Midnight Oil: Live at the Old Lion Adelaide 1982
Midnight Oil
Black Box records 2023
This fantastic live CD captures Midnight Oil as young men with their second band line-up which included Peter Gifford on bass, and it presents them at the peak of their powers.
The issuing of this previously unreleased desk tape has come about as part of the Australian Road Crew Association (ARCA) Desk Tape Series which raises funds to provide financial, health, counselling and wellbeing, and other related services for roadies in crisis.
These services were particularly important during the industry wide shut down due to COVID when large numbers of technical workers such as sound and lighting engineers, set designers and construction workers roadies etc. found themselves suddenly unemployed.
Initially the album was released digitally in 2022 but it triggered a huge demand for a CD from Oils fans and so “Frog” Harris, the owner of Songland Records in Canberra, coordinated a campaign to convince the Oils’ record company, Powderworks, to release the album as a hard copy.
His persistence was justified when the album reached number 7 on the ARIA charts.
If anyone was ever in doubt that Midnight Oil was the best live band that Australia has ever produced I would allay those doubts by playing them this album.
The song list is largely composed of tracks from their first three albums; their self-titled debut Midnight Oil (1978), Head Injuries (1979), and Place Without a Postcard (1981) and the songs are played at a frantic pace.
I caught the Oils live on many occasions during this period and I can attest to the mesmerising impact they had on their audiences.
No band that I have witnessed has played harder and with such a high level of technical excellence as Midnight Oil did during their 1982 tour of Australia.
Because they were playing just about every second night for a year they became remarkably skilled and incredibly tight and, although they didn’t know it at the time, they played faster and faster.
Listening to this album is mindboggling. It’s as if they were in a hurry to get the gig over with and move on to the next one. There’s an element of the manic about the performance.
Although it’s manic it’s also impeccably performed and a testament to how powerful Aussie pub rock was back in those days.
This album is a must have for all Oils fans.
