Anyone who buys tribute albums and expects genius deserves to be disappointed. I freely admit I bought this album souly for the Regurgitator track and for a vague interest in hearing other bands destroy Midnight Oil masterpieces. I've been mildly surprised by a collection of mostly average covers by various b-grade Australian 'alternative' artists. Something For Kate's stab at "Dreamworld" is musically decent however I wasn't too keen on the vocals. Area 7's "Read About It" is Weird Al, except slower and shit. I'm surprised at my enjoyment of Frenzal "my god this band are crap" Rhomb's "The Dead Heart". It's sped up, it's "punk", it's rocking... but I think the vocalists voice fits and the acoustic ending is nice as is the build up "Uranium company!" section. Superjesus outdo themselves again will their continually dull production on one of my fav Oils tracks "Short Memory". Shihad (now known as Pacifier - Ed.) manage to remove everything that was good about "Kosciosko" which was to be expected. I didn't expect any faithfulness from Regurgitator and I wasn't disappointed. Wacked out midi shit with robovoice chorus fading slowly into the main riff on guitar... fade out. The song ("Stand In Line") is mostly irrelevant. Around this point I got bored until I heard "Power And The Passion". David McCormack should be round up and forced to eat his own limbs after this abismal effort. It starts with what could have been so much, a weirdo techno beat version... until the vocals kick in. The music itself had potential but the deliberately (?) bad vocals made me want to hurt someone... I came out of this album with the feeling I'd been to a cover band gig and everyone just happened to have played Oils tracks. In other worlds, loads of OKish versions of previously great tracks, a few "hmmms" and a couple of "oh gods" and a vaguely unsatified feeling on leaving, like someone had scratched all my CDs and forced me to listen to them anyway.

What? No Savage Garden version of 'When the Generals Talk?' ¶ Some artists have such a strongly personal stamp to their work that cover versions just end up looking ridiculous, like dressing up as Elvis for a fancy-dress party. I'd have guessed that the Oils would be a case in point.
I think what struck me most about this (my sister lent me her copy to listen to) is how disappointingly similar most of the songs sound to the originals - it would've been better, perhaps, if it wasn't just a collection of guitar bands doing the covers. And certainly, there's so much (guitar) power in the original songs that it's hard to want to take that away, unless you're brave. And it's a shame. This compilation could've been so good, and as one of this country's long-running standout bands, Midnight Oil deserve much better.