Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] A "dissenting" opinion?

Julian Shaw julian@monkeyfamily.freeserve.co.uk
Wed, 13 Mar 2002 20:09:46 -0000


I get all of it. Their best album so far (still waiting on Capricornia!).
Only problem was that the remix version of WSBH was not as good as the
version on 20,000w RSL. But apart from that minor flaw it was perfect!

Julian Lewis Shaw
Man, Myth or Monkey? Find out:
http://www.jlshaw.co.uk
----- Original Message -----
From: "Travis Zanoni" <TravisZ@actf.com.au>
To: <powderworks@cs.colorado.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 10:58 PM
Subject: RE: [Powderworks] A "dissenting" opinion?


> Honestly, would you like another 'Redneck Wonderland'?
>
> Shit yeah!!  I think it is a brilliant album....and especially for it's
> time.  It was one of the most adventurous albums of it's time, by any band
> in the world, and a bit sad that it took a bunch of old guys like the Oils
> to do it.
> The sounds on RW always excite me...from the opening blistering guitars in
> RW, the whammy guitars and thumping drums in concrete, the huge drum sound
> in WSBH, the spooky piano in SCB, crisp acoustics in GGP, huge distorted
> guitars and fucked up drums in BLOT, strings on SCB, the french horn on
Drop
> In The Ocean......I could keep going.  I guess it depends if you want to
> hear a band repeat themselves or if you prefer to be taken on a musical
> journey by your favourite band.....and with what the Oils have to
offer...I
> think I choose to follow.  I may not 'get' all of it...but I'll be all the
> better for having heard it.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bjorn Blomquist [mailto:bjorn.blomquist@mbox301.swipnet.se]
> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 1:47 AM
> To: Rob O'Neill; powderworks@cs.colorado.edu
> Subject: SV: [Powderworks] A "dissenting" opinion?
>
>
>
> > Finally got ahold of the Capricornia album, and have listened many times
> > over the last several days, both at home and at work.  I must say, I
> > find it "disappointing", in that while I think it's strong lyrically I
> > just don't find the musical side very different or "progressive"
> > compared to last several albums.  I'm not sure what I'd like to hear
> > different, but it feels to me like they've hit some kind of wall or
> > reached some kind of limit, and only have a limited range of musical
> > "styles" to use....
>
> That was my initial reaction of the album as well, that it isn't as varied
> as an Oil album usually is and that we have heard them doing these songs
> before. In this case I actually think it's a good thing. Midnight Oil have
> spoilt us throughout the years with every album sounding different from
the
> previous, and this time we get the REAL Midnight Oil. 'Capricornia' is a
mix
> between their, in my opinion, three greatest albums (DAD, BSM, E&S&M).
It's
> like they want to show us: here we are, sounding like ourselves, doing
what
> we are doing the best. Much credit to the producer Warne Livesey for
helping
> the boys to find their classic sound again. (Honestly, would you like
> another 'Redneck Wonderland'?) This album also *sounds* very good. It may
be
> the best-sounding Oil album ever? I mean, compare it to 'Breathe'!!! The
> producer surely is important for the sound.
>
> I think however that more of the weakness lays in that some of the lyrics
> are very sparse (read: repetitive), at least for coming from the pens of
the
> Oils.
> We are already discussing "Too much sunshine", but this one isn't much
> better:
>
> "Have I been away too long
> Have I been away too long
> Have I been away too long
> I just can't wait
> Have I been away too long
> Have I been away too long
> Have I been away too long
> I just can't wait"
>
> or when a whole verse is just:
>
> "When they march, when they march in the fields of green
> When they march, when they march in the fields of green" (What is THAT
song
> about anyway?)
>
> I think this is part of being "out of ideas", because we heard one-line
> choruses and repetitions on 'Breathe' and 'RW' as well. On the other hand,
> we also get songs like "Poets and slaves" which is far from being
repetitive
> with a simple structure.
>
> > Being a loyal Oil-er, I'll keep listening, and maybe it will grow on me
> > more substantially...
>
> Definitely it will. I did for me, and probably for most of us.
>
> /Bjorn
>
>
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