tdh Opinions Reviews Redneck Wonderland

Redneck Wonderland

The Oils' Collection - 20,000 Watt RSL - came out around about November of 97. It featured two new tracks called White Skin Black Heart and What Goes On. These were two blistering tracks - full of raw energy, anger and emotion, and a perfect precursor to this latest album. At that stage a lot of Redneck Wonderland had already been written, but since then it has undergone some changes.

Since then, White Skin Black Heart has been re-done, as have many of the songs. This is the result of heavy road-testing of the album before it's completion. Indeed, the songs from this album may possibly have been heard live from as early as the short tour supporting Breathe (released October 96).

The album fades in from quiet. An almost ethnic-sounding riff begins backed by a sampled drum beat. Then comes the crunching riff - loud guitars from Moginie and Rotsey. The title track washes over with it's mix of quiet and loud, Garrett's words conveying the bands disgust in the tide of feeling currently sweeping some parts of Australia. This track is where we see the first example of the new Midnight Oil.

After the relative quiet of Breathe we have a "corrugated iron, fur ball, dingo smelling, razor edged, rubber spinning, trucker burning existence and state of mind" in the words of Bones Hillman. And he's right, to a certain extent. Whilst there's some hard-hitting tunes on the album, at the same time there's a couple of laid-back numbers - almost experimental in style.

After the first track we get the excellent Concrete - another rip-roaring tune, with a killer guitar line, not to mention the addictiveness of Peter Garrett's virtual screaming towards the close of the track. This is quickly followed by arguably the best song on the album - Cemetery In My Mind. This song embodies the best of the Oils as it captures an amazing mix of old and new - the acoustic guitar is reminiscent of such glories as Power & The Passion, and even The Dead Heart. But at the same time the chorus brings in the hard-hitting guitars that are characteristic of much of this album. Notable are the glorious backing vocals, as well as the simple but effective outro. The onslaught continues into Comfortable Place On The Couch. This track has a catchy guitar line in the intro and chorus, and is sure to bug you all the way to work and back.

After the first four tracks there comes a respite in the form of Safety Chain Blues and Return To Sender. This is where the Oils get almost experimental, and the results are less than astounding. Initially Safety Chain Blues is a little aimless and wandering, and to be brutal, the dischordant chorus leaves a little to be desired. But the "Make love, make peace" part is both uplifting and inspiring with an excellent set of strings in the background. Return To Sender is an odd track along the lines of the group Freak Power. While it's an easy to listen to track, it's not quite as good as any of the others on the album.

Following up from this slight break, the Oils come back with a stormer - Blot. This song meanders from hard to soft and fast to slow, and is initially hard to get into. But listen a few times and you'll soon get into it. Eventually it's pace will become familiar and then you'll be hooked. This songs leads quickly into The Great Gibber Plain a song which appeared first as an "ambient" version on the b-side to the Redneck Wonderland single. This version is much better, with some beautiful acoustic guitar. The subtle electronic sounds towards the end lend much to the song.

Next up is James Bond theme sound-alike Seeing Is Believing - an okayish track that may appeal to some. I personally found it hard to take this track seriously due to the Bondish sound. Then follows the two scorchers that originally featured on 20,000 Watt RSL - White Skin Black Heart and What Goes On. What Goes on is faithful to the original on RSL, but White Skin Black Heart is slightly different. The intro, outro and vocals are different, to name but a few changes. What Goes On is still a hard-hitting track, that swoops in, delivers it's message, and leaves you wondering what hit you.

The final track is another experimental sounding piece. At times Drop In The Ocean sounds a lot like the Beatles, but still retains Garrett's distinctive vocal style. Unfortunately this song belongs on a b-side to some future single - it's out of place on the album, and most certainly doesn't belong at the end of it. To be honest, if I had a time machine and a sway on the Oils, I'd encourage them to stick Drop In The Ocean onto Breathe, and grab Bring On the Change for Redneck Wonderland instead.

Overall this is an excellent album. With a few exceptions the album flows along smoothly, the message always getting across. The production is superb - raw but polished at the same time. The original producer was Lachlan Magoo (noted for his work with Regurgitator, among others). Whilst Magoo still gets production credits on the album, he now shares them with Warne Livesey (producer of Diesel and Dust, and Blue Sky Mining). Livesey was brought in late in the project in order to compliment the sounds achieved by Magoo. This has managed to give some of the tracks traditional Oils' sound whilst having some new blood as well. The beauty of this album has to be it's passion. Everything is sung with feeling, the agressive guitars reek of anger, and the driving rhythm smacks of determination. The artwork is amazing - some beautifully ironic looking postcards, portraying the Oil's Redneck Wonderland in all it's beauty, helping to convey the bands' sense of annoyance at recent events. Let's hope it helps to make a change.

Reviewer: Maurice Kelly