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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"On the wings of a six-pack, will we ever learn?", May 13, 2001
After such a phenomenal album as "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1", Midnight Oil were under a great deal of pressure to produce a following record that was just as good. With 1984's "Red Sails in the Sunset", they not only did this but, in my opinion, surpassed it. This has to be my favourite Oils album, although it is not well liked by some fans. It is most certainly their "weirdest" album, but that is what makes it so good. Certainly at its time of release, it was indeed avant-garde. The Oils made their first and only foray into rap (or pseudo-rap, at least) with the much maligned opener "When the Generals Talk". I love this song; it is Midnight Oil at their most humorous while at the same time putting across a serious message. The album also features some of my all time favourite songs - the acoustically driven "Sleep" and "Minutes to Midnight" blend in perfectly; the first song is about the plight of the homeless, with a wonderfully sluggish beat and bassline; the latter is less tangible, but it is not too hard to distnguish it as a doomsday song, with unsubtle nuclear overtones. "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers" is a true epic. It runs for seven and a half minutes, slowly building up, stopping and starting before climaxing with an intense crescendo, benefitted by some excellent brass. There are actually only a few songs that can be called real Oils-style rock. They are "Best of Both Worlds" and "Kosciuszko" - they are the "obvious" Midnight Oil songs - crashing rhythms and searing guitar work. In fact, I find "Best of Both Worlds" quite boring and unengaging (but I love "Kosciuszko"). It is perhaps because of this new direction, featuring oblique and initially inaccessible songs, that the album is not as popular as it should have been. There is certainly an experimental edge, which started with "10-1" and is now taken to a higher level. "Who Can Stand in the Way" opens with an eerie fade-in, which sounds like a warped synthesiser (but is in fact a guitar being played backwards), before turning into a gloomy but moody song, with an apocalyptic rant from Peter Garrett followed by a sudden ending which is entirely appropriate, given the subject matter. There is an oddity in the form of "Bakerman" - a jolly sounding brass piece that runs for 50 seconds halfway through the album. Positioned as such, it makes for a strange, but fitting, interlude. It is perhaps the end of the album where the "weird", experimental factor is as its height. "Harrisburg", a song adapted from a poem by Denis Kevans, discusses the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown, backed by treated synthesiser noises and heavy breathing(!); "Bells and Horns in the Back of Beyond" starts with another Peter Garrett rant, this time about the state of nature in the face of human progress ("a car park bay stretched where the bindis used to be"), before exploding into a surf style instrumental, with pounding drums, Dick Dale type guitar work and the album's obligatory "weird" keyboards. The final song, "Shipyards of New Zealand", is another epic, with shifts, changes, VERY cryptic lyrics, an unusual string arrangement and a loud ending (which is the only real rock and roll part of the song). Yes, the end of the album is where the obliqueness is at his height; if I may quote my fellow reviewer Mr Benjamin B Gould, the songs are indeed "different" and "strangely beautiful". Midnight Oil songs are not songs that can usually be called beautiful - but this is the only way to describe a song like "Shipyards of New Zealand". "Red Sails in the Sunset" is also a very abstract album, which may detract from listeners simply interested in rock. Whereas "10-1" was thematic, this album lacks focus; it is a collection of very different songs. While "10-1" was a paranoid treatise, fuelled by the nuclear threat, "Red Sails" could almost be viewed as the after effects of such an apocalyptic disaster. "Who Can Stand in the Way" and "Harrisburg" are songs of apocalyptic resignation; there is no urgency, but instead lamentation ("Minutes to Midnight" is an exception). The "day after" effect is also enhanced by the artwork - the front cover is an amazing painting of a nuclear fireball erupting in Sydney Harbour. The inner sleeve artwork is just as eerie - including tidal waves and kangaroos perched on top of the Opera House (listen to the end of "Who Can Stand in the Way" and imagine these scenarios). It is a very imaginative and thought provking album that is also excellently produced and engineered. Superb.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A glorious mess, May 8, 2005
In many ways, this is Midnight Oil's "White Album." I say that mostly because of the extreme shifts in style and tone as one moves from one song to another. It takes a great deal of skill and, dare I say, panache to pull this off. To the Oils' credit, they manage to do it.
You know that MO is headed into relatively uncharted territory right from the start when Rob Hirst (not Peter Garrett) takes the lead vocal on the opening track. Garrett for his part does one of his patented talk-overs/raps in the middle eight, but this is definitely Hirst's show. "Best of Both Worlds" finds MO at its hard-rocking best and features great performances all around, including one of Jim Moginie's best solos. It's definitely one of the Oils' best tracks - well-written, well-performed, and well-recorded. The rest of the first half of the CD is not quite as strong, but "Sleep" is a great song about the homeless, "Minutes to Midnight" is a fairly compelling song about the impending apocalypse, and "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers" is an excellent look at the exploitation of the Aboriginies, the main them of the band's next album.
The second half of the CD opens again with a potent 1-2 punch. Both "Who Can Stand in the Way" and "Kosciusko" feature almost gut-wrenching changes in tone and arrangement. "Kosciusko" is again one of the band's better and harder rockers. The rest of the CD is a little less stunning, but still great. I'm one of those fans who actually likes the experimental tracks like "Harrisburg" and "Bells and Whistles in the Back of Beyond" or whatever it's called.
As I stated at the beginning, the material on the CD is so diverse that to some it may come across as a mess. Midnight Oil somehow ties it all together by following many of the same lyrical themes throughout the recording. Because of this the record comes across as a unified work rather than a collection of songs by a band desperately trying to find some direction. All things considered, this was a very strong prelude to the masterpiece (D&D) that was to follow.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great, if a bit weird for mainstream listeners, June 18, 1998
By A Customer
This album has a subtly dry feel to it--dry humor, dry wit, dry politics, dry music. Some of the songs feel somehow incomplete, but gain power from that lack of...of what? Listen to "Sleep," and you'll hear it. After the fury of the first two songs, "Sleep" sounds remarkably downcast, and sets the tone for nearly the rest of the album. Two songs later, Midnight Oil performs perhaps the most eloquent expression of rage to hit 20th century music, in "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers." Peter Garrett's voice becomes anguish itself, and the dark, resolute chords and slow, echoed drumming behind him shore up the storm he unleashes at the end. As if the song is too much for listeners to bear, "Bakerman" stumbles on like a drunken, simple oom-pah band--evidence of the band's wry humor. After the excellent "Who Can Stand In The Way" and "Kosciusko" on the second side, the music slowly turns opaque, until by the album's ending "Shipyards of New Zealand," it's nearly impenetrable from a pop view. Impressive art rock, perhaps, (at which the Oils excel), but along with the bands numerous oblique Australian references, it's hard to understand. No matter--within two years, the band unleashes a political pop masterpiece and--if only for a year or so--gains the audience its awesome talent deserves.
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