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Diesel and Dust

Diesel and Dust
MidnightOil DieselAndDust.jpg
Studio album by Midnight Oil
Released August 1987
Recorded 1987 Albert Studios, Sydney, Australia
Genre Alternative rock, Australian rock
Length 46:37
Label Sprint / Columbia
Producer Warne Livesey, Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil chronology
Species Deceases (EP)
(1985)
Diesel and Dust
(1987)
Blue Sky Mining
(1990)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars
Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4/5 stars
Los Angeles Times 3/4 stars
Rolling Stone 4/5 stars
The Rolling Stone Album Guide 4.5/5 stars
The Village Voice B+

Diesel and Dust is the sixth studio album by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released in August 1987 by Spirit Music label under Columbia Records. Diesel and Dust was produced by Warne Livesey and the band. It is a concept album about the struggles of Indigenous Australians and environmental causes, issues important to the band. It drew inspiration from the Blackfella/Whitefella Tour of remote Indigenous communities with the Warumpi Band and Gondwanaland in 1986. The album peaked at No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart for six weeks.

In 1989, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it No. 13 on their list of the 100 best albums of the 1980s. In October 2010 it was listed at No. 1 in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.

Midnight Oil spent several months in mid-1986 on the Blackfella/Whitefella Tour of outback Australia with indigenous music groups Warumpi Band and Gondwanaland, playing to remote Aboriginal communities and seeing first hand the seriousness of the issues in health and living standards. The tour was criticised by some journalists for being a one-off event instead of a long-term attempt to build bridges between communities. The band was galvanised by the experiences and made them the basis of their next album, Diesel and Dust, which was released in August 1987 and produced by Warne Livesey and the band. The album focused on the need for recognition by white Australia of past injustices involving the Aboriginal nation and the need for reconciliation. Peter Gifford left the band before the album's release due to extensive touring schedules, and was replaced on bass guitar by Bones Hillman, formerly of The Swingers. The track "Gunbarrel Highway" was not included on the United States version of the album, reportedly, because the line "shit falls like rain on a world that is brown" was deemed too offensive for US audiences.


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