Search - Midnight Oil :: Species Deceases

"My life is a valuable thing..."

T.E. Savelle | a place without a postcard | 03/08/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

""...I want to keep it that way," sings Peter Garrett at the opening of what is possibly the Oil's most satisfying, pull-no-punches, stage front, up-and-dancing-your-arse-off songs EVER -- "Hercules." This song, about America's armed-to-the-teeth muscle flexing around the globe, and its military/nuclear presence in the Southern Oceans, is, to my mind, the Oil's best live tune. However, it is captured in the studio perfectly here, along with 3 other expertly-crafted yet bare-bones songs that amount to a better EP than most bands' full-length albums. If you like two electric guitars, bass, drums, and an eloquent lead singer, BUY THIS CD and stop wasting your dollars on limp biscuits. It would be worth it at five times the price. What Midnight Oil delivers here is the rock-and-roll fan's most cost-effective expenditure, as well as a full-scale indictment of corporate ecological mayhem and the US military-industrial complex at play in the fields of our earth."

We Won't Forget, We Can't Forgive

Jack Baker | LeRoy,IL | 01/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"That's one of the lines from "Hercules", an anti atomic war song on this (too) short burst of anger from Aussie rockers Midnight Oil. This is an incredibly taut song that expresses the feelings of residents of countries stuck on the outside of the potential global conflict between the Soviet Union and the USA. To me, the lyrics speak with the anger of people who have no control over their own fate. Not only that, but the music is plenty powerful as well. "Progress" is the indictment of the modern world's nonstop march with its emphasis on profit over people and the natural world, the global struggle and threat of nuclear war, pollution, religion and the conflicts it causes. One could argue that "Progress" is just as valid now as it was in 1985. We find ourself in a world where jobs are outsourced to other nations to save the company a few dollars, we're little more than junkies in relation to the oil companies, all with the threat of global terror looming over our heads causing a flag waving furor bordering on pep rally lunacy.



"Blossom and Blood" speaks of the suffering of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the aftermath of the atomic bombs and the duty to avoid such suffering in the future. "Pictures" reminds people who live with the fears of war and opression to not be silent, to not just watch the world go by, but try and make a difference.



These are pretty heavy subjects, but the Oils manage to convey their message without sounding sanctimonious and preachy. There's genuine anger present on these songs and the band plays with a fury that isn't matched by their later releases. Martin Rotsey's guitar solos in particular have a snarl and bite on this EP. Highly recommended."

Powerful antiwar rock music

userland | AUSTRALIA | 04/13/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"it's unnerving to listen to this music (and other Midnight Oil's music from the 1980s - especially 10...1, Red Sails In The Sunset) and see how relevant the themes and lyrics are to today's political landscape. These songs could easily be about the world created by George Bush and Johnny Howard. This is great rock music."