Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining

 

Australian band Midnight Oil made their breakthrough in the UK in 1987 when "Beds Are Burning", a song highlighting injustices against Aboriginal land rights, reached number 6 in the singles charts and the "Diesel and Dust" album reached the top 20. 

Follow-ups were released in 1990, with "Blue Sky Mine" being the lead single from the "Blue Sky Mining" album. I thought "Blue Sky Mine" was a terrific song so I bought the album, paying £7.49 in Our Price Records. 

Midnight Oil were being described in one or two quarters as Australia's U2, with a series of anthem type songs, and the active promotion of good causes. Singer Peter Garrett certainly cut an impression with his bald head and unusual dancing as well as being the spokesperson for the band on its environmental and activist causes. He subsequently had a career in politics, becoming an MP in 2004 then being appointed Minister for The Environment, Heritage and Arts by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2007, and Minister for Education in 2010 by Julia Gillard.

I liked "Blue Sky Mining" at the time, thinking it to be a solid album with a couple of high moments but very few lows, so generally in the 3+ out of 5 category. However, looking at the track listing now, "Blue Sky Mine" was the only song I could properly recall, although I thought I should remember "Forgotten Years", and hopefully many of the others would come flooding back !

"Blue Sky Mine" opens side one and tells the tale of the health issues for workers at the Wittenoom blue asbestos mines in Western Australia. It starts with a despairing harmonica before an urgent rhythm, poignant lyrics and a catchy chorus. A few years ago I saw actress Genevieve Lemon perform the song as a piano and violin ballad at some Australian TV gala on YouTube, and that was brilliant as well.

"The candy store paupers lie to the shareholders, they're crossing their fingers, they pay the truth makers. The balance sheet is breaking up the sky", 

"Who's gonna save me ? Who's gonna save me ? I pray that sense and reason brings us in. Who's gonna save me ? Who's gonna save me ? We've got nothing to fear. In the end the rain comes down, in the end the rain comes down, and washes clean the streets of the Blue Sky town".

"Stars of Warburton" chugs on nicely and has a catchy chorus. The second verse says something about Elvis Presley and there are some chord changes for the middle 8.

"Bedlam Bridge" slows the pace but is another song with a strong middle 8 and chorus. "Up on on Bedlam Bridge someone is waiting, up on Bedlam Bridge I'm shot to heaven"

The toe-tapping "Forgotten Years" is next. It has an urgent beat and an anthemic chorus, and is probably the closest they got to sounding like U2. "The hardest years, the wildest years, the desperate and divided years. We will remember, these should not be forgotten years"

"Mountains of Burma" closes side one, and hearing it now I found it to be slow and boring. At nearly five minutes long it goes on far to long, perhaps it would have had more impact if it ended after around three minutes as the screams and screeching guitar for the outro was virtually unlistenable.

Matters improve as "King Of The Mountain"opens side two. It's a pretty standard energetic rocker with slashing guitars and a sing-along chorus. "Mountain in the shadow of light, rain in the valley below, Mountain in the shadow of light, rain in the valley. "Well, you can say you're Peter, say you're Paul, don't put me up on your bedroom wall. Call me, King of the Mountain.

The intro chord sequences of "River Runs Red" could belong in a Crowded House song but the melody isn't quite as good. At one point I expected it to merge into the chorus of Bedlam bridge........

"Shakers And Movers" has 1960's jangly guitars for the intro before leading into a solid but nothing special song, but I liked the guitar outro.

"One Country" is a slow acoustic folk song that goes on for nearly six minutes. With the accompanying piano and the repetitive acoustic guitar riff it is quite nice, as are the backing vocals

"Antartica" is slow and mesmerising and builds to a strong cresendo, "I'm a snow plough"

Overall, Blue Sky Mining has a few decent songs but only a couple of outstanding tracks, and the uptempo numbers are better ie Blue Sky Mine, Forgotten Years and King Of The Mountain, Generally, side one works better than side two,

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Blue Sky Mine
2. Stars of Warburton
3. Bedlam Bridge
4. Forgotten Years
5. Mountains of Burma

Side Two :

1. King Of The Mountain
2. River Runs Red
3. Shakers And Movers
4. One Country
5. Antartica

Released 1990
UK Chart Position : 28

Singles :

Blue Sky Mine ( No 66 - 1990 )
Forgotten Years ( No 97 - 1985 )
Kings Of The Mountain ( - 1990 )
Bedlam Bridge ( - 1990 )

Madonna - Like A Virgin

 

Madonna's second album "Like A Virgin" was the the one that made her a global international megastar. She had already notched up three hits from her debut album, namely "Holiday", Lucky Star" and "Borderline", but this album included 5 hits singles and the videos for "Like A Virgin" and "Material Girl" helped establish her image. Until then I had sometimes confused Madonna with Cyndi Lauper !

I was late jumping onto the Madonna bandwagon, only purchasing the LP after the fifth single had been released, which was the International re-issue with "Get Into The Groove" added as a bonus track. With five hits that I liked on the album it didn't really matter if the rest was rubbish ! The sticker on the back cover shows I paid £6.29 in W.H Smith, who were probably confused over what side was the front cover.... 

I subsequently bought a copy of "Holiday"when I saw it going cheap in the shop that sold ex-Jukebox records, but I was surprised to see a copy of "Like A Virgin" with a picture cover nestling amongst my singles collection, which implies I must have bought when it was in the charts !

At the time I liked all the tracks on the album apart from the pointless cover of Rose Royce's "Love Don't Live Here Anymore", which I thought was awful and didn't add anything to the original. It thought "Dress You Up" was the best track, closely followed by "Like A Virgin" and "Get Into The Groove".

Looking at the track listing now, I was unable to remember "Angel", despite it being a top 5 hit in the UK, and kept thinking of the Stevie Nicks song of the same name on Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" album. Similarly, "Stay" drew a blank, although I could remember songs by Jackson Browne and Kylie with that title, and even "Stay A While" by Rachel Sweet ! For "Over And Over" I thought of another song from "Tusk", Christine McVie's dreamy ballad.

I was also unable to recall "Pretender" whilst I only knew that "Shoo Bee Doo" was a slow number. I also had it in my head that Madonna had written or co-written most of the hit singles here so it was interesting to be reminded that she only had a hand in "Angel", with the other 4 hits being written for her. In total, Madonna has writing credits on 5 tracks on the album.

The bouncy "Material Girl" opens Side One. I like the funky bass and synth intro, the male backing vocals and the clever lyrics. "'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash is always Mister Right", & "Only boys that save their pennies make my rainy day". However, listening to it now I think it is spoiled by the shrill vocal which borders on the annoying, but it is still a good song.

"Angel" is enjoyable dance-pop song but the silly laugh in intro is a bit irritating.

"Like A Virgin" also features great bass and synth lines although they are remarkably similar to those on the The Four Tops "I Can't Help Myself". There is also some heavy drumming, a toe-tapping mid-tempo beat and a sing-a-long chorus. I love the vocal outro. "I made it through the wilderness, Somehow I made it through, didn't know how lost I was until I found you".

"Over And Over" is enjoyable 1980s hi-energy electronic pop but the side one closer "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" remains at best dull.

Side Two begins with two great numbers. Unlike in "Angel", the spoken intro "I am waiting" on "Get Into The Groove" is quite cute. The song again has more great bass and synths and there is a great groove to get into. "Only when I'm dancing can I feel this free. At night, I lock the doors, where no one else can see. I'm tired of dancing here all by myself. Tonight, I want to dance with someone else".

The joyous and upbeat "Dress You Up" remains my favourite track. Starting with tinny drums, then an electronic pulse before the synths play the melody. It has a  killer guitar solo from Nile Rodgers, who produced the album, and another great vocal outro. "You've got style, that's what all the girls say. Satin sheets and luxuries so fine. All your suits are custom made in London, but I've got something that you'll really like".

The last three tracks don't match the exceptional quality of the two before, but they are decent. Written by just Madonna"Shoo Bee Doo" is a slow five minute ballad with piano to the fore and a soulful saxophone solo in the middle.

"Pretender" is more electro-pop with chiming synths. "He's a pretender, yeah you meet him every day. He's a pretender, like the fish that got away"

The album closes with "Stay", which has a toe-tapping Motown style rhythm. It's another track with some spoken lines in the middle.

In summary, "Like A Virgin" remains a very good album, a high mark that Madonna didn't reach again in terms of overall consistency.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Material Girl
2. Angel
3. Like A Virgin
4. Over And Over
5. Love Don't Live Here Anymore

Side Two :

1. Get Into The Groove
2. Dress You Up
3. Shoo-Bee-Doo
4. Pretender
5. Stay

Released 1984
UK Chart Position : 1

Singles :

Like A Virgin ( No 3 - 1984 )
Material Girl ( No 3 - 1985 )
Angel ( No 5 - 1985 )
Into The Groove ( No 1 - 1985 )
Dress You Up ( No 5 - 1985 )

 

 

 

Madness - One Step Beyond

 

I first became aware of Madness after their appearance on Top Of The Pops for their single "The Prince". It's far to say I wasn't sure of what to make of them, and there was much discussion at school the following day as to who were those weirdos ?! We all had no idea who Prince Buster was, and Madness didn't exactly fit into punk or new wave, and the ska explosion was still to happen.....

However, that all changed with the release of the second single, "One Step Beyond", which bought the Nutty Boys into the mainstream, and the rest as they say is history !

It was shortly after this point I purchased their debut album, so was already familiar with "My Girl" and "Night Boat To Cairo" when they became further follow-up singles.

I played the album a lot a the time, and thought it was an evenly split mixture of two distinct different styles, with the ska influenced numbers eg "One Step Beyond", "Night Boat To Cairo", "The Prince", "Madness", "Tarzan's Nuts", "Rocking In A♭" & "Swan Lake", along side old fashioned, almost vaudeville, slabs of everyone suburban life eg "My Girl", "Believe Me", "In The Middle Of The Night", "Bed and Breakfast Man", "Land of Hope And Glory" and "Mummies Boy". 

Lee Thompson's saxophone playing dominated the album, along with Mike Barson's keyboards, despite vocalist Suggs and the shouts and dance moves of Chas Smash getting most of the media attention.

I thought it was a tremendous album, with maybe the only low moment being the throw-away "Chipmunks Are Go". Perhaps more importantly it was music for people who couldn't dance ( like me ! ), but could happily hit the dance floor without any hint of self-consciousness or embarrassment ! Madness songs were certainly very popular at student discos when I was at college.

Looking at the track-listing now I could remember just about all the songs, apart from perhaps being a little bit hazy on "Rocking In A♭", "Tarzan's Nuts" and "Mummies Boy".

The album begins with the classic "One Step Beyond" and the now legendary shouted intro from Smash. "Hey you, don't watch that, watch this.This is the heavy heavy monster sound, the nuttiest sound around.So if you've come in off the street, and you're beginning to feel the heat.Well, listen buster, you better start to move your feet, to the rockiest, rock-steady beat, of madness. One Step Beyond.............!" Apart from that, the track is virtually an instrumental, apart from the occasional shout of "One Step Beyond", and is notable for the its fabulous sax lines. It is impossible to not have to urge to get up and dance to it.

The mood changes with "My Girl", which has more great sax and a funky keyboard solo, but tells the tell of a guy having trouble with his girlfriend because sometimes he likes staying in and watching the TV on his own every now and then :

My girl's mad at me
I didn't wanna see the film tonight
I found it hard to say
She thought I'd had enough of her
Why can't she see
She's lovely to me?
But I like to stay in
And watch TV on my own
Every now and then

"Night Boat To Cairo" could be described as Egyptian Reggae but it is very different to the Jonathan Richman hit, with again the sax to the fore and the lyrics conjuring up images of Agatha Christie's "Death On The Nile", and the supporting video had the band dressed up in pith helmets and Army uniforms from the days of the empire in Egypt.

"Believe Me" is another song with jaunty piano intro and sax, and the lyrics have a man trying to persuade his girlfriend he wasn't unfaithful with a girl named Sue, despite all the rumours she might have heard.

"Land Of Hope And Glory" has a military drum intro, a strong bass line and the vocal from Lee Thompson being a cross between sergeant major and cockney, with the imaginary description of how the various band members might cope with conscription and National Service.

The tribute to Prince Buster, "The Prince" is next with its weird ska rhythms and sax instrumental break.

Side One closes with the instrumental "Tarzan's Nuts" with jungle drums, piano and a ska beat.

Side Two opens with "In The Middle Of The Night" which is perhaps my favourite song on the album. Beginning with some street vendor newspaper cries, it's a happy musical hall song but with dark lyrics. Like Pink Floyd's "Arnold Layne" it is about a clothes line underwear thief. "Isn't that in George on page one, difficult to tell from his photofits".

"Bed And Breakfast Man" is another jaunty musical song "He used to kip on my sofa, they used to call him a loafer".

"Razor Blade Alley" features dinky piano playing and has another vocal from Lee Thompson.

"Swan Lake" is a keyboard driven ska version of Tchaikovsky's classic. I'm not too sure of the point of it, but it is all fairly harmless.

"Rocking In A♭" is probably best described as ska rock n'roll. "Let's have some fun tonight".

"Mummies Boy" is another musical hall style number with jerky piano, and is about a man who lived with his mother for 40 years, and local folks said he must be queer. "In the pub about seven thirty, mother makes sure his face ain't dirty". It has a frantic sax outro.

Next is another Prince Buster cover, the merry ska "Madness" from which the band took their name, before the final track "Chipmunks Are Go", a short a-capella chant led with Chas Smith with the band joining in.

In summary, One Step Beyond remains a great album !

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. One Step Beyond
2. My Girl
3. Night Boat To Cairo
4. Believe Me
5. Land Of Hope And Glory
6. The Prince
7. Tarzan's Nuts

Side Two :

1. In The Middle Of The Night
2. Bed And Breakfast Man
3. Razor Blade Alley
4. Swan Lake
5. Rocking In A♭
6. Mummies Boy
7. Madness
8. Chipmunks Are Go

Released 1979
UK Chart Position : 2

Singles :

The Prince ( No 16 - 1979 )
One Step Beyond ( No 7 - 1979 )
My Girl ( No 3 - 1980 )
Night Boat To Cairo ( No 6 - 1980 )

 

Vincent Christ - Fast Paint ( EP )

 

Again, not a lockdown LP, but after these diaries featured the debut album from Vincent Christ last year, here is a review of his most recent EP.

https://fatbearslockdownlps.blogspot.com/2023/05/vincent-christ-truant.html 

Since "Truant", Vincent has released a number of singles and EPs, covering a range of styles, including a continuation of 1980's post-punk and goth-rock, as well as dabbling into hip-hop and heavy rock. However, the Fast Paint EP shows a move towards 1980's electronica whilst still retaining expected elements of post punk/goth.

The opening track "Kingdom For A Glimpse" might best be described as The Mission meets Ultravox or Joy Division ! It starts with some urgent drumming, an electronic pulse and single note keyboards and there is some saxophone low down in the mix. I love the slow outro where the sax returns. It's one of the best songs in the Vincent Christ back catalogue.

"Rain In Europe" doesn't quite meet the same high standard but is still good. Again it has an electronic beat and saxophone, but the Cure "Faith" era style bass is more prominent. The lyrics include "Richer Than A Millionaire" and "I got the ESP". I can't say I understand it, but the video has some nice Communist Era football floodlights in the background !

The final track "Desert Song" reveals Vincent's inner Ultravox. Dominanted by slow electronic keyboards but with a deep guitar bridge, it is uplifting and elegant, and a real tour-de-force.

YouTube links : Full EP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhRTAv8tbA0

Kingdom For A Glimpse Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2981gpE0hE

Rain In Europe Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5IBZ4WKklg 

Track Listing :

1. Kingdom For A Glimpse
2. Rain In Europe
3. Desert Song

Released : 2024