Midnight Oil

Midnight Oil | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 18, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000273Q
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,618 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Powderworks

2. Head Over Heels

3. Dust

4. Used and Abused

5. Surfing with a Spoon

6. Run by Night

7. Nothing Lost, Nothing Gained

Editorial Reviews

This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1990 Columbia release. Catalog CK 46133. There is a drill hole through the UPC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars early classic from an absolutely original band, September 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Midnight Oil (Audio CD)

Midnight Oil's first album set the tone for what was to come in the next two decades: a sound that few have dared to copy. While others have claimed that early Oils grew out of the late 1970s punk movement, I would argue that their position on a musically isolated continent helped them to find an original sound. The chord structure found on "Midnight Oil," "Head Injuries," and "Place Without a Postcard" is vastly more complex than the fairly simplistic (yet altogether very cool) stuff that the early punks were coming up with. Certainly "Midnight Oil" reminds one of late surf tunes, but it's inclusion by others as an outgrowth of punk is misplaced.

Now for the important stuff: this album is not for the casual listener. It flat our rocks--don't get me wrong--but those who got hooked into the Oils with the toned-down social consciousness of "Diesal and Dust" will find a real, and maybe rude, awakening. This album is moody and complex, and isn't as oriented toward what later would become the Oils trademark: social acitivism. All of that said, it's a joy to go back and listen to this stuff from time to time, because this album encapsualtes the true, raw, and completely unapologetic energy of Midnight Oil in a way that might only be matched by one of their live shows. To this day a dream of mine is to be able to go back to 1981 or 1982 and see a live version of "Powderworks" in a little pub on the North Shore. Instead I just have the album. Which gets pretty close.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A foreshadowing of true greatness, April 8, 2000

By 

"jovaldo" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midnight Oil (Audio CD)

This is the debut album from Australia's finest export and one of the world's greatest and long lasting groups. The CD is definately good, and there are many hints towards the total greatness they would achieve on later albums. To me, "Surfing With a Spoon" is one of the best examples of this. It has a very melodic opening which eventually gives way to a blistering guitar-fest, and then has this funky synth-laden bridge before it returns to another angst-ridden guitar explosion. "Powderworks" is a prime example of youthful "turn it up and play it hard" songwriting (but that doesn't mean its not cool!) Come to think of it, every song on this album is good, there's no stand out *classic* songs per se, but its still a classic album in that the songs are full of energy, drive, and vigor and they were a taste of the greater things to come (for example "Head Injuries" their next album is so much better than this album.)

A fun album worth having for fans, not the place to start listening to the Oils though, and especially if all you've heard is the singles "Beds Are Burning," "Forgotten Years," and "Truganini."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Midnight Oil Ignites the Fire, February 6, 2008

By 

Jack Baker "Beauty Will Save the World" (LeRoy,IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midnight Oil (Audio CD)

The very energetic debut by the Aussie rockers starts off with a bang with the explosive "Powderworks", a song that would be given a much more vigorous workout on the live album Scream in Blue Live. Still, this song in particular shows off the band's Who-influenced surf punk. "Nothing Lost, Nothing Gained" closes the album as a slow bluesy piece with an absolutely scorching pair of Martin Rotsey solos. Most of what's in between isn't as strong as these two bookend numbers, but the energy the band brings to each number outweigh any technical flaws that might be present in their playing. The fact that Midnight Oil would emerge a year later with the dynamite Head Injuries only shows how quickly their musical skills would grow, a trend that would continue into the 90s as each album would prove to be a musical leap from the previous one. Not the best Midnight Oil album, but still a strong debut.