others, to equal some of the strongest of their earlier live material. Yes, there is some filler, but it's still better than the best material from most bands.

For fans who didn't even notice that Midnight Oil has released three studio albums, a greatest hits package, and a semi-live album since Nirvana appeared over a decade ago, now's the time to remember.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the rocking Redneck Wonderland, its a great workout cd. However, after hearing the new cd "Capricornia", I realized what I have been missing in the last 9 years. The melodies, the rhythmns, the beauty and the voice of "Diesel and dust", "Earth, sun, and moon" and "Blue Sky Mining" came flashing back. Its just like the college years all over again. The new songs on this CD soar with rocking melodies and endless harmonies and power. My favorites include the incredibly well done "Luritja Way", which is already on my all time top Midnight Oil songs, "Been away too long", "Poets and Slaves", "Capricornia", and "World that I see". However, I will not skip any song on this CD....
The only criticism that I must say is that in some of the songs, the melodies seem to drag a little, and Peter Garrets words sometimes do not agree with the overall melody of the song. This is a nickpicking criticism, but one that I must bring up. These drags were not the case in "Earth and sun and moon", or "Blue Sky Mining", which continue to serve, along with "Diesel and Dust", and "10,9,8,7..." as the best Oil Cds of all time. But "Capricornia" certainly deserves much recognition, and it definitely serves as Midnight Oil's new beginning....Welcome to the Millenium Midnight Oil, you have been missed.

Like many U.S. fans of the Oils, my listening career started with "Diesel and Dust," moved backwards to "Head Injuries" and "Midnight Oil," then forwards to this crowning achievemment: "Capricornia." Throughout, the vision, integrity, and talent of these musicians has remained intact. Of how many bands can that be said?

Perhaps that's a bit too generous, but as I listen to this CD for the umpteenth time in just a few short months I wonder to myself "how to categorize Capricornia for Amazon?" And my thought is this... each track harkens back to any era of Midnight Oil past. There's obvious D&D (Luritja Way), BSM (Golden Age), and ESM (Capricornia)references. There's a little 10,9,8 (Poets and Slaves) and a touch of Red Sails. Perhaps the anger of Head Injuries has been a bit tempered, but it's there too (Mosquito March). "Too Much Sunshine" is the lost Place w/o Postcard track. Even a fine correlation between "Poets and Slaves" and the Blue Album. Heck they even made a tune that should've been the best thing on Breathe with "Under the Overpass." The production is more appropriate to the Oils than Redneck was, but the best aspects of that album are still incorporated. Perhaps I go to far, but after 20+ years of listening to Midnight Oil, I know something quality when I hear it. By the way, the Aussie version has a nice interview CD-ROM component, but is missing "Say Your Prayers" which is available on "The Real Thing" which really is a greatest hits of sorts.