Review of Midnight Oil, Head Injuries and Place Without A Postcard

(Original article online here)

At their best, the Australian band Midnight Oil reminds you of an express train roaring past at a distance of about four feet. Loud and fierce in the finest rock & roll tradition, they manage to escape too close a connection with heavy metal largely through Rob Hirst's fiery and inventive drumming. The muscular melodies save the power chording from predictability, as do the dynamics of the interplay between guitarists Martin Rotsey and Jim Moginie. Most of Midnight Oil's songs belong to the social comment genre, raging at suburban passivity and political corruption with the energy and the anger of the impassioned outsider. This commitment has been carried through in the band's consistent refusal to participate in the charades of rock & roll publicity, maintaining independence from the compromises dictated by major record labels. That integrity need not be a commercial liability is indicated by the fact that Head Injuries went gold without the benefit of mainstream AM radio play or appearances on the mindless TV shows that are the PR man's sine qua non of rock success in Australia. While singer Peter Garrett's furious onstage performance is legendary in Australia, the three albums on their appropriately named Powderworks label provide a good crystallization of Midnight Oil's fire and fervor.

From The New Rolling Stone Record Guide, by S.M.

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