Photo by Allan Amato
Musician and activist Amanda Palmer has just released a rush-recorded, eight-song charity album in response to the devastating Australian bushfires, and you can hear its lead-off single — a cover of Midnight Oil’s “Beds Are Burning” with vocals by Missy Higgins — right here.
The album, Forty-Five Degrees: A Bushfire Charity Record, was recorded in five days and released this past Friday. It finds Palmer reuniting with her former Dresden Dolls bandmate Brian Viglione, who plays drums on the project, along with bassist Jherek Bischoff.
Other guests include Montaigne (singing on another Midnight Oil cover, “Truganini”), Clare Bowditch (singing on “Black Smoke”) and Fred Leone (playing didjeridoo on “Solid Rock”).
Says Palmer:
“It started with the idea of just covering ‘Beds Are Burning’ on solo piano, but then my patrons started clamoring for ‘Solid Rock,’ a song I’d never heard of, and then I called a few friends to help, and the next thing you know, well, we had a whole record. We tracked and mixed eight songs in about five days between my tour dates. .. If Australia is the canary in the dark climate coal-mine, I hope a bunch of artists making a response record like this, so fast and with such generosity, can provide a little crack of light.”
All proceeds from the sale of Forty-Five Degrees will go to Firesticks Alliance, described as “an Indigenous led network re-invigorating and teaching cultural burning and land management.”
Below, hear the cover of “Beds Are Burning” and see the album’s full tracklist.
Amanda Palmer & Friends, Forty-Five Degrees: Bushfire Charity Flash Record
1. “My Favorite Things” (Bushfire Edition) [Originally by Rodgers & Hammerstein]
2. “Beds Are Burning” (with Missy Higgins) [Originally by Midnight Oil]
3. “The Drover’s Boy” Originally [By Ted Egan]
4. “Black Smoke” (with Clare Bowditch) [Originally by Emily Wurramara]
5. “Suck It Up, Buttercup” [By Amanda Palmer]
6. “Truganini” (with Montaigne) [Originally by Midnight Oil]
7. “Solid Rock” (with Fred Leone) [Originally by Goanna]
8. “Regional Echo” [Originally by Jen Cloher]
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS:
- Midnight Oil to release 2 new albums this year, tour internationally into 2021
- Midnight Oil debuts new song, performs ‘Diesel and Dust’ in full at Australian concerts
- Midnight Oil continues reunion, announces 2019 concerts in U.K., Europe and Australia
- Midnight Oil details huge new 12-disc box set: Demos, rarities, B-sides, hours of live video
- Midnight Oil announces massive 2017 reunion tour, 3 huge box sets with unreleased music
