Midnight Oil have agreed to release a 1982 Adelaide concert to benefit the Australian Road Crew Association (ARCA).
‘Live at the Old Lion, Adelaide, 1982’ will be the 30th release in ARCA’s Desk Tape Series.
The recordings from 26 March, 1982 were part of a two week Midnight oil run through South Australia and Victoria. At the time, Midnight Oil were performing 180 shows a year. Rob Hirst said, “I’m exhausted listening back to the tape, it’s relentless! We were, excuse the pun, a well-oiled machine, angry young men against the world.”
Rob says it was a very energetic Midnight il back then. “It reminds me of the breakneck speeds we used to play those songs!”
“The album versions chugged along but the live versions were 30% to 40% faster, if not faster.
“It’s almost as if we couldn’t wait to get to the (hire cars) and fishtail out of there!”
The recordings were made from the sound desk of the Old Lion by crew member Mark Woods. Woods had just finished with Men At Work when he started with Midnight Oil. Mark said, “On this run they were at their absolute peak. Much of the set was from Place Without A Postcard, which was just released four months before, so the songs sounded fresh.
“It wasn’t that they were loud, it was the power. They weren’t ‘screamy’ or harsh listening, they just had a very full solid big fat sound.”
This album captures Midnight Oil around the time of their third album ‘Place Without A Postcard’, one Hirst wasn’t happy with.
“The creativity and the song writing was getting stronger. But we were frustrated with the sound on the albums so far.
“They didn’t grab you by the throat and wrestle you to the ground.
“It was only working with Nick Launay (in 1982, on the 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 album) and disassembling the Midnight Oil live sound in the studio and starting again that we started to understand studio craft.
Credits are:
THE BAND
Peter Garrett – lead vocals
Peter Gifford – bass, vocals
Rob Hirst – drums, vocals
Jim Moginie –guitars, keyboards
Martin Rotsey – guitars
CREW
Mark Woods (sound)
Michael Lippold (stage/ production manager)
Ron “Wormy” James (lights)
TRACK LISTING
1 Written In The Heart
2 Brave Faces
3 Armistice Day
4 I’m The Cure
5 Bus To Bondi
6 Quinella Holiday
7 No Time For Games
8 Burnie
9 Cold Cold Change
10 Powderworks
11 Koala Sprint
12 Back On The Borderline
13 Don’t Wanna Be The One
14 Wedding Cake Island
15 Stand In Line
16 No Reaction
ARCA’s Midnight Oil album ‘Live at the Old Lion, Adelaide, 1982’ will be released this Friday.
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