Diesel & Dust

1 rating: 2.0

An album by Midnight Oil

Few would claim that Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett is the world's greatest rock vocalist, but he clearly means what he sings. OnDiesel and Dust, Garrett and company serve up a collection of solid pop-rock songs that follow the groundwork laid by their … see full wiki

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Great, driving rock with lots of passion

Feb 20, 2003

by rmurray847
posted in Music Matters

Rating:

The only reason I can't give the album 5 stars is because it is so very topical and political (for Australia) that little old me, sitting in America, is most assuredly missing many of the themes, jabs, ironic points, political barbs, etc. that Midnight Oil is tossing out. That keeps the songs from being timeless classics for me. In general, the album appears to explore the conflict between "the colonials" or "white" folks of Australia, destroying the land and the culture of the "natives." Americans can certainly relate to a lot of that. We get a real sense of the great barren vastness of Australia, and the songs are packed with images of nature. I don't know if you can call it a concept album, but thematically, it is extremely tight.

But these guys certainly do rock, and they do so with great passion. Peter Garrett more than makes up for his lack of technical vocal skills with a unique, gravelly passion. (If you ever saw these guys live, you know what a manic performer Garrett was...and riveting!).

The songs that rock hard are still extremely melodic. Midnight Oil is one of those rare bands where the songs are immediately catchy. They don't need to grow on you, they grab your right away. BEDS ARE BURNING is a classic. From the opening bass notes, the song grabs you and doesn't let go. WAREKURNA, BULL ROARERS and SOMETIMES are in the same ilk. In fact, SOMETIMES is one of the great albums closers of any album I've ever listened to. You just want to go right back to the beginning and jam some more.

Oil has some "gentler" songs as well, including the hit, mid-tempo DEAD HEART, which is a very effective song. ARTIC WORLD is very slow, melodic and moody.

These guys are always solid, and this album (as well as the lesser known EARTH AND SUN AND MOON) are the best examples of their song craftsmanship, political sensibilities and rockin' attitude. In my opinion, this album is a MUST OWN!!

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