So why is Midnight Oil’s Red Sails in the Sunset on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
“Kosciusko” is a great example of what Midnight Oil does at its very best.
A jangling acoustic guitar intro launches into a driving and soaring rock number that leads to a catchy chorus, while en route the song’s history lesson and message starts to sink in.
What’s both incredible and somewhat depressing is that Midnight Oil’s passionate focus on issues such as racial tensions and oppression in Australia – and more broadly economic disparity and climate change – has never been more relevant than at the time of this writing in the mid-2020s.
I love that Red Sails in the Sunset kicks off with the striking, angular-yet-grooving “When The Generals Talk.” And I always dig the hell out of the moment when Peter Garrett steps out of singing mode for a moment to say the general’s really pleased in a withering tone.
And do these lyrics remind you of anyone – and any Make America… movement, perhaps – from the United States today?
Up there on the platform
He is speaking to the people
The people are responding
With clapping and a’cheering
But the meaning of the message
Not revealed to those assembled
They’re taken for a ride
Taken In his stride
“Best of Both Worlds” is classic Midnight Oil through and through, hard rocking and driving, leavened by a well-crafted melody and a super catchy chorus. The ever so slightly ‘80s metal edge to it is just a tiny bit dated-sounding, but I fully forgive it while I give in to the 1984-ness of this one every time I throw it on.
“Sleep” is a wonderful and odd track that broaches as far into what we might call funk rock (in a very white dudes from Australia context). But it’s also a thoroughly Australian-sounding number too for this Yank. If that doesn’t make sense, just check it out because it’s great.
And “Jimmy Sharman’s Boxers” does a great job of setting a somber, atmospheric mood before shifting into an effective rocker that lyrically indicts the titular character for exploiting Aboriginal boxers.
In thinking about Red Sails in the Sunset as a whole, I’m struck by how well Midnight Oil laces elements of rock, funk, post-punk, and its own native windswept Aussie edge. It’s an exceptionally strong album from both a musical and political standpoint, and like other great albums they’ve produced, it has a way of lingering in your mind and your heart in a good way.
You get pulled in by how innovative and catchy the songs are, and then the weight of what they’re singing about starts to hit.
And over time, maybe it shifts your position just a little bit – how you think about what the world looks like, and the person that you’d like to be within it.
Some stats & info about Midnight Oil – Red Sails in the Sunset
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Rock Music, Album Rock, College Rock, Australian Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Red Sails in the Sunset released? 1984
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #71 out of 1,000
Midnight Oil’s Red Sails in the Sunset on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Midnight Oil’s Red Sails in the Sunset that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
You say times are tough – we got the best of both worlds here.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.