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Midnight Oil - Place Without a Postcard Audio CD

A fair review of the Midnight Oil "Place Without a Postcard" 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: Place Without a Postcard
Rating:
Release Date: 1990-04-18
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Don't Wanna Be the One 2: Brave Faces 3: Armistice Day 4: Someone Else to Blame 5: Basement Flat 6: Written in the Heart 7: Burnie 8: Quinella Holiday 9: Loves on Sale 10: If Ned Kelly Was King 11: Lucky Country

The Oils Refine . . .
Their previous albums, Head Injuries and Midnight Oil, were faster, owing more to punk rock. I tend to see this as somewhat of a transitional album for Midnight Oil. Bird Noises, a four song EP, preceded this full length album and offered some preview of the changes to come. The lyrics and arrangements are still knife edge sharp, but the tempo has slowed somewhat on Place Without a Postcard. The songs that stand as the best examples of the direction the band would take in the future are"Brave Faces" and "Lucky Country". "Brave Faces" has a wonderfully catchy guitar hook, plus makes a few key changes along the way. Laced with political and social lyrics, the song builds to it's climax, a wonderful guitar and bass interplay. "Lucky Country" blends acoustic and electric guitars in a style the Oils would continue to experiment with until they disbanded. No other band seems quite as adapt at fusing the two instruments as Midnight Oil. The song also features the stream of consciousness lyrical rampage Peter Garrett would perfect as time went on. This album also introduces horns and keyboards, widening the tonal palette at the band's disposal. Jim Moginie stands out as a multi-instrumentalist of the finest caliber and I think that all begins here. .


One of their best
This album, simply put, is brilliant. Admittedly, I only discovered "The Oils" when they hit radio airplay success in the early-mid eighties with the release of the 10 to 1 album, but I grew to become a huge fan as a teenager. The semi-poetic lyrics of Brave Faces, the 'brave' sounds and instrumentation on all the tracks right to the end and the truly moving climax of the album that is 'Lucky Country' make this stand out as one of Midnight Oils best. It's more coherent than what had come before but still has that rawness and low-fi cred that got a little lost in later offerings (not that I don't love them as well, but . . . ) The guitars really howl and the drums are as forceful and primal as ever. It makes you wish you were sweaty and slightly inebriated in a pub somewhere rockin'out. As a sociology major these days, I still find their music relevant and this album is a great example. Stand out tracks for me are "Basement Flat" for the solo (very moving) "Loves on Sale" for the anti-consumerist sentiments and the great rapping Peter does in it "Armistice Day" and "Lucky Country. " Ultimately people always seem to dismiss Midnight Oil as simply a "band with a message" but they made GREAT music as well and had/have very warm and clear musical instincts. Get it, you'll love it or grow to.


My favorite
The second is this one. The best Oil record for me is the Scream in Blue. For me it is the record that comes closer to what they sound live. I've read a couple of review that complain about the production. I have to disagree. This is the most powerfull Oil record when it comes to sound production. It is raw indeed, but Johns made a very good job by convincing the Oils to forget about synths and to focus on the guitars. And what guitars! There are a couple of songs with harmonica but I can forget it. The five piece (drums,bass,guitars and vocals)is mixed evenlly and every single bit of music is brought up to your face, no post production to mess around with the songs! For me it is like 10,9,8. . . without synths! Great songs, great sound.


Midnight Oil's least successful experiment
Their second album, HEAD INJURIES (1979), is one of the best hard rock albums to come out of Australia during that era (along with, yes, Acy Deecy's BACK IN BLACK). Midnight Oil began as a surf-music-inpsired, politically-conscious hard rock band in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, however, the band began experimenting with different sounds and different types of song structures. PLACE WITHOUT A POSTCARD is the first (and least successful) result of this change in direction.

The main problem with the album (as others have pointed out) is that the production is terrible. Midnight Oil travelled all the way over to Great Britain to work with Glyn Johns and ended up with this? The songs are, for the most part, pretty good. "Brave Faces," "Don't Wanna Be the One," "Lucky Country," and "Someone Else to Blame" are all potent political rockers just begging for better production. Other highlights include "Armistice Day," "Quinella Holiday," and "If Ned Kelly Were King. "

The CD certainly anticipates the epic 10,9,8,7. . . . but it is hard to recommend it to anyone other than the most ardent Midnight Oil fan. It's better than the debut record and certainly has great potential, but they don't quite pull it off. It's kind of a bummer, because there is potential here for it to be a classic.


Decent album, but not essential
There are some good songs, notably Brave Faces, Burnie, Quinella Holiday, and Loves For Sale. This album sounds about what you'd expect the band to sound like between the albums Head Injuries and 10-9-8-7.

The main problem with this album is the production. This is probably the worse MO album from a production and mixing perspective. Even the preceding album, Head Injuries, sounds a lot better (more crystal clear), and also has better songs. If this album was remixed/remastered, it would be much more liked. Still, a stereo with an equalizer can make this album sound fairly good.

Although not an essential album for casual MO fans, this still belongs in all MO fanatic collections.


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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