FogBlueInSanFran
Well-Known Member
Someone called Midnight Oil “Australia’s U2” once, but I never felt that did them much justice – their concern for the universe and its people was forthright and direct, not received like U2’s, but they also didn’t have a knack for the hook like U2 did. Rob kind of hinted this as a bit different than we might expect had we heard them before, and he was right. I went back and listened to the hits I already knew, and this glides along like a train with its sort-of-blues-y, definitely-alt-y guitar whereas their big songs (here in the US) were more like hammers and you either cringed and resisted or were beaten into submission.
I found an awful lot of touchstones here to bands and songs I like, and while some might call that derivative, I think it’s great, since I LIKE their influences. Immediate points are awarded for the blatant “Fly Like An Eagle” rip-off that opens “Feeding Frenzy” (since “Fly Like An Eagle” is one of my very fave songs ever – it was in my top 20) and continues throughout, but we go up a notch with the picked-up tempo on “My Country”. That jangly guitar reminds me of late 80s REM, and there’s a little old Roxy Music here too in how the music likes to lift everything up along with it too. This was a definite high point for me – my favo(u)rite song on the album. “Renaissance Man” and the title track don’t really match up with what comes before them – just a little too pedestrian, I feel. Then we come to “Truganini”, and instantly I realize I know this song – it was a hit over here, even more REM-like than “Feeding Frenzy” and with a little Fixx guitar riff (very juicy), but a harmonica that (as is normal in rock music) is overused by being used at all. But it’s a very solid tune nonetheless; I’d prefer it if it ditched the harp and kept the energy up throughout rather than adding the quiet (it’s quiet, it must be “important”) part at the end. The additional percussion and staccato organ on “Bushfire” is a nice touch to an otherwise okay tune.
“Drums of Heaven” almost seems like riffs pieced together from three completely different songs. But another familiar one comes next – I don’t remember “Outbreak of Love” being a smash over here, but I’ve definitely heard it before. In this one the organ takes over Manzarek-style for a bit, but then soars into these well-constructed choruses. “In The Valley” is another one that can’t quite match up with its predecessors, but “Tell Me The Truth” is stylistically a throwback, almost Who-like. “Now Or Neverland” is a functional closer that refers back to the REM sound we’ve heard before. Honestly, I don’t think I heard one song here I didn’t at least find listenable.
But there is one thing definitely irritating about this record – in every single song (look at the lyric sheet – I did), Peter Garrett refers to “I”, “me” or “my” – usually “I”. So while I get this may be autobiographical or personal reflection, there’s a part of me that says (knows) this guy is so far up his own ass that he has a difficult time seeing the world through anything but his own lens, which dovetails with his proclivity to lecture the rest of us about the rotten state of the universe, whether he’s socially-conscious or not. As with the rest of the music I know by them, this isn’t an attempt to tug at the heartstrings as much as it is an attempt to bludgeon us with their (or, rather, Garrett’s) views, however right they might be. They’re just using a different sound to do so.
Now I recognize that as a professional critic (of stocks and companies) I write similar things, and this probably comes through in my music reviews too, before any of you start. This may be why I am sensitive to and/or can recognize such behavio(u)r. :)
Musically, I enjoyed this more than the stuff I know by them, and it’s consistently reasonably good throughout – nothing I want to put on endless repeat, but a record I’d absolutely listen to again. Docked a notch though for having – as I wrote before – a politician posing as a rock musician fronting the band. It’s between 6 and 7, pretty much right between. Our integer rule forces a choice. I will go 7, with a footnote that I like @RobMCFC better than Peter Garrett.
I found an awful lot of touchstones here to bands and songs I like, and while some might call that derivative, I think it’s great, since I LIKE their influences. Immediate points are awarded for the blatant “Fly Like An Eagle” rip-off that opens “Feeding Frenzy” (since “Fly Like An Eagle” is one of my very fave songs ever – it was in my top 20) and continues throughout, but we go up a notch with the picked-up tempo on “My Country”. That jangly guitar reminds me of late 80s REM, and there’s a little old Roxy Music here too in how the music likes to lift everything up along with it too. This was a definite high point for me – my favo(u)rite song on the album. “Renaissance Man” and the title track don’t really match up with what comes before them – just a little too pedestrian, I feel. Then we come to “Truganini”, and instantly I realize I know this song – it was a hit over here, even more REM-like than “Feeding Frenzy” and with a little Fixx guitar riff (very juicy), but a harmonica that (as is normal in rock music) is overused by being used at all. But it’s a very solid tune nonetheless; I’d prefer it if it ditched the harp and kept the energy up throughout rather than adding the quiet (it’s quiet, it must be “important”) part at the end. The additional percussion and staccato organ on “Bushfire” is a nice touch to an otherwise okay tune.
“Drums of Heaven” almost seems like riffs pieced together from three completely different songs. But another familiar one comes next – I don’t remember “Outbreak of Love” being a smash over here, but I’ve definitely heard it before. In this one the organ takes over Manzarek-style for a bit, but then soars into these well-constructed choruses. “In The Valley” is another one that can’t quite match up with its predecessors, but “Tell Me The Truth” is stylistically a throwback, almost Who-like. “Now Or Neverland” is a functional closer that refers back to the REM sound we’ve heard before. Honestly, I don’t think I heard one song here I didn’t at least find listenable.
But there is one thing definitely irritating about this record – in every single song (look at the lyric sheet – I did), Peter Garrett refers to “I”, “me” or “my” – usually “I”. So while I get this may be autobiographical or personal reflection, there’s a part of me that says (knows) this guy is so far up his own ass that he has a difficult time seeing the world through anything but his own lens, which dovetails with his proclivity to lecture the rest of us about the rotten state of the universe, whether he’s socially-conscious or not. As with the rest of the music I know by them, this isn’t an attempt to tug at the heartstrings as much as it is an attempt to bludgeon us with their (or, rather, Garrett’s) views, however right they might be. They’re just using a different sound to do so.
Now I recognize that as a professional critic (of stocks and companies) I write similar things, and this probably comes through in my music reviews too, before any of you start. This may be why I am sensitive to and/or can recognize such behavio(u)r. :)
Musically, I enjoyed this more than the stuff I know by them, and it’s consistently reasonably good throughout – nothing I want to put on endless repeat, but a record I’d absolutely listen to again. Docked a notch though for having – as I wrote before – a politician posing as a rock musician fronting the band. It’s between 6 and 7, pretty much right between. Our integer rule forces a choice. I will go 7, with a footnote that I like @RobMCFC better than Peter Garrett.