Midnight Oil

Subject: Re: [powderworks] diesel / blue sky 100%
From: Adrian Hooper
Date: 2/02/2008, 9:48 pm
To: John McCrory <johnmccrory36@hotmail.com>, oils7802 <jeremy.peisley@kuehne-nagel.com>, powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au

(warning - heavily opinionated rant below)

I've no doubt there's demo material and album outtakes, some of which neither the band nor the fans would benefit from having released.  But then again, how many officially released remix versions of Beds are Burning or King of the Mountain does one need to have and how pray tell do these NOT make me think less of them?  I'm not advocating the wholesale release of anything and everything, but surely some of it, if released in the context of bonus material on a re-released, re-mastered album with expanded artwork etc, would only add to the legacy of the band and enhance the experience of each album and it's place in both the Oils' catalogue and Australian popular culture of the time.  Especially might I add when some of this stuff is and has been floating around on bootlegs of dubious quality for years.  

As to the early live vision, where do I start...

Whether you're a fan of it or not, somewhere along the line (and I'm sure we could have an endless debate as to when it actually happened) the Oils, for whatever reason, sanitised themselves - musically in the least.  But in the beginning they grew into something that was vital, reckless, even dangerous.  To illustrate - there was a beautiful moment in the Australian Classic Album episode that dealt with The Saints' I'm Stranded where Hirst recalls an anecdote where the Oils were playing Frenches in Sydney and they would notice people dropping into their gig on route to the Oxford Funhouse on Taylor's Square.  Curious, the band went up there one night to see what all the fuss was about and witnessed Radio Birdman and in Hirst's own words "a room full of would be punks" going full throttle.   He states it was then and there that the Oils, who at that stage were still very much in the Farm vein of a CCR/prog rock incarnation, realised if they didn't "up
 the beat of each song by 100bpm they would be left in the dust".  Elements of this former embryonic Oils is evident in the '77 Flashez Used and Abused Clip.  The Oils transformed and the rest of course is history and for the next few years at least, it seems to be widely accepted that in the live arena they were peerless. 

So now that the band are kaput (and Pete's joined the big band), Midnight Oil become relegated to the pages of music history.  But it frustrates me that this early period is so poorly officially remembered and represented.  Am I the only one?  Dodshon's Beds are Burning and Hirst's own liner notes to Flat Chat prove great insights but serve only to whet the appetite.  My hope is that Hirst, being the band historian he has always been claimed to have been, will see fit to put things right.  Those that have been kind enough to share what vision exists from the Nightmoves, Wanda Beach and Tanerlorn gigs (just to name three that we know exist) both here and on YouTube have provided us with the evidence of what we always believed to be true - considering the majority of us were never there.  Is it too much to ask that at least some of the footage of this era makes its way officially into the public domain so we don't have to rely on grainy YouTube posts? 
 Don't get me wrong; I haven't forgotten Capitol Theatre and Oils on Water - they're fantastic.  I'm just hoping for a little more to help complete the early picture and to not see see a great opportunity like the re-mastering and re-releasing of the early albums squandered.  

If this stuff stays unreleased, yes it is a shame, but no I don't understand why they do it.  I see little possibility of a band's reputation being tarnished, just a real possibility of it being forgotten.

Adrian


----- Original Message ----
From: John McCrory <johnmccrory36@hotmail.com>
To: Adrian Hooper <hooperadrianr@yahoo.com>; oils7802 <jeremy.peisley@kuehne-nagel.com>; powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au
Sent: Friday, 1 February, 2008 8:19:27 PM
Subject: RE: [powderworks] diesel / blue sky 100%

   .hmmessage P { margin:0px;padding:0px;} body.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma;}   I know for a fact there is a heap of recorded material that has never seen the light of day and I think if they did bring it out we would not think as much of them as we now do.....just as im sure there is a heap of live concert stuff that we will never get to see...it's a shame in one way but I know why they do it. Time to let it go me thinks ....live with what we have. 


   To: jeremy.peisley@kuehne-nagel.com; powderworks@yahoogroups.com.au
From: hooperadrianr@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 02:10:19 -0800
Subject: Re: [powderworks] diesel / blue sky 100%

      Hi

All this talk of re-issues, re-mastering and bonus material has me thinking; when they get around to re-releasing the early work, what could some possible bonus DVD material consist of?

PWAPC + DVD full Wanda Beach 1982 and/or Tannelorn 1981 gigs (do these exist in full?)Bird Noises + DVD ???Head Injuries + DVD of Melbourne showgrounds 1980 Nightmoves gigMidnight Oil + DVD ???Any other suggestions? Surely something good has to be pulled from the vault in this whole exercise. (I'm sorry, but a re-mastered BSM and BRF DVD ain't gonna get me off the couch and down to the local record store!)

Adrian

----- Original Message ----
From: oils7802 <jeremy.peisley@ kuehne-nagel. com>
To: powderworks@ yahoogroups. com.au
Sent: Friday, 1 February, 2008 10:34:01 AM
Subject: [powderworks] diesel / blue sky 100%

just got off the phone with a contact i know at sony music. as we 

already know, diesel & dust / black fella-white fella cd/dvd has been 

remasterd & will be released on saturday 16 feb, but i was also told 

just this week & order had been placed from the remastering dept for 

the master tapes to blue sky mining & black rain falls & would see a 

possible release date in the second half of the year . there was also 

an indication from the remastering dept that the rest of the back 

catalogue will be re-mastered soon. is it now

cheers

J 

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