Midnight Oil - 20,000 Watt R.S.L. (1997)

Country: Australia

Genre: Garage Rock, Post Punk

Label Number: CK 68848

.FLAC via Florenfile

.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1997 Columbia Records

20,000 Watt R.S.L.: Greatest Hits Review by 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.

tags: midnight oil, 20000 watt rsl, 1997, flac,