Midnight Oil 20,000 Watt R.S.L. CD

Midnight Oil includes: Peter Garrett, Jim Moginie, Rob Hirst.
Producers include: Midnight Oil, Magoo, Nick Launay, Warne Livesay, Glyn Johns.
Includes liner notes by Tim Winton.
Liner Note Author: Tim Winton.
Photographers: Youri Lenquette; Ken Duncann; Adrienne Overall; Andrzej Liguz; Philip Morris.
Most of Midnight Oil's late-'80s and early-'90s hits are on the band's first compilation, 20,000 Watt R.S.L.: Greatest Hits -- "Beds Are Burning," "The Dead Heart," "Dreamworld," "Blue Sky Mine," "Forgotten Years," "King of the Mountain," "Truganini" -- and many highlights from the group's early albums ("Power and the Passion," "Kosciuszko," "US Forces," "Best of Both Worlds," "Back on the Borderline," "Don't Wanna Be the One") are also present. The music is not sequenced chronologically -- it flips between the two periods of the group's career with no rhyme or reason, adding two new tracks ("What Goes On," "White Skin Black Heart") from the group's (then) forthcoming 1998 album, Redneck Wonderland. Even though the non-chronological running order is frustrating, it's a worthwhile retrospective, since the compilation features everything a casual fan could want. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
As Midnight Oil's first compilation, 20,000 Watt R.S.L.: Greatest Hits isn't all it could have been. Most of the group's late-'80s and early-'90s hits are here -- "Beds Are Burning," "The Dead Heart," "Dreamworld," "Blue Sky Mine," "Forgotten Years," "King of the Mountain," "Truganini" -- and many highlights from the group's early albums ("Power and the Passion," "Kosciuszko," "US Forces," "Best of Both Worlds," "Back on the Borderline," "Don't Wanna Be the One") are also present. However, the music is not sequenced chronologically -- it flips between the two periods of the group's career with no rhyme or reason, adding two new tracks ("What Goes On," "White Skin Black Heart") from the group's 1998 album, Redneck Wonderland. The result is a jumble that doesn't give a good sense of Midnight Oil's career, but provides enough of their highlights to make it worthwhile for casual fans. However, anyone wanting a true sense of the band's progression will have to wait for another compilation. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Since its 1978 debut, Midnight Oil has poured its passion for left-wing causes into an impressive canon that combines intelligent lyrics with hook-laden choruses and slashing rhythms. 20,000 WATT R.SL. simultaneously looks to the past and forward, including two newer songs from the forthcoming REDNECK WONDERLAND. Though the band's geographical references tend to be Aussie-centric, the injustices the Oils decry, ranging from the mistreatment of native people and culture ("Beds Are Burning") to the greed of corporations ("Blue Sky Mine"), are universal. Guitarists Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey rage throughout with Garrett's voice leading the charge on "Best Of Both Worlds," occasionally slowing up enough to warble on harmonica ("Truganini"). Clinging to the ideological and musical tenets of punk, 20,000 WATT R.S.L. is a primer for the only band that continues to matter in these regards.Entertainment Weekly (12/12/97, p.91) - "...Eccentric surf jangles and stomp beats derived from aboriginal folk music add up to a forward motion more convincing in its resolute righteousness than U2, if not quite the Clash."
- Rating: A-