Resist (studio album) by Midnight Oil

From Brad1770 07/23/2022 05:43

For me when a beloved artist calls it a day its like a death in the family, and so it goes the great Midnight Oil sign off forever with the excellent ‘Resist’

My love affair with Midnight Oil goes all the way back to 1981 when I “loaned” my sisters cassette tape copy of ‘Place Without a Postcard’ and peaked with their iconic 1987 masterpiece ‘Diesel and Dust’ and equally iconic ‘Blue Sky Mining’ three years later which would close out MO phase one. Admittedly the quality dipped during MO phase two with a couple of duds, then seemingly out of nowhere MO phase three emerged energised, angry and with plenty to say in 2020 with ‘The Makarrata Project’ (my 2020 album of the year cruelly denied ARIA top honours) and afore mentioned ‘Resist’

Lyrically Garrett is back to his on point scathing best here taking a staple to sea-levels (“Rising Seas”), river pollution (“The Barka-Darling River” Australia’s third longest river), rain forest destruction (“Tarkine” / Tarkine rainforest Tasmania Australia ), fossil fuel (“At the Time of Writing” and “To the Ends of the Earth”), destruction of the Great Barrier Reef (“Reef”) and land rights (“Lost At Sea”). This isn’t their best work as some reviews have claimed but its defiantly in their best 7 albums

This album also sits as a tribute to band member since 1987 Bones Hillman who sadly passed away just prior to its release and whom receives album credits here for bass and vocals

“Who left the bag of idiots open?”

“Who drank the bottle of bad ideas?”

“Who drew the last drop from bottom”

From The Barka-Darling River

Peter Garrett misses no one on the way out