I may be completely wrong, but my understanding is .... when you are recording - when i lay my guitar down, i am tracking my guitar. So if i lay it down on tape, i am tracking to analog. When i lay it down direct to a digital medium, i am tracking to digital.
Sleep This song has an interesting structure and a nice bassline. It also seems to reach into the bands past and the acoustic sections look towards the bands future in the diesel and dust recordings. Lyrics So you've got the blues The evening wore out your shoes To a shuffling beat It's a colorful crowd Spraycan information Cover the lonely station Checkpoint for the state of the nation On the missionbeat beat The radio drug Wayward destinations Secondhand sensation In the back of the cell The plug and the cord Shoulder dislocation Bruised in isolation In the eye of the storm Writing on walls Cross my heart confusion Looking for a new solution It's the heat of the land Swallowing sweat Say those dreams can shake me Dawn come down and save me Take this heart Break this heart Wrap it up and let me sleep
Minutes To Midnight Another great song that starts this album off so strongly. Lyrics Everybody say god is a good man Ah, clock on the world Driving a dump truck up to the sun A sigh in the human heart I look at the clock on the wall It says three minutes to midnight Faith is blind when we're so near Phar Lap floating in a jar Seas full of submarines, A.W.A.C.'s like flies Truth gets harder to define Talking in tongues But the dancer's hand grips the rail And fingers will blister on the 88's Hope drains out of the side of the page But ear's can't hear What eyes don't see And you can't see me Everybody say God is a good man Everybody say 1, 2,3 Set up those gunsights in H.G. Wells backyard I.C.B.M's, S.S.20's they lie so dormant they got so many Remember your childhood Remember the journey Hope is what you say and do
One of my favourites from Red Sails too. This is a great live version from 1985: Midnight Oil Sleep-Live_Le Spectrum 1985.mp4
This is where I came on board. I discovered The Oils some time after 10-1 had been released, "Red Sails" was their first album that I bought on the day of release. And it's still the one I've bonded with the most.
Jimmy Sharman's Boxers Jimmy Sharman Jimmy Sharman Sr refereeing a boxing match between Prest and Lewis in the 1910s Jimmy Sharman senior (20 June 1887 – 18 November 1965) and junior (1912 – 24 April 2006) were an Australian father and son, both known as boxing troupe and entertainment impresarios, with Sharman junior also a rugby league player. Jimmy Sharman senior[edit] Born as James Sharman in Narellan, New South Wales, the fifth of thirteen children to James Sharman and Caroline Brailsfield, as Jimmy Sharman he established a boxing tent in 1911 at Ardlethan near Temora.[1] The tent visited 45 to 50 shows each year.[2] His son, Jimmy Sharman Jr, took over the business in 1955. The tent formed part of the Australian Show landscape until 1971, when regulations barred boxers fighting more than once a week. A member of the "Showmans Guild of Australasia", he then turned to dodgem cars in partnership with Reg Grundy Jimmy Sharman junior[edit] Jimmy Sharman playing for Wests Sharman junior was born, as James Michael Sharman in Narrandera, New South Wales. He attended his first Sydney Royal Easter Show in 1926 working in his father's tent.[4] Sharman junior played rugby league for Western Suburbs Magpies.[5] He was fullback in Western Suburbs' 1934 premiership win against the Eastern Suburbs. In 1938 he became First Grade captain. He retired after 7 seasons in 1939 to become a journalist, taking over the boxing tent from his father in 1955.[6] Sharman played 45 games between 1935 and 1939, scored 12 tries and kicked 11 goals.[7] He was awarded life membership in 1998. To me this is the highlight of the album. This song paints a such an engaging musical picture it is hard, if not impossible, to gloss over. The atmosphere is hypnotic and dynamic and was so effective live .... I will be following this album with the Oils On Water - Live at Goat Island, probably one of the most effective videos/dvd's of the Oils live. Lyrics From the red dust north of Dalmore Downs Sharman's tents roll into town Twelve will face the auctioneer Sharman's Boxers stand their ground Their days are darker than your nights But they won't be the first to fall Children broken from their dreams But they won't be the first to fall Fighting in the spotlight Eye's turn blacker than their skin For Jimmy Sharman's boxers It's no better if you win Standing in the darkness Lined up waiting for the bell The days are wasted drinking At the first and last hotel Why are we fighting for this? Why are you paying for this? You pay to see me fall like shrapnel To the floor What is the reason for this? There is a reason for this? What is the reason they keep coming back for more? The blows now bring him to his knees But still the crowd calls out for more The drums are burning in his ears The man keeps counting out the score
Bakerman This instrumental is an almost bizarre little tune to be on here. A horn arrangement that sounds part thirties jazz band and part oom pah pah band. It is effective in adjusting the mood after the intensity of Sharman's Boxers.
I really like these lyrics. I know nothing about the evolution of this song though - would be interesting to know why the lyrics were abandoned.
