Midnight Oil: THE HARDEST LINE
Midnight Oil
THE HARDEST LINE – a review!
By Ian Browne
I’d say Midnight Oil would have to be my favourite Australian band of all time. This group means a lot to many people, and over a long period of time. I saw this splendid film doco in Byron recently and on its finality, I turned to the fella seated next to me and asked what he thought. He seemed to have tears in his eyes and nodded his head enthusiastically, saying “yes” as to how much he appreciated the documentary. I spoke online with Peter Garret the day before I saw the film and both he and Rob Hirst appreciated my interest.
Now, I am not going to give too much away, but those hoping to see file footage of live concerts here and abroad will not be disappointed. I love watching the early 80’s concert at Wanda, my beach of choice while living in Cronulla as a child into manhood, and it arrives to the big screen too. Yes, it is a timeline through the ages; the activism and its impacts for band, their followers, and hasn’t there been plenty of those! This is for the fans, the curious, those that love music documentaries, music in general. There are some fabulous soundscapes through their diary…and at more than two hours in length, it is smooth sailing and seems to fly by. It was well worth the experience!
I really enjoyed some of their earlier tunes not known to me during the Narrabeen days. And what I also appreciated is how ‘into’ the Oils the North American & European community is. They get it! And they appreciate how the Oils have brought Indigenous issues to the forefront of mind. As for the end of the doco, the journey there is spellbinding, tinged with sadness, and nostalgic, and my favourite song from this band explodes from the screen to wrap it all up! But I want to end this narrative with a song from an era in music that was instrumental in shaping my later life. 10 to 1 was a very important album, here and overseas. From this album the song Scream in Blue held such wonder: a deep rich darkness that stole my moment. When discovering from The Hardest Line where, why, and how this album was produced, it made sense to me of my passion for post-punk and goth as time moseyed along, though this number definitely still encapsulates the Oz outback and driving through the bush at night. I love the Oils and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon in Byron with them all.
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