It would be a reasonable argument to make that up until 1987, when Midnight Oil’s previous album “Diesel and Dust” was released, they had been Australia’s band and that their sphere of influence remained predominantly inside Australian borders. While the subject matter of their songs took on influences from around the world the way those events were handled was more in a way that affected Australia and those who lived here rather than the world population as a whole. From “Diesel and Dust” onwards, although the subject matter actually became more intimate with the problems that faced Australia internally in climate change and social disorder and indigenous rights, it felt as though that influence became an international journey, with a gain in audience from many other nations around the world. That is only a personal view, and one perhaps judged from how I viewed the band up until 1987, and how I viewed it following this.
The band had toured extensively following the release of “Diesel and Dust” and had other major events going on during this time as well. Following the 1988 American tour in support of Diesel and Dust, on which they had taken Australian band Yothu Yindi with them as their support, Midnight Oil launched the album “Building Bridges – Australia Has A Black History”. This had many high profile artists contributing including Paul Kelly, Hunters & Collectors, James Reyne, The Saints, Crowded House, and INXS, with all sales proceeds being donated to the National Coalition of Aboriginal Organisations. Along with this, lead singer Peter Garrett was the President of the Australian Conservation Foundation, a position that was the forerunner of him joining the International Board of Greenpeace in 1993.
The band convened in Sydney to begin the writing and recording of their follow up album in June 1989, a process that took four months from start to finish. Following up the success of “Diesel and Dust” was always going to be a challenge. While Midnight Oil had already had an impressive career up to this point, “Diesel and Dust” had brought further international recognition, and this is something that they would have been hoping to not only replicate but surpass. Many would be of the opinion that they succeeded in this with “Blue Sky Mining”.
From the amazing opening of guitar and synth into harmonica and then drums and the wonderful bass line that takes us through the whole of the song and really highlights everything that is great about the track – the first moment for new bass guitarist Bones Hillman - the title track sets the mood of the album from the very outset. Peter Garrett’s dulcet vocal tones draw you into the song before the power of Hirst and Moginie’s backing vocals bring home the story being lived in the lyrics. The song itself addresses the exploitation of workers in the mining industry, particularly referencing the Wittenoom asbestos mines in Western Australia. It highlights the dangerous working conditions and the impact on miners' health. Lyrics such as “If I yell out at night, there's a reply of blue silence, the screen is no comfort, I can't speak my sentence, they blew the lights at heaven's gate and I don't know why” and “And the company takes what the company wants, and nothing’s as precious as a hole in the ground” show the take the band takes on these matters. Powerful, hard hitting and leaving no one in any doubt about their thoughts on the choices that were made between making money and their workers safety. The title track doesn’t have the hard rock stylings of their most famous protest songs of the past, but it is of the new era, where the music is a more mainstream commercial take where the anger is toned down but the rhetoric is not.
“Stars of Warburton” begins immediately following this with guitar and drums and Garrett’s vocals. The wonderful lyrics are an overall collection of the band’s most important values they fight against – overdevelopment of cities and countries, the advent of consumerism and reliance on technology, the environmental consequences of all of these action and the need to retain our open lands and peoples. The song is packed with these references, and the music conveys it beautifully, and the key words of hope from the song being “I couldn’t believe the stars of Warburton were waiting for me”. This is another of their moderately paced and less furious musically based tracks but suits this phase of their existence.
Rob Hirst’s “Bedlam Bridge” is full of lyrics that speak of the urban decay and social issues that affect so many cities large and small, touching on themes like poverty, crime, and marginalised communities. It is a song full of amazing imagery, none of it in a positive aspect, and was written by Hirst having taken a long walk around a certain US city and he drew what he witnessed into this song. Musically it reflects the desperation and starkness of the lyrics, and yet it is a most beautifully sung song by Garrett. An amazing track.
What then follows is the antithesis of this musically. “Forgotten Years” is performed as an uplifting piece. The message of the track is one that tries to talk of rectifying a feeling that those who served the armed forces overseas were forgotten, because war never truly touched our shores for the majority of the conflicts Australia has participated in, and this is a song that serves as a tribute to those men and women who did indeed serve to protect our country despite that. And the music from the song itself is such a mood lifter, and the words are sung with such passion that it has become a tribute in that way. It doesn’t serve to look on the dark side of those events, but as something that promotes pride in the chest and as a nationalistic call to arms to recognise those feats. It has been one of the band’s best songs for many years.
Rob Hirst is back again with another bleak vision of the world in “Mountains of Burma”. The music again moves along in a slow tempo heavy on the bass, explosive Zeppelin-esque guitar pieces and a very moody feeling throughout. His lyrics such as “Pack your bags full of ammunition, bills fall due for the industrial revolution, scorch the earth till the earth surrenders” are damning words, and are fully felt in Garrett’s vocal style. It is a sobering song but one that is still so wonderful because of its power of words and music.
The popular single release “King of the Mountain” has had an interesting existence, often used as a promotion of the biggest car race in Australia, the Bathurst 1000 held in October every year, and in reference to the man that is called the King of the Mountain, Peter Brock. As it turns out, this isn’t the case, as the lyrics suggest. Rob Hirst said in an interview that it is in fact inspired by a footrace that takes place up Mt Cooroora outside Noosa, and the lyrics describe the surrounding beauty of where the race is run. It has since become a multiple sports anthem in Australia and is one of the band’s most popular tracks.
“River Runs Red” addresses environmental and social impacts of industrial pollution, particularly focusing on mining operations. What an amazing mood the band creates for this song. It sends shivers down the spine every time I listen to it. The message of the lyrics is clear, but the music composed to convey that message is truly amazing. Once again, this is away from the harder style of music they used earlier in their career to stick it to the protagonists in their songs, but here the still and yet growing problem with industry in, as the lyrics say “So you cut all the tall trees down, you poisoned the sky and the sea, you've taken what's good from the ground, but you've left precious little for me” is mirrored in the music here, and it is a haunting song in so many ways.
“Shakers and Movers” is perhaps the most open to interpretation lyric wise on the album, generally floating around the same subjects that have been covered already on previous songs. This is followed by “One Country”, a song that emphasizes themes of national identity, unity, and social justice. It calls for reconciliation and a collective vision for the future, highlighting the importance of coming together as one nation with shared values and goals. Reflecting on the idea of creating a society where everyone has equal opportunities and rights, and where people can live harmoniously without divisions. It's a powerful message about the potential for positive change and the need for collective action.
The song rises from the acoustic guitar beginning to the piano joining in, and the song builds in passion. Then there is Bones Hillman’s amazing vocal line of ‘country one’ which Garrett follows with his increasingly rising passionate call to arms, that is increased by Rob Hirst’s marching snare drum evoking an image of a march down the street, with millions of people following the band in support of the message of the song, as Garret sings “One vision, one people, one landmass”. It is powerful throughout, though 35 years on our recent history proves that, despite a referendum that looked to be one step in the right direction that was struck down by fearmongering with no basis behind it, Australia as a nation still harbours much that holds us back from being the true lucky country.
"Antarctica" closes out the album, a song that once again reflects on the environment, the changes that are met by the industrialised nations, and not only harp on, as the lyrics suggest “There must be one place left in this world, where the mountains meet the seas, there must be one place left in this world, where the water’s real and clean” but also that even the last of the frontier lands of Antarctica are not immune to the progress of humanity.
A case can be made that by the release of this album, Midnight Oil as a band was beginning to fight a one band battle against the world as they saw it. A part of that was the way they now wrote their songs of protest. Lyrically it was still hard hitting and making sure that their target was known, but the music itself was not as belligerent as it had been even half a decade earlier. The songs here on “Blue Sky Mining” come across as more thoughtful more so perhaps because the tempo of the music is drawn back and comes across as less intense as it did on those first albums. Songs such as “Stars of Warburton”, “Bedlam Bridge”, “Mountains of Burma” and “River Runs Red”, along with “One Country”, are all in this category, giving the listener plenty of scope to hear and understand the lyrics and the meaning behind them. Mixed with the singles from the album, the one that gained the radio airplay to siphon the listeners into buying the album and then hearing these wonderful and important songs, it makes for an outstanding album.
For me though, it took some time to get to this point of the journey. In 1990, I was in a furious love affair with everything heavy metal, and pretty much everything else had taken a back seat. Even Midnight Oil, with whom I had enjoyed throughout my teenage years, were unable to keep up. The singles were all over the radio, and at that time I remember thinking they were okay. But those biases that have occasionally cropped up during my music listening life – you know, where songs are so popular that I began to shun them and the bands who produced them because I wanted the artists that I loved to get their chance at that kind of popularity – certainly hit for me on the release of this album. “Blue Sky Mine”, “Forgotten Years”, “King of the Mountain” – they were all good songs that I enjoyed when the occasion arose. But none of my friends or acquaintances followed Midnight Oil at that time of their career either, so I wasn’t getting exposure to the album or albums wherever I went.
In 1998 my lovely wife Helen and I travelled to England for her lovely sister Linda’s wedding, and afterwards spent almost three weeks driving around England and Scotland in a hired car. Helen had procured some Aussie artists to listen to in the car as we drove, and one of those was Midnight Oil, specifically their then current best of album “20,000 Watt RSL”, which got plenty of rotation and singalong vibes along the way. On our return to Australia, I then also saw the band at the Enmore Theatre on that tour, where to choose the songs of the set list they used a giant chocolate wheel on stage with all of their song titles on it, and spun it to see what they would play. It was amazing, three hours of great memories and great music. So, after both of those events, it sparked me into deciding I had to go back and listen to those albums I knew from the past, but also check out the ones that I did not. And “Blue Sky Mining” was one of those.
Now this was not a miracle rebirth and immediate love of this album. It was a slow burn, over several years. It came from growing older, and of starting a family. I had ideals but was rather blasé about how I felt about them. Having children tends to change the mindset. And so the lyrical content of this album became more important to me, and the maturing of my music tastes also brought this album more into focus. It might sound like a strange thing to say. Surely you either like an album or you don’t. That remains true. But the melding of everything by my mid-30’s meant that I was in a better place to appreciate this album lyrically and musically. Which is exactly what I did.
This review has taken me some time to compose. I felt it was important to not just give a throwaway breakdown of the album and suggest it is important without being able to express that in a way that shows the journey I have had with it. This has taken weeks rather than days, and close to 20 rotations of the CD and streams on a walk to get to this point. Almost each listen has brought something different to me from a song or part of a song. It is impossible not to rave about Peter Garratt’s vocals, Jim Moginie’s wonderful guitaring and keyboards, and Martin Rotsey’s guitar as well. What stands out most for me however is Rob Hirst’s drumming – again. But Bones Hillman, on his first Midnight Oil album, is supreme. The bass sound on this album, and the importance of it in practically every song here, is enormous. And his backing vocals, especially on the aforementioned “One Country”, are tremendous.
Of the 13 full length studio albums in the Midnight Oil discography, this for me ranks fifth amongst them. There is very little between a number of albums in this section, but I think for me fifth is a reasonable assessment of its quality. And it remains an album that everyone should experience, preferably while reading the lyrics sheet in their hands as they do. It is a terrific album musically, and a learning experience through the stories being told.
