tdh Opinions Reviews E.S.M

Earth and Sun and Moon

Reviewed by The All Music Guide

Speaking of integrity, it would be difficult to imagine a band more committed through their music to social causes such as the environment and aboriginal rights than Australia's Midnight Oil. Of course, the Oils can get a little preachy at times, and I'm always uncomfortable that too many fans feel they may be doing their bit by buying an album rather than "acting locally."

While this new outing is the worthy successor to a string of musically invigorating and socially aware studio works that began with 1983's 10-9-8-7-6-54-3-2-1, followed by Diesel and Dust and 1990's Blue Sky Mining, there is less emphasis overall on the polemic. Indeed, with the likes of "Drums Of Heaven", "Outbreak Of Love", and the moving familytree chronology of "In The Valley, "Earth and Sun and Moon" delivers the group's most personal and inward-looking venture to date.

Otherwise, the Oils' stock-in-trade is all here: Peter Garrett's passionate vocals and the band's winsome pop-rock with a slight hint of Aussie outback rhythms. Several tracks are distinguished by tight guitar-keyboard interplay - check out the hot Hammond organ sound of "Feeding Frenzy". On the more political side, Midnight Oil can churn out singles like "My Country" and "Truganini" in their sleep - the later being, musically, very much a "Beds Are Burning" II.

While "Earth and Sun and Moon" is not the first Midnight Oil disc to stow away if you were desert island bound - I sometimes long for some of the sharper edges of their earlier work - there's not lack of compelling stuff here.

Reviewer: Roch Parisien