(Columbia/Legacy) www.legacyrecordings.com

Back in the day, U2 may have beat the call-to-arms drums loudest, but another group, Australia’s Midnight Oil, was equally righteous with its social causes, among them the Aboriginal land-rights movement. Diesel and Dust, the band’s sixth album, was the musical analogue to the band’s activism. Issued in 1987, the record tackled nuclear disarmament (“Put Down That Weapon”), pollution (“Arctic World”) and the aforementioned indigenous issues — in particular, the elegant, propulsive “The Dead Heart,” sung from the perspective of a native (“white man came took everything”), and breakthrough hit “Beds Are Burning,” whose sinewy melody, insistent beat and killer chorus (“How can we dance when the earth is turning/ How can we sleep while our beds are burning”) proved irresistible at both radio and MTV.

In 2008, remarkably, D&D doesn’t sound the least bit dated, unlike many of its mid ‘80s peers. And the reissue’s bonus DVD’s visuals are striking. In addition to the one-hour film Blackfella/Whitefella Tour, a political treatise disguised as a concert documentary, included is the original video for “Beds”: as Midnight Oil performs in a marketplace, Aboriginals of all ages dance alongside the band, and the looks of pleasure being exchanged are priceless — and utterly moving.

Standout Tracks: “Beds Are Burning,” “The Dead Heart” FRED MILLS