I just discovered one of the coolest albums ever

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scatteroflight

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10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 by Midnight Oil. I kid you not.

I saw Midnight Oil in concert ten days ago--seems like much longer for some reason--and, as some of you know (especially if you visit Zoo Confessionals
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) I am now severely obsessed. I considered myself a fairly big fan before seeing them, but like so many other people I had almost nothing before Diesel and Dust (ok, most people have nothing except Diesel and Dust, or maybe Blue Sky Mining as well). I always sort of thought that almost everything they did before Diesel was weird unlistenable punk. THe earlier tracks on their greatest hits should have changed my mind, but somehow I never got around to exploring most of their earlier stuff. I did buy Red Sails in the Sunset a couple of years ago, which is a very experimental album with several great songs and several which are so artsy that they're almost unlistenable. But still I was not driven to buy other stuff.

Then I saw them in concert and that certainly drove me. I now have almost everything they've done, except for a few that are harder to come by.

Yesterday--only yesterday--I bought 10,9 etc. And I know already that this is one of those albums that changes your musical life. It came out in 1983 but it sounds sort of ageless. If anything, I'd say it's a bit overproduced (very unlike their previous albums) but basically the sound is beautiful. It opens with a song called Outside World which has, wait for it, big synths. The Oils have actually used synths quite a bit, but you don't usually notice them as such. The thing is, this song is not cheesy but incredibly cool and eerie. It has a monumental chorus which sounds like nothing you would expect from them. They follow that with a total rocker called Only the Strong which also has a very eerie "speak to me" bit in the middle. And some good screaming. You have to love a song that starts "when I'm locked in my room, I just want to scream." I've given most attention to the earlier part of the album so far, but there's a song called Maralinga in the middle which is incredible. Read About It is an amazing rocker. I'd better shut up now because probably no one cares at all but I am just so blown away by this album. Much as I love Diesel and Dust, Earth and SUn and Moon, Capricornia and the other recent stuff, it makes me sad that so many people probably think Diesel was their first album. This is amazing stuff.

End of rant. And don't you dare tell me that I'm sad for suddenly being obsessed with an old band that hasn't been hugely popular for fifteen years. Because I just don't care.

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See the bird with the leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colours came out
 
O scatter, good to hear. You know i like their music and have told the tales of my encounters, but what I really like is the example set by the men in the band. Peter Garrett is one good person imho. So it's great you feel like this now. Spread the word
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Ooooooooh yeeeeahhhhhh!!! this is a grrreat album, actually probably my fave Oils album 'Short Memory' is my fave song and I love the power of US Forces, in fact all the songs on this are great and you just gotta love the percussions solo on 'Power and the passion'- the next album I reccomend you get would be the 1984 release 'Red Sails in the Sunset'- great album and if you can ever get a hold of any live footage of the band in their Aussie 'pub rock' glory days from the early eighties that is well worth watching- just for Peter Garett's dancing
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I've actually had Red Sails for a while, the only "old" album by them that I can say that about. I love some of the songs--Kosciusko is so amazing, and I love Sleep, Minutes to Midnight and Who Can Stand in the Way--but some of it is kind of hard to listen to. I read a funny interview with Jim Moginie (or was it Rob Hirst?) where he was saying something like "if you listen to that album start to finish you will end up in the looney bin"
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Just because there's soooo much going on, it's a bit hard to assimilate.

All I need now is their very first album, Bird Noises, Redneck Wonderland and The Real Thing. I've heard Redneck Wonderland can be a bit hard to take but some people seem to love it.



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See the bird with the leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colours came out
 
My two cents - Redneck Wonderland is a pretty fantastic album. I guess some people might see it as a bit extreme, but there is no secret where Midnight Oil stand vis a vis the Howard government, so you make up your own mind I guess.

I really liked the 'dance' (for want of a better word) element to the production on that album. It's different for them, and I don't think it's in embarressing-old-fart territory at all. The music has a lot of swagger and stumble to it. Some really good lyrics as well.

Damn shame I pawned my copy for money or I might even have quoted some lol.

PS I'm not sure if I know how to spell 'embarressing'. Hmmm, close enough.

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This one's for you Tony... you and your cronies

[This message has been edited by Kieran McConville (edited 05-24-2002).]
 
Oh Scatter. All us here (mainly the Aus folk) are right with you it seems.
They are definately one of my favourite bands here. Like Kieran said, they are political, but even without that they are just so damn good. Genuine good old fashioned rock. 10 to 1 is definately up there as one of their best. We call it 10 to 1 as well btw, as its full name is a tad long lol.
 
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