AMG Review of 20,000 Watt R.S.L.: Greatest Hits

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Most of Midnight Oil's late-'80s and early-'90s hits are on the band's first compilation, 20,000 Watt R.S.L.: Greatest Hits -- "Beds Are Burning," "The Dead Heart," "Dreamworld," "Blue Sky Mine," "Forgotten Years," "King of the Mountain," "Truganini" -- and many highlights from the group's early albums ("Power and the Passion," "Kosciuszko," "US Forces," "Best of Both Worlds," "Back on the Borderline," "Don't Wanna Be the One") are also present. The music is not sequenced chronologically -- it flips between the two periods of the group's career with no rhyme or reason, adding two new tracks ("What Goes On," "White Skin Black Heart") from the group's (then) forthcoming 1998 album, Redneck Wonderland. Even though the non-chronological running order is frustrating, it's a worthwhile retrospective, since the compilation features everything a casual fan could want.