Scream in Blue is a live album by Midnight Oil that was released in May 1992 under the Columbia Records label. It contains songs carefully culled from 5 live concerts recorded over a 9-year period.[1] The audiences sound quite large, but also included is material from a 1990 protest concert held on the street in front of Exxon headquarters in New York City.[2] The album is mixed so as to sound like one continuous concert.
The album starts with a scathing, nearly atonal electric guitar solo and never lets up (until the final, more subdued studio bonus track "Burnie"), careening through a hooky hard-rock minefield of clever, socially conscious lyrics sung with passion over a rip-roaring but very tight band.[3] The tracks were evidently recorded through the sound systems of the various concerts, then mixed to a clear and well-balanced sound in the style of audio verité. Also, at the end of "Only the Strong", a short sound sample is inserted containing some chanting taken from "The Drum Song" with permission from Phil Fontaine.[4][2]
Allmusic's review by Roch Parisien[2] is in praise of the album, saying that it perfectly captured the edge and power of Midnight Oil's live performances, which consistently outshone the popular studio versions of the same material.
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