Album Essentials: Midnight Oil "Blue Sky Mining"
By Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor
"Australia, the chance of a lifetime" - Ray Davies, 1969
The list of great music to come out of Australia is massive! From heroes of the 1960 like the Easybeats and Bee Gees, through the glam era of Skyhooks, punk pioneers the Saints, hard rockers the Angels and Rose Tattoo and on to Nick Cave, Beasts of Bourbon, INXS and Hoodoo Gurus, it's a mega-jukebox of great music, and I didn't even mention AC/DC! Among the many bands, only a handful really made a dent in the US market, in that camp we cannot forget Midnight Oil.
Issuing their self-titled debut back in 1978, the band quickly got noticed in their homeland. It would take a few more LP's before that attention circled the globe, in fact, the band's first three albums were not even released in America. Their fourth, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," became the first in late 1982, and with each following release, the band picked up more steam in the States and elsewhere around the world. 'Red Sails in the Sunset' became a favorite at college radio, and then finally in 1987, the band had a genuine hit on their hands with 'Diesel And Dust,' thanks in large part to the hook laden classic 'Beds Are Burning.' The video was all over MTV and the song on modern rock radio everywhere, Midnight Oil had finally arrived!
With politically-charged and environmentally aware lyrics, it was the perfect song to catapult them forward, though ironically, the song that would make them stars across the world was initially ignored at home. "When 'Beds Are Burning' first came out in Australia, ir didn't get played on radio,' recalled lead singer Peter Garrett in a 2022 interview. "Half of our audience went, 'what are you talking about, what are you writing songs about aboriginal people, about black people for, what's that got to do with us' and over time, I think people got to understand why we were doing it and what it meant to us."
So after the excitement from 'Diesel And Dust' had settled, the next hurdle was, how to follow it up? In early 1990 the band did just that with the striking 'Blue Sky Mining.' A Gold and Platinum hit across the board, especially in their native Australia where is went five time platinum, it was a self-assured statement that these guys were a force all their own. Songs like 'Forgotten Years,' 'King Of The Mountain,' and the classic ‘Blue Sky Mine’ would all drive the album. Produced by Warne Livesey along with the band, a conscious effort was made to expand on the signature band sound throughout the LP.
‘Mountains of Burma’ had a full orchestra and I believe Warne did all of the arrangements for that, which was pretty incredible," recalled engineer Brendan Anthony in Mixdown magazine. "The strings were set up in the drum room, but the rest of the orchestra spilled out over the recording space, which was quite large.” The entire approach to the album was steeped in adventure and experimentation, straying from the norm, even when it came to the lyrics. “Peter Garrett is probably the most talented person I’ve ever met to make up lyrics on the spot,” adds Brendan. “If you listen to “King of the Mountain” at the last vocal section, I think he sings lyrics like “over liquid tarmac wastelands of cactus and heat, down cobblestone alleyways of washing day sheets” etc. Have a listen to it. He made those lyrics up on the spot. Warne said, ‘Okay, just ad lib over the end’. He had no lyrics and he just made them up, and from my memory it was probably the first or second take. Lyrically he was amazing in what he could come up with for lyrics when he needed to. ”Garrett was never a one trick pony, just a glance at his life's resume of activist, law student, environmentalist, member of parliament and lead singer shows that his path has always been different.
A total of five singles were released from the album as the album became the band's second worldwide hit album, charting even higher than its predecessor in the US. The critics agreed as well, scoring four and five star review at seemingly every turn. While it was a triumph on many levels, it was also a turning point for the band's fortunes in America as it was the last genuine 'hit' they had here. Though they maintain a loyal fan base worldwide, especially in Australia, their days of global superstardom were short, yet very powerful. ‘Blue Sky Mining’ is an essential statement from an essential band.