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Midnight Oil - Red Sails in the Sunset Audio CD

A fair review of the Midnight Oil "Red Sails in the Sunset" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Midnight Oil reviews here, or go back to the Midnight Oil tabs.

Midnight Oil Band: Midnight Oil
Title: Red Sails in the Sunset
Rating:
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: When the Generals Talk 2: Best of Both Worlds 3: Sleep 4: Minutes to Midnight 5: Jimmy Sharman's Boxers 6: Bakerman [Instrumental] 7: Who Can Stand in the Way 8: Kosciusko 9: Helps Me Helps You 10: Harrisburg 11: Bells and Horns in the Back of Beyond 12: Shipyards of New Zealand

Too "experimental" for its own good?
From the bizzare opener 'When The Generals Talk' to the epic closer 'Shipyard of NZ', the band try something different for nearly every song. 'Red Sails In The Sunset' takes the oddball elements of '10 to 1' to the extreme, aggressively employing a variety of musical styles, unusual instrumentation, and deliberately eccentric production. It's as if they are deliberately trying to shed their "angry rock band" image by flexing their musical muscles, although their lyrics are still fiery, political and relevant.

'Best of Both Worlds', 'Helps Me Helps You' and 'Kosciousko' are the most reminiscent of the typical Oils protest anthem, while parts of 'Bells and Horns. . . ' hark back to the band's surf-rock roots. On the other hand, the stuttering, stop-start 'When The Generals Talk' and synth-laden 'Harrisburg' are clear departures; the former employs heavy irony and humour for the first (and only?) time. Other songs such as 'Minutes to Midnight' are more acoustic, and seem to anticipate the more subtle attack of later Oils albums. The album showcases an increasing use of brass, strings, keyboards, distorted vocals, and heavy production effects that give even the more straightforward songs a very quirky feel.

While the Oils' musical ambition is to be lauded, I sometimes wonder whether the deliberately experimental nature of the songs blunts the overall message. Hearing 'When The Generals Talk' for the first time is more likely to have you concerned about whether your CD has skipped than about the evils of "the worst Generals of all". The album will probably be most appreciated by dedicated Oils fans, who will no doubt give the album repeated listens, and the lyrics the attention they deserve. However, I think the meanings behind many songs here will fly over the heads of casual fans while they try to digest the music. Perhaps the Oils themselves realised that they'd taken this direction as far as they could, since 'Diesel and Dust' was a deliberate streamlining of their sound.

If you're prepared to put the effort in, and keep an open mind, you will be rewarded with Midnight Oil's most diverse and ambitious music. But if you're after an album full of instantly accessible 'Beds Are Burning' re-writes, it's probably best to give this one a miss.


Red Sails Rocks On
The social and political commentary is wrapped in driving, melodious and yet hard rock sound. This is early OILs, but they rock so well. Midnight Oil is a great band, wish they'd get back together!.


So You've Got the Blues . . .
It remains my favorite simply because of its strong songs and inventive musicianship. This is not an easy album to listen to, but this 1984 release by Midnight Oil was my first introduction to this Australian band. There is a lot of stylistic variation on this album, much more so than on any other Midnight Oil release. In less capable hands, this would be a terrible disaster. With these excellent musicians, the results are intriguing, very listenable. There's the hard rock of "When the Generals Talk" and "Best of Both Worlds", acoustic driven songs like "Kosiusko" and "Sleep", anthems like "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers" and general weirdness like "Bells & Horns in the Back of Beyond" and "Bakerman". This is truly an album where you need to listen to the whole thing repeatedly in order to absorb everything. Some of the lyrics are enigmatic almost to the point of being impenetrable, but that just adds to the total mood of the album.

"Sleep" was the first Midnight Oil song I ever heard, having been given a mix tape by a high school friend. I played that track over and over, finally purchasing the album. The lyrics "So you've got the blues, the evening wore out your shoes," remain some of my favorite lines. The rest of the album is just as solid as this song, in particular "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers", an amazing song about the exploitation of aboriginal boxers in a traveling show. This song builds to an incredible climax and features some of the best drums I've had the pleasure of hearing. Play it loud for full effect.

I won't bore you with a song by song recap of the album, but I will close by saying that this is one of the most well constructed and complete albums I own. Like others, I would put it on par with The Beatles' White Album in terms of its experimentation. After this album, the group would enter a more radio friendly stage. They would still produce many more vital recordings, but none quite as ambitious as this one. .


Masterpeice
If you like Midnight Oil you need to hear this one this brings me back to the 80s. This is Midnight Oils Masterpeice! perfect from start to finish.


BUY THIS ALBUM !!!!
Red Sails. . is arguably one of the best albums that
the Oils ever made. . . . . ever. One reviewer wrote that
"as a long time fan, I was disappointed". First of all,
who are we kidding? If someone where to find this album
disappointing, I would venture to say that they are not a fan at all.
Alot of people identify the Oils with one song. . . "Beds are burning".
Surely Red Sails is not as poppy or radio friendly, but neither are the Oils or their fans. If you only like "Beds are burning". . . . stay there, because you won't be able to handle the non-radio Oils.


You can see a complete list of all Midnight Oil discography, or go back to the Midnight Oil tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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