Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust

Diesel and Dust Review

Every DJ has to have the lead tune of this CD in their collection. Several other songs are good too. August 20, 2008

This Land Don't Change and We Don't Leave

More than anything else, Diesel and Dust seems like a love letter to the land, people, and culture of Australia. Some of the songs explore themes familiar to long time listeners of the band, such as the anti-war "Put Down That Weapon", but for the most part the album is a well crafted look at the culture of Australia that Midnight Oil wanted to protect and defend ("Bullroarer"). This is the "land of wide open spaces" referred to on 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1's "Maralinga", a precious commodity being encroached upon by the modern world ("Warakurna", "Dreamworld"). It's also a land of traditions and cultures maligned ("Beds Are Burning", "The Dead Heart"). Midnight Oil reminds us not to give up what is most precious to us, that the fight is always worth the effort ("Sell My Soul") even if we get knocked around a little ("Sometimes"). Not only are these messages delivered with poignant, insightful lyrics, but with stirring anthemic music, evocative of the very land they champion. This was a masterpiece when it was released and it has stood the test of time. One need not be Australian to get the point of these songs. Change the place names to cities and deserts in the States (or any other country) and the message remains the same. Protect what you have before its gone, embrace your cultural roots, and fight for what you hold dear. February 12, 2008

Midnight Oil Burns

"Diesel and Dust" was Midnight Oil's perfect storm of an album. Peter Garret was still passionate (well, he always was), and the rest of the band, in particualr bassist Peter Gifford and drummer Rob Hirst, kicked up their best rock and roll A-game. The Oils shucked some of the artier motifs that bogged down 10, 9, 8... and Red Sails in the Sunset, and switched to dance floor propulsion. The result was the politcorock of "Beds are Burning" became an international smash both on rock radio and in the clubs. Yet it came with absolutely no condensation of the band's roots; the songs were as fiery and as socially spiked as ever.

In fact, this may have been Midnight Oil's most homeland-centric album. Everything from the single to the closing "Sometimes" addresses issues in some form or another. Some are blatant ("Beds are Burning's" pointed look at aboriginal rights, "The Dead Heart's" anti-mining rant) to oblique (the plea to not sell out on "Sometimes" and "Arctic World"). Even the weaker material ("Whoah") would be great on a lesser album. It's a shame that few bands have ever tried to follow where Midnight Oil tread...it's been a long time since a band so forcefully took a stand AND made a successful commercial run at it.

Given the timing of their breakthrough, "Diesel and Dust" may have been at a moment when being socially and politically actionable was acceptable. 1987-88 were also the years Joshua Tree ruled the world and artists like The Call, Peter Gabriel and Simple Minds were making anthemic rock chart-worthy. But no-one mixed it up quite like Midnight Oil, and "Diesel and Dust" was the peak of their curve. December 10, 2007

Greatest Album by greatest band of all time

My single favorite band of all time - nothing will ever come close. This album is a great introduction to their sound. Full of incredible passion, powerful lyrics, unreal guitar solos, and creativity and originality in every song. The popular Beds are Burning is not even in my top 5 songs on this album (Sell My Soul is #1, and possibly my number 1 song of all time. Dreamworld is pretty special too).

If you fall in love with the album, as I did, you can move onto some of their older stuff - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, or Red Sails in the Sunset are similarly incredible, and even more creative.

The Oils are truly a special band, and 6 years after their breakup, I still pop in my mix CD's in the car when my kids aren't around. I'll never understand why they didn't become as popular as, say, U2 or REM - they are all that and more. But I suppose it makes it that much more amazing for the die hard fans that still rave about the Oils to this day.

Hope you enjoy - I'm pretty certain you will.
May 11, 2007

A record that transcends music

Diesel and Dust is the perfect merger of rock and social progressivism. Never has a record compelled me to feel as moved as this one, particularly on songs like 'Warakurna', 'Beds are Burning', 'The Dead Heart', or 'Dreamworld'. Never has anyone described with such power and poignancy the plight of the underclass or displaced minorities (in this case the Aboriginal peoples of Australia) in a manner that anyone can relate to. The evocative words ("The western desert lives and breathes at 45 degrees"), the tones used on Rob Hirst's drums, Jim Moginie's and Martin Rotsey's dueling acoustic guitars on the 'Dead Heart', and Peter Garrett's gravel like edge to his singing on tracks like 'Put Down that Weapon', 'Arctic World' or 'Sell My Soul' evoke the imagery of a band that traveled for miles through sandy hot desert lands in pickup trucks and tried to make sense of their experiences upon returning to Sydney. The music intimates the myriad of emotions that the band experienced after meeting and living among simple people, witnessing their stories of hardship and difficulties and the uplifting hope and dignity they found among them.

The record, despite its serious themes, is life affirming, as the defiantly rocking closer "Sometimes" appropriately underscores. Midnight Oil believes in the redemptive power of the human spirit in spite of the injustice and inequities in our world today.

From a musical standpoint, each song is flawlessly crafted and produced. Warne Livesey does an oustanding job of integrating the sounds of the earth and of the band, with the sounds of electronic beats and synthesizers. This is a modern rock record to be sure, in spite of its folksy songs and socially conscious subject matter. This record and "10,9,8..." were Midnight Oil's finest hours. However, this record has a power all its own, as any time we see hardship, suffering and inequality in this world, all we in the west need to do is listen to this record to understand how it tastes, smells and feels to be in that condition. A remarkable record. One for the ages. Get it if you don't have it.

March 21, 2007

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