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20,000 Watt RSL |
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20,000 Watt RSL
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20,000 Watt RSL |
With their new single WSBH signalling a willingness to embrace the 90s (finally) and with Magoo (Regurgitator, Rash) handling production duties for their forthcoming album of new material (Redneck Wonderland), MO are moving into what appears to be an exciting new era of music-making. It's perfect timing then for the Oils to release a retrospective of their career to date. Spanning 19 years, 9 studio albums and 2 EPS, this collection brings together most of the Oils singles (plus another new song What Goes On).
Track selection is a little surprising, given that the Oils best and definitive work wasn't always the singles: it also gives a false impression of the relative merit of the different recordings from which the songs have been culled. eg. four singles are here from BSM and yet that along with last years Breathe is arguably the band's weakest album.
On the other hand there's nothing from 1978's self-titled debut, nor have the classics Wedding Cake Island and No Time For Games (both from the 1980 EP Bird Noises) earned guernseys (yet 1993's flaccid Truganini has). The incendiary Back On The Borderline and Don't Wanna Be The One (both from pre- 10,9,8,... days) help to restore the balance somewhat, as do the breakthroughs Power And The Passion and US Forces. However it's still ironic (though understandable) that the focus of this collection is not on the band's most vital early work but rather on the commercially more successful material of the late '80s (ie Beds Are Burning, The Dead Heart, Forgotten Years, Blue Sky Mine, Dreamworld etc).
Of course those are just petty gripes of a fan who's got all the songs anyway. As a summation of the Oils career thus far, this is an excellent set. Along with (to my mind) their best album, 1979's Head Injuries and the live cuts from 1992's Scream In Blue, 20,000 Watt RSL is essential listening. Included in the package is an eloquent essay written by acclaimed Australian author Tim Winton. Having never seen the band live he's perhaps not the most qualified fan around, but as a writer few could articulate what makes MO great in the way that Winton has.
Reviewer: Peter Strelan