Blue Sky Mining

Success hadn't changed Midnight Oil with its 1990 album Blue Sky Mining. The Australian band had finally broken through with its previous record, Diesel and Dust, but chart accomplishments didn't temper the group. Blue Sky Mining found lead singer Peter Garrett and the boys singing about familiar themes with their usual passion. The songs aren't quite on par with those from Diesel and Dust, but there's still enough here to make it a worthy follow-up. The lead track, "Blue Sky Mine," dealt with the oppression of the lower working class within the context of a mining company. The immediately catchy cut managed to find mid-chart success. Other notable tracks are the driving "Forgotten Years," which also managed a bit of airplay, and the menacing "Mountains of Burma." The band stumbles only once, on the clumsy love song "Shakers and Movers." — Tom Demalon.