[Julian Shaw]

Good review for the new album. I agree that the Oils should never have
bothered with 20k watt RSL and the live disc, great as it was, seemed like a
bit of a filler.That said why does the reviewer skip over Redneck
Wonderland? This is the most relevant, fresh and ultimately awesome album
the Oils have ever done. Angry, loud and great tunes! This was the start of
the Oils revival! The years in the wilderness were surely 1994-1998. Nothing
much happened. ESM was a very special album but every live set I've heard
from this period just about plays the whole album through, missing out any
heavier songs. The band toured on this then took some time off for a year.
Came up with Breathe and it was a great album but should have been made by
Crowded House instead. And then the filler album came next in 1997. Then out
of nowhere we have this wonderful explosion of creativity in 1998! And whats
more the three new (Oils written) tracks on the Real Thing album are
brilliant too! Surely now is the time for The Oils to conquer the world.

Anyway that's how I see it...

Julian Lewis Shaw
Man, Myth or Monkey? Find out:
http://www.jlshaw.co.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: "Goddard, Darren" <daz@isr.gov.au>
To: <powderworks@cs.colorado.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2002 10:26 PM
Subject: [Powderworks] Age has not wearied them: THE OILS' power & passion
remain intact .


> By Jeff Apter
> ****
> Midnight Oil
> Capricornia
> Columbia
>
> THE SIGNS HAVEN'T BEEN GOOD for Aussie stalwarts, Midnight Oil.  After 25
> years of faithful rock & roll service, they'd seemingly lost their way.
> First came a greatest hits package (1997's 20,000 Watts RSL), then an
> uninspired live disc (2000's The Real Thing), followed by last year's
> tribute album, The Power and the Passion.  Now the latter mightn't have
been
> of the band's making, but it's still very much the type of album that
> emerges when a band has superannuation and a quiet retirement in mind.
Yet
> somehow things have changed.  First step was some wildly received American
> shows, where the quintet played with a born-again vigour and spirit.
> "Garrett is a sight everyone should encounter at least once," yelled one
> reviewer.  "You would have thougt this was 1983" screamed another.  The
next
> step in their resurrection is this compassionate, deeply felt,
unashamededly
> retro-sounding 11th studio album, due in March.  So the jig is up - the
> releases between Redneck Wonderland and Capricornia were merley stones in
> the road, water-treading exercises designed to keep diehards keen while
the
> band got busy in the studio.