My Amazon Reviews: Midnight Oil "Diesel and Dust - Deluxe Version"

Midnight Oil Burns
5 Out Of 5 Stars

"Diesel and Dust" was Midnight Oil's perfect storm of an album. Peter Garret was still passionate (well, he always was), and the rest of the band, in particular bassist Peter Gifford and drummer Rob Hirst, kicked up their best rock and roll A-game. The Oils shucked some of the artier motifs that bogged down "10, 9, 8..." and "Red Sails in the Sunset," and switched to dance floor propulsion. The result was the politco-rock of "Beds are Burning" became an international smash both on rock radio and in the clubs. Yet it came with absolutely no condensation of the band's roots; the songs were as fiery and as socially spiked as ever.

In fact, this may have been Midnight Oil's most homeland-centric album. Everything from the single to the closing "Sometimes" addresses issues in some form or another. Some are blatant ("Beds are Burning's" pointed look at aboriginal rights, "The Dead Heart's" anti-mining rant) to oblique (the plea to not sell out on "Sometimes" and "Arctic World"). Even the weaker material ("Whoah") would be great on a lesser album. It's a shame that few bands have ever tried to follow where Midnight Oil tread...it's been a long time since a band so forcefully took a stand AND made a successful commercial run at it.

Given the timing of their breakthrough, "Diesel and Dust" may have been at a moment when being socially and politically actionable was acceptable. 1987-88 were also the years "Joshua Tree" ruled the world and artists like The Call, Peter Gabriel and Simple Minds were making anthemic rock chart-worthy. But no-one mixed it up quite like Midnight Oil, and "Diesel and Dust" was the peak of their curve.

Bonus concert DVD shows the Oils at their incendiary best, and includes the video clip for "Beds Are Burning."

     

My Amazon Reviews: T Rex "Electric Warrior"

My Hubcap Diamond Star Halo
5 Out Of 5 Stars

Marc Bolan was an older man trapped in a younger man's brain. In his world, unicorns and faeries still ran amok, bongos were still pretty cool and twee spacey poetry made for good lyrics. But something happened by the time he expanded his band into a full unit and set forward with "Electric Warrior." Bolan discovered the magic three chord boogie and blues and found out that sleazy grooves were so much more fun that medieval trippiness.

Which made "Electric Warrior" arguably the first brilliant glam album. While David Bowie, producer Tony Visconti and Bolan were pals, it was another year before Bowie delivered "Ziggy Stardust" to the world and really shored up the UK Glam scene. "Electric Warrior" managed transatlantic success, bringing a taste of Bolan-mania to this continent via "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" and that single's stride to the US Top Ten. Yet, despite the "Electric" part of the title, Bolan still showed remarkable restraint. Only in the final "Rip Off" does the band go for some floorboard shaking.

But the real winners here, from "Bang a Gong" to the Chuck Berry inspired "Jeepester" and the handicapping blues of "Lean Woman Blues" rock in their own sublime way. Bolan was still enthralled by his hippy-dippy days, but it seemed now confined only to the lyrics (sample from "Planet Queen": "Flying saucer take me away, give me your daughter," or the bulk of the still sultry "Bang a Gong." It made its peace with folk, rock and shot-gun marriage to bubblegum, and you'll hear traces of everyone from Bowie to Mott to Slade (hey, if "Hot Love" and "Bang a Gong" aren't godfathers to "Cum On Feel The Noise," you tell me what is) across this album.

I'd also advise to find the expanded Rhino version that includes "Hot Love" as a bonus track and seven other bonus tracks, including an acoustic run through of "Planet Queen," and "Raw Ramp," a bonus single and a cool T Rex Electric Warrior interview. It's well worth it, just for "Hot Love" alone.

     

My Amazon Reviews: James Taylor "Sweet Baby James"

I Always Thought That I'd See You Again
5 Out Of 5 Stars

Basically the pivot point for American Singer Songwriters, "Sweet Baby James" was James Taylor's ode to fallen friends, new babies and coming to terms with being an old man in a younger man's body. Set free from his brief tenure at Apple Records but still with producer Peter Asher, Asher allowed Taylor a much freer range of music making the second time around. Gone were the Beatles-esque flourishes that buried the songwriting on that debut, in were gentle pianos, strummed guitars, and Taylor's voice as the primary focus. Armed with a batch of intimate and personal lyrics, the album became an instant classic in 1970.

It's easy to hear why some 40 years on. The confessional "Fire and Rain" ties the suicide of a best friend and Taylor's own recovery from heroin addiction into a deeply moving song about loss and redemption (and makes the cover of "Oh Susannah" relevant). At the same time, the title track conjures images of winter on the prairie as a lullaby to a newborn nephew. The album's other big hit, "Country Road," was all about soul searching for a moment of transcendence and wondering if it could ever come.

There are plenty of other reasons to adore this album. "Steamroller" eventually morphed into "Steamroller Blues," the staple of Taylor's live shows and a slow-burner event then. "Blossom" was enough of a favorite that Taylor and Carole King (who plays piano on the album) revived it for their reunion tour. Each song has a magic to it that Taylor would capture again on "Mud Slide Slim" and many times through his career, but this was the album that introduced Taylor and his signature sound to the world. Much due for remastering, like the rest of Taylor's Warner Catalog.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Prefab Sprout "Jordan: The Comeback"

Of Love, Jessie James, Elvis, America and God
5 out of 5 stars

A stunningly ambitious album, Prefab Sprout's four part "Jordan: The Comeback" is an old fashioned double album with a concept per "side." The first looks at love and the wildness of youth, the second explores American mythology of the 50's via Elvis, Jessie James and the cold war, the third, love as an adult getting married, and lastly, an examination of God and the Devil. Sterling production from Thomas Dolby complimented Paddy McAloon's folkish lyrics, and all together, this was as flawless an album as the classics xtc's Skylarking or Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden.

In addition to the flawless flow of the songs, there is an array of classic tunes to be found. The waltz-time heartbreaker "We Let The Stars Go" should have been a hit. "Carnival 2000" looked optimistically at the coming turn of the century with a Brazilian Beat and the Irish Prayer "We ask for any wrong we've done the years ahead forgive us. We ask for any good we've done that all of it outlive us."

Then comes the chapter of Elvis and Jessie, as Elvis watches his own funeral and complains about Albert Grossman's hack biography. Jessie James is a "dance upon the run," bemoaning that he's not portrayed as a culturally adept individual. Looking for class in his departure, he wonders "Don't goodbyes deserve some Bach, not Barbershop?" Meanwhile, Elvis plots his final comeback as the side closes with "Moondog." But the best, and most ambitious, part of "Jordan" happens as God and The Devil square off in the fourth part.

God wishes that his songs came to him as simple pleasures ("One of The Broken") as The Devil petitions to come back home ("Michael"). We're finally left with Paddy contemplating the afterlife, praying that he and his loved ones will meet again. After all, he sings, "If there ain't a Heaven that holds you tonight, then they never sang DooWop in Harlem."

"Jordan: The Comeback" is just as good as Steve McQueen (recently reissued in a deluxe version) and was easily one of 1990's best albums. It was also one of Thomas Dolby's finest hours as a producer, matching his love for Joni Mitchell sensitivity to McAloon's complex lyricism. McAloon also must have felt the strain of his own ambition: he didn't make another album for another six years. As such, "Jordan: The Comeback" is a terrific album to rest his legacy on.