It's hard for a band or artist to create music that is compelling even once, much less album after album, decade after decade.
Witness U2, the most urgent band EVER. At one point. Then, "Hey, get that off my iPod!"
Their latest music may or may not be good, but it's definitely NOT compelling.
I thought Midnight Oil might have wound up there after their 2002 release Capricornia. A couple of good songs ("Luritja Way" and "Tone Poem" (a catalogue standout) behind their single "The Golden Age." Not a compelling album then, nor twenty years later. I tried to like it. I couldn't.
Twenty years after Capricornia, Resist is released a year after it's recorded. The lead single, Rising Seas, is good, but it's not compelling. Or is it?
Like the album, it doesn't grab you and hold on upon first listen. It's not shrill. It's not edgy. And while the lyrics may be urgent, the music is not. Or is it?
The rough edges, if the band still has them, have been produced right out. It's easy to start with Track 1 and let the album ride. On repeat. I found this album on loop for days at a time.
Forty-plus years (40+ years!) have melded the band and the listener so that neither can surprise the other. There is nothing boldly new here, maybe nothing new at all. But it is absolutely definitely not a rehashing. Built on life-partner familiar elements, the album stands on its own as one of the best in their catalogue, and it is absolutely a perfect capstone. The lyrics are wrought with meaning and compassion - as always.
Peter's singing - does anyone recognize how well he sings? - is the best it has ever been in conveying compassion. Even when he's railing at greed, the tone is of a disappointed "let's look at the results of these actions" rather than angry confrontation. His emotional articulation has never been higher.
The Barka-Darling River - a standout - rockingly details a personal betrayal in politics, but then pivots to the peoples he was representing. A piano and a mournful "Good people... good people are forgotten..." I can't think of another Oils song that chokes me up. Almost every time.
These are no longer young men. They don't play like young men. There is no raw; there are no edges (there ARE some riffs!). They are, like us, mellowed. Peter no longer sings like his younger angrier self - but here it's a blessing, an empowerment. The anger which drove the energy also obscured his core. It muffled his compassion. Now, having not the youth to power the anger, the compassion is laid bare. Listening to him now, you hear his heart with your heart. It's beautiful. It's endearing. It's touching. It's compelling.
Is it their best album? Probably not. 10 to 1 is their creative masterpiece, Diesel is their rockin' manifesto. But Resist is a beautiful, just, and perfect conclusion.
Like their best work, Resist will endure.