Diesel and Dust

by Midnight Oil

Overview

Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett has long been active in elective politics in Australia, and like any good politician, he knows that sometimes the most important thing is to get your message out to the masses, even it means speaking with a bit less force than might be your custom. While the hard edges and challenging angles of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and Red Sails in the Sunset made Midnight Oil bona fide superstars in Australia, they were little more than a rumor in most of the rest of the world, and for their sixth album, Diesel and Dust, Midnight Oil made some changes in their approach. On Diesel and Dust, there's less in the way of bruising hard rock like "Best of Both Worlds," nothing as eccentric as "Outside World," and very little as esoterically regional as "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers," while the production favors the tuneful side of the band's songwriting (which, truth to tell, was always there) and buffs away some of the group's harsher edges. As a result, Diesel and Dust isn't an album for hardcore Oils fans, but as a bid for a larger audience, it was both shrewd and well executed -- it was the group's first real worldwide success, going platinum in America and spawning a massive hit single, "Beds Are Burning." While the album lacks the kick-in-the-head impact of their earlier work, Diesel and Dust also makes clear that the bandmembers could apply their intelligence and passion to less aggressive material and still come up with forceful, compelling music, as on the haunting "The Dead Heart" and the poppy but emphatic "Dreamworld." And as always, there was no compromise in the band's forceful political stance -- most of the album's songs deal openly with the issues of Aboriginal rights (hardly an issue pertinent only to Australians), and one of Midnight Oil's greatest victories may well be writing a song explicitly demanding reparations for indigenous peoples, and seeing it top the charts around the world. And the closer, "Sometimes," may be the finest and most moving anthem the band ever wrote ("Sometimes you're beaten to the core/Sometimes you're taken to the wall/But you don't give in"). Diesel and Dust is that rarity, a bid for the larger audience that's also an artistic success and a triumph for leftist politics -- even the Clash never managed that hat trick this well. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	01/26/1988
Label:	Columbia
UPC:	5099746000523

Tracks

1. Beds Are Burning
2. Put Down That Weapon
3. Dreamworld
4. Arctic World
5. Warakuma
6. Dead Heart
7. Whoah
8. Bullroarer
9. Sell My Soul
10. Sometimes
11. Gunbarrel Highway

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Midnight Oil   Primary Artist
Warumpi Band   Primary Artist
Peter Gifford   Vocals,Bass
Warne Livesey   Keyboards
Rob Hirst   Drums,Vocals
Jim Moginie   Guitar,Vocals,Keyboards
Martin Rotsey   Guitar
Peter Garrett   Vocals,Lead Vocals
Jeremy Smith   French Horn
Glad Reed   Trombone
John Ockwell   Cello

Technical Credits

Peter Gifford   Composer
Greg Henderson   Engineer
Warne Livesey   Producer,String Arrangements
Rob Hirst   Composer
Jim Moginie   Composer,String Arrangements
Martin Rotsey   Composer
Peter Garrett   Composer
Nick Launay   Mixing,Mixing Engineer
Midnight Oil   Group,Composer,Producer
Guy Gray   Engineer
Robert Hirst   Composer
James Moginie   Composer