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Breathe |
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Breathe
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Breathe |
When do you stop making music and do something else with your life? Many musicians must ask themselves that question as they get on in their careers. Often the answer is "when I stop enjoying myself" which seems like a fair enough response. But what about the enjoyment of those who have to listen to it?
In the case of Midnight Oil, their best work is well and truly behind them. That's not to say that Breathe is a bad record. It's not. There are some excellent tunes and as ever, mainman Peter Garrett has incisive, interesting things to say.
The problem is one of relevance. There are too many other new and exciting events happening in music today for most of us to have time for an aging Australian rock band. The bio which came with this album only has room to mention Midnight Oil records going back to 1987's Diesel and Dust, failing to mention the four or five records they released before this. This shows how long these guys have been plugging away in both the live arena and the studio. Some of their best stuff was recorded in the late seventies-early eighties (see the albums Red Sails in the Sunset and 10, 9, 8... for the Oils in true form) and it's always hard to keep momentum up for this long. They haven't kept it up and should think about other activities.
Still, it could be worse - a new INXS record anyone?
Reviewer: Dominic