Midnight Oil - Species Deceases - Expanded Version (1984-1990)

This album follows a very similar pattern to the last Midnight Oil album I posted. With that one, the band released a four-song EP called "Bird Noises," and I expanded it to a full album. This time around, it's the 1985 EP called "Species Deceases." The four songs that make up that EP total 16 minutes. I'd added enough songs to turn it into a 42 minute-long album instead, while keeping the same name.

The "Species Deceases" EP was surprisingly successful for Midnight Oil. It went straight to the top of the singles chart in Australia and stayed their for six weeks. In fact, it was the only number one hit they ever had. All four songs got a lot of play on Australian radio, but probably the best known song is "Hercules." (By the way, that title refers to Hercules aircraft used by the US and British military, not the legendary Greek hero.)

So that's a strong start to make up an album, but really, all the songs here are excellent. The first song, "Sad Dark Eyes" is a studio outtake that surprisingly remains unreleased, even though the band put out a huge box set containing lots of rarities in 2017. "Blackfella-Whitefella" is a song by the Australian band Warumpi. This is a version jointly done by them and Midnight Oil while the two bands toured remote parts of the Australian outback in 1986.

Midnight Oil is known for almost never performing any covers, but "almost never" isn't the same as "never." Three more songs here are covers: "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," "Know Your Product," and "Instant Karma."

This album covers the period of the band's greatest commercial success, including when the broke through in the US with "Beds Are Burning" and other great songs. I think they did so well because they were peaking creatively, and that extends to this collection of stray tracks.

01 Sad Dark Eyes (Midnight Oil)
02 Progress (Midnight Oil)
03 Hercules (Midnight Oil)
04 Blossom and Blood (Midnight Oil)
05 Pictures (Midnight Oil)
06 Blackfella-Whitefella (Midnight Oil & Warumpi)
07 [What's So Funny 'Bout] Peace, Love and Understanding (Midnight Oil)
08 You May Not Be Released (Midnight Oil)
09 Wreckery Road (Midnight Oil)
10 Love Life (Midnight Oil)
11 Know Your Product (Midnight Oil)
12 Instant Karma (Midnight Oil)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16376610/MIDNGHTOL1984-1990SpciesDcessAltrnte_atse.zip.html

The cover art is simply the exact cover of the "Species Deceases" EP.