Feb 14, 2018

RhoDeo 1806 Aetix

Hello, all that Olympic winter sports is taking it's toll, i'm tired now.....


Today's artists  are an Australian rock music band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard), Martin Rotsey (guitar) and Bones Hillman (bass guitar).  The band's music typically broaches political subjects, including the mistreatment of indigenous Australians and the environmental impact of nuclear power, and they have often lent their support to left-wing causes. The group have won eleven Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Awards, and were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006. Midnight Oil's legacy has grown since the late 1970s, with the band being cited as an influence, and their songs covered, by numerous popular artists.........N'Joy

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Australia's Midnight Oil brought a new sense of political and social immediacy to pop music: not only did incendiary hits like "Beds Are Burning" and "Blue Sky Mine" bring global attention to the plight of, respectively, Australia's indigenous people and working class, but the group also put its money where its mouth was -- in addition to mounting benefit performances for groups like Greenpeace and Save the Whales, frontman Peter Garrett later became a member of the Australian House of Representatives on the Labor ticket.

The band formed in Sydney in 1971 as Farm, and originally comprised guitarists Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey, drummer Rob Hirst, and bassist Andrew "Bear" James; Garrett, a law student known for his seven-foot-tall stature and shaven head, assumed vocal duties in 1975, and the group soon rechristened itself Midnight Oil. After months of sporadic gigs, they began making the rounds to area record companies; following a string of rejections, the group formed its own label, Powderworks, and issued its self-titled debut -- a taut, impassioned collection of guitar rock that quickly established the Midnight Oil sound -- in 1978.

After declaring their independence from the music industry, Midnight Oil grew increasingly active and outspoken in the political arena; after performing in opposition to uranium mining, they supported the Tibet Council before turning their attentions to the unfair practices of the local music industry, and formed their own booking agency in response to the monopoly exerted by area agents and promoters. With their 1979 sophomore effort, Head Injuries, the band scored its first hit single, "Cold Cold Change," and earned a gold record. James left the band the following year due to health problems; with new bassist Peter Gifford, they cut the EP Bird Noises, another chart success.

With 1981's Place Without a Postcard (recorded with producer Glyn Johns), Midnight Oil achieved platinum status on the strength of the smash "Armistice Day," which won the group an American deal with Columbia Records. Their follow-up, 1983's 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, spent over two years in the Australian Top 40; after 1984's Red Sails in the Sunset, Garrett made a run at the Australian Senate on the Nuclear Disarmament Party ticket, losing by only a narrow margin. Participation in the Artists United Against Apartheid project followed, leading directly into Midnight Oil's increased interest in the battles of Australia's indigenous population and a tour, dubbed "Black Fella White Fella," with the Warumpi Band.

The plight of Indigenous Australians fueled much of 1987's Diesel and Dust, the Oils' breakthrough record; sparked by the hit single "Beds Are Burning," the album reached the U.S. Top 20 and made the band a household name. After bassist Dwayne "Bones" Hillman (ex-Swingers) replaced Gifford, Midnight Oil returned with 1990's Blue Sky Mining, which they followed with a concert outside of the Exxon corporation's Manhattan offices in protest of the company's handling of the Alaskan oil spill. (A film of the performance titled Black Rain Falls was later released, with profits going to Greenpeace.) The album Earth and Sun and Moon appeared in 1993, followed three years later by Breathe.

Midnight Oil next resurfaced in 1998 with Redneck Wonderland. The Real Thing, only available in Australia, followed in 2001. It was a solid collection of new songs and live tracks from Midnight Oil's magnificent run at the Metro Theatre in Sydney. Capricornia, issued on Liquid 8 in spring 2002, marked the band's 14th album of its career. In December, Peter Garrett announced his split from the band after 25 years. Garrett, who left Midnight Oil on good terms, decided to pursue politics full-time. In 2004, Garrett ran for the House of Representatives on the Labor ticket. He won the Kingsford Smith seat in New South Wales and was appointed as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Reconciliation and the Arts in 2005. In 2007, Garrett was appointed as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts by Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd, and he continued to serve in various capacities until 2013, when he chose to conclude his political career.

While Peter Garrett served in the Australian government, the other members of Midnight Oil pursued various musical projects. The most prominent of these was Ghostwriters, a band featuring drummer Rob Hirst and guitarist Martin Rotsey. In 2009, Midnight Oil reunited with Garrett for three concerts, culminating in a charity show for Sound Relief. In 2016, a few years after Garrett retired from politics, Midnight Oil announced via their website that they were exploring a possible live and studio reunion in 2017.


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From early on, Midnight Oil earned their sound the way many great bands do -- playing wherever and whenever they could, and their eponymous debut shows the influence of their days immersed in Sydney's pub rock scene. Though they hadn't quite hit on a signature sound, the raw, punkish energy of their guitar-driven debut is exciting, resulting in some excellent songs, especially the powerful opening track "Powderworks." But as great as the songs are, the attitude propelling them is equally important. Setting them apart from similar bands of this era was their spiking of hard rock (with its decidedly non-punk fetish for wailing guitar solos) with the amateurish zeal of punk, both leavened by an impressive yet subtle command of dynamics. Peter Garrett's voice bounces between a soaring falsetto and a strong, baritone bellow, Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey trade licks (Moginie switches often between guitar and organ), while Andrew James and Rob Hirst anchor the proceedings. Because of this, the album shifts moods frequently, but the transitions don't sound awkward because the band is firmly in control. The brevity of the album's length enhances this feeling -- from the roaring "Used and Abused" to the moody "Surfing With a Spoon" and from the rapid-fire "Run By Night" to the down-tempo prog rock of "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained," the album is a pretty short ride, but an interesting one for the fan .



Midnight Oil - Midnight Oil (flac  218mb)

01 Powderworks 5:35
02 Head Over Heels 4:01
03 Dust 3:17
04 Used And Abused 3:10
05 Surfing With A Spoon 5:22
06 Run By Night 3:52
07 Nothing Lost-Nothing Gained 8:23

Midnight Oil - Midnight Oil   (ogg  78mb)

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Still recording on their own Powderworks label, Midnight Oil broke through to commercial success in their native Australia with their second album, Head Injuries, which, like their debut, was a record full of tightly arranged, furiously played and sung, fast-paced rock & roll numbers. Lead singer Peter Garrett, singing angry, sometimes politically oriented (but not, at least to international listeners, entirely clear) lyrics, took a backseat to the guitar work of Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey and especially to the driving drumming of Rob Hirst. Head Injuries was a stirring collection that served notice Midnight Oil was ready to compete beyond the borders of Australia.



Midnight Oil - Head Injuries (flac  223mb)
 
01 Cold Cold Change 3:26
02 Section 5 (Bus To Bondi) 2:59
03 Naked Flame 3:26
04 Back On The Borderline 3:09
05 Koala Spirit 5:09
06 No Reaction 2:56
07 Stand In Line 4:48
08 Profiteers 3:44
09 Is It Now? 4:22

Midnight Oil - Head Injuries   (ogg  80mb)

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Midnight Oil went to England to record and turned to a major label (CBS Records) and a name producer (Glyn Johns) for its third full-length album. You might have expected this to make for a sonic breakthrough, but you'd be wrong. The band was experiencing growing pains, trying to stretch musically, and, at least at first, this made for a dilution of their hard rock focus moving toward a pop style they hadn't fully developed. Place Without a Postcard had its share of powerfully performed songs, but its sound was light compared to the band's first two albums, the stylistic experiments were not yet bearing fruit, and, with an emphasis placed on the vocals, Peter Garrett sounded overly strident.



Midnight Oil - Place Without a Postcard (flac  255mb)
 
01 Don't Wanna Be The One 3:04
02 Brave Faces 4:48
03 Armistice Day 4:27
04 Someone Else To Blame 2:48
05 Basement Flat 4:33
06 Written In The Heart 3:14
07 Burnie 4:44
08 Quinella Holiday 2:35
09 Loves On Sale 2:22
10 If Ned Kelly Was King 3:39
11 Lucky Country 4:48

Midnight Oil - Place Without a Postcard   (ogg  103mb)

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Midnight Oil were already one of Australia's most popular bands when they made their American debut with 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and while some knowledge of the intelligent but physical hard rock of the group's first three albums might have made it a bit easier for U.S. audiences to swallow, 10, 9, 8... was a daunting first listen even for loyal fans. Blending an art rocker's sense of adventure and fondness for odd textures, a hard rocker's muscular force and love of power chords, and a peace punk's passion for an intelligent rant, Midnight Oil bore small resemblance to anyone on 10, 9, 8..., running from the dreamy but ominous "Outside World" and "Maralinga" to the bone-crushing fury of "Only the Strong" and "Somebody's Trying to Tell Me Something" while making a number of stops in between. Nick Launay's deliberately eccentric production made the most of the band's dramatically oddball approach (dig that panning! check out that drum sound!), and for an album that so often goes for the purposeful left turn, it's remarkably listenable and catchy, offering up one passionate anthem after another. The band's politics are both well considered and unapologetically upfront throughout, which probably didn't help much with sales in the United States, where dance singles traditionally don't feature the chant "Better to die on your feet than to live on your knees," and questioning American foreign policy is uncommon on Top Ten albums (the album stayed on the Aussie charts for over two years, and "Power and the Passion" was a major success on the singles chart). As catchy as the Easybeats, as sweaty and hard-hitting as Rose Tattoo, and lots smarter than either, Midnight Oil were among the finest bands to emerge from Australia during the 1980s, and 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 was their first undeniably great album and still ranks with their very best.



Midnight Oil - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 (flac  222mb)
 
01 Outside World 4:23
02 Only The Strong 4:34
03 Short Memory 3:52
04 Read About It 3:53
05 Scream In Blue 6:18
06 US Forces 4:07
07 Power And The Passion 5:40
08 Maralinga 4:45
09 Tin Legs And Tin Mines 4:21
10 Somebody's Trying To Tell Me Something 4:04

Midnight Oil - 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1   (ogg  100mb)

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many thanks for 'Countdown'. My cassette - and player - both deserted me years ago! It will be great to hear this again.

-Brian

Anonymous said...

Hi. Thanks for posting these albums. Just letting you know that the 10,9,8 disc is missing track 10 Somebody's Trying To Tell Me Something. Thanks.

Alex

Anonymous said...

Any chance you can stick "10,9,8" back up again? Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

Hi requested 10,9,8 on 29/6 but not sure if you managed to miss request. Cheers - great blog

Rho said...

Well you clearly missed my announcement my digital Aetix collection has been fucked up by a wrong driver when i had to re-install, i can see it but can't reach it, still trying though, because letting go of 3 terabyte of music including the roots section is much to bare and im still trying to get rid of the bad blocks.

Anonymous said...

Did miss it - apologies. Keep on trucking!!