A short burst of the Oils to brighten your day...

First, this three song EP is not part of a new Midnight Oil project, despite all of our hopes. Rather, it is a release from French musician and environmentalist Alan Simon's 'Gaia' project and album (look for gaiaevent on the web for more information) - I think that I have the general sense of what 'Gaia' is about, even if my French is rusty (there is an English version, but I was feeling quixotically lazy tonight).

Recorded some time either in 2001 or 2002, 'No Man's Land' is not, strictly speaking, an Oils song; it was written by Alan Simon, but appears to have been performed by the full band (if it was mentioned in Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst's entertaining and intelligent book, 'Willie's Bar and Grill', then I missed it - and you'll have to order 'Willie's' from Dymock's in Australia or some similar source if you want to read it, as there is still no US release of the book, but if you enjoy the Oils' music, then you really should make the effort and read it - I enjoyed it a great deal). Irritatingly, there are no performer credits on the EP sleeve for the Oils' tracks, although there are for the ex-Supertramp song, but we'll get to that in a minute.

All of that being said, I love this disc. It would have to have been really bad for me to have hated a new Oils song, but, fortunately, it isn't. The lyrics are haunting ("and I remember autumn leaves / sweeping through empty streets"), and the music on both the radio edit and the acoustic version is solid, although not quite as bright and crisp as tracks from 'Capricornia', the Oils' final (?-hope not...) studio album. The song itself is surprisingly and somewhat hearteningly topical to my ear - more political than environmental: "And when at last I heard the news / about a war I did not choose / I saw the flowers fade away / I saw love, in disarray..."

The transition from electric radio edit, to acoustic version, to 'Love Calls Love', the ex-Supertramp members' track, , featuring John Helliwell, and Jessie & Bob Sienbenberg, is surprisingly good. 'Love Calls Love' is a quirky, entertaining song, and features a bouncy little clarinet line, which as a former player of clarinets I enjoyed a great deal. I wouldn't know a good Supertramp song from a bad one, I'll admit that now, but I certainly like this one (also penned by Alan Simon).

So, the final analysis? Midnight Oil fans, it's worth adding to your collection, I think. The same is probably true of Supertramp fans, as well as anyone who just likes interesting, thought-provoking music...or you could also splash out on the whole 'Gaia' album...it's up to you.