the gtr pedal Jim uses on this song is a coron sound cutter pedal, one of the rarest pedals, I've only ever seen 2, the one of Jims, and the one I found after years of searching...
Short Memory is an incredible song, one that gets better with age and still gives goosebumps after all of these years. Sounds like a little non-standard time signatures in a few places?
I came to hate those 12-inch "singles". I know why they existed - for the dance circuit - but I still hate them. I can almost picture the engineer grinning like an idiot and saying "Listen, aren't I clever, just when you thought it was going to end, I spliced that bit in and then that part repeats.... and repeats... and repeats..." A well constructed song tells a narrative, or makes a statement.... then ends. There are good songs of two minutes, three minutes, seven minutes and twenty minutes, that make uses of the time and don't outstay their welcome. to take a song that was originally three minutes long, said its piece and then quit, and to drag it out to fifteen or twenty minutes I have always considered a travesty
Im pretty sure short memory is a 3/4 with some accents in places that dont actually change the signature. Im sure someone will correct me if im wrong though
I enjoyed some, but most were just awful ... with the vocal chop ups that were stale after the first person did it lol
They obviously taped those concerts at the Ent Cent in 1983 but this is the only clip I've seen. Oh how I wish they would release it all.
The not so smart Americans would be offended but the smart one would be nodding their heads in agreement. "Now market movements call the shots, business deals in parking lots" such a great line.
Just wanted to say I have a picture sleeve 7" single of P&TP. And also to say thank you to the OP, I'm loving this thread!
Friday 4:22PM, up at 5:30 tomorrow morning and up to Sydney for the annual company locked in a conference ballroom blah blah blah...weekend. I can't wait.... Midnight Oil - 10 to 1 CBS Canada 1982 A big soundtrack to my 18th year on this crazy planet, a masterpiece and their finest work IMHO...
i like a lot of the Oils stuff, but 10-1, for me, stands so high above the rest, it's crazy. It's like the planets aligned for the band or something.
Power And The Passion The Oils may well have had a bit of a dig at U.S. political machinations in U.S. forces, but this track shows quite clearly that the band wasn't against a little subtle criticism of their homeland either. This song is quite magnificent. Some wonderful walking guitar and bass lines entwining with a drum machine holding a straight beat as Rob Hirst shows some of his great chops around it. This song even has a drum lead break that gets and keeps the attention. Then as the song hits the coda, a magnificent horn line that has become iconic in itself, in Australia at least. Lyrics People, wasting away in paradise Going backward, once in a while Moving ahead, falling behind What do you believe, what do you believe What do you believe is true Nothing they say makes a difference this way Nothing they say will do Take all the trouble that you can afford At least you won't have time to be bored Oh the power and the passion, oh the temper of the time Oh the power and the passion Sometimes you've got to take the hardest line Sun burnt faces around, with skin so brown Smiling zinc cream and crowds, Sundays the beach never a cloud Breathing eucalypti, pushing panel vans Stuff and munch junk food Laughing at the truth, 'cause Gough was tough till he hit the rough Uncle Sam and John were quite enough Too much of sunshine too much of sky It's enough to make you want to cry Oh the power I see buildings, clothing the sky, in paradise Sydney, nights are warm Daytime telly, blue rinse dawn Dad's so bad he lives in the pub, it's a underarms and football clubs Flat chat, Pine Gap, in every home a Big Mac And no one goes outback, that's that You take what you get and get what you please It's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees Oh the power
Maralinga This song is about many different things but Maralinga was the site of British nuclear testing in the fifties, and that is the major subtle focus of these lyrics. It is a town in the remote western area of South Australia. It was/is also the home to a southern Pitjantjatjara Indigenous Australian people. This is a fantastic song in it's arrangement and construct. As someone stated earlier (sorry I don't remember who, and I don't have time to look) Maralinga and Tin Legs and Tin Mines are like hidden treasures on an album with so many stand out tracks it is ridiculous. Lyrics I come from a land of wide open spaces Where the world turns around us and we just follow suit There's heat in the air and peace reigns supreme Got white flags on the clothes lines and the deals are new In the wind, the ashes fly The poison crown, the charcoal ground And if you can't see the smile in me That's where I want to be There's only God, There's only Christ Think I'll lie down, for just a while So watch and check them out and listen as we learn Throw the pearls before the swine, ebb and flow and turning tide Yes we watch and catch them down no matter how they jump The pigs will have to come to ground, we've got to make it happen now It's not really that new, try and make it happen now What are we to do, maybe there's a chance for you All around, an eerie sound Their dreams a cloud, their world in shrouds In the wind, the ashes fly Not much time, but time to try And if you can't see the smile in me, that's where I want to be I want to be here at the, I have to be here at the end
I always loved Jim and Martin's acoustic guitars at the end of this song. They complement each other so well on all the MO albums and here it's just so beautifully melodious.
