When your first album was perhaps the album of the 90's, your second album gave it a good run for it's money you end up having to produce an album in the same league for your third album. That unfortunately didn't happen with "Be Here Now". Noel Gallagher called it the album written by "two gob shites on Charlie" and in places it sounds like it! Expectation would lead to the critics and the fan base demanding another album stuffed full of Wonderwalls, Rock and Roll Stars and Champagne Supernova's unfortunately "Be Here Now" failed to live up to the hype and was written off as dirge, mediocre at best and dire in some quarters. On first hearing I shelved it thankful I'd bought it on Ebay and not HMV. But it suddenly occurred to me What if it was the first album I'd heard? What if they'd released "Be Here Now" as the debut album? So I played it again, not comparing it to any thing released previously but listening to it as if it was the only Oasis album and you know something it went up in my estimation a good notch or six. Be Here Now's main problem is not the album it's self but the fact it came after two mega albums and it was assumed it would be mega too. Take "Be Here Now" as an album in it's own right and you know something it's not that bad, It's not mega good, it's B minus if you were to give it a school report mark. It's when you compare it to the proceeding pair that it runs into problems as it's then you know Oasis could have done so much better it's then you give it the " Could have tried harder" comment on the report card. It's never going to be a firm favourite and I doubt many Oasis fans if asked to name their personal favourite Oasis album would shout without hesitation "Be Here Now".

Before you assume that "Be Here Now" is a tired jaded album stuffed full of tracks written on the back of fag packets on the way to the studio it's not. It's like most albums, it has some good tracks, it has some ok and it has some bad tracks. As state previously "Be Here Now's" greatest problem is two fold, it had to compete with two mega albums and a distinct lack of outstanding material. Over production is an offender in places, "D' you know what I mean" is a classic example of this. It was rightly the first single of the album going to number one in the month prior to the albums release but it's a track the starts of as some kind of Art School meets psychedelia then goes into classic Oasis, to end again with a self indulgent Art School approach. At 7minutes 42 seconds it's far too long and the meat of the track is lost amongst the experimental intro and exit. "D' you know what I mean" could have been classic track if experimental over production had been left in the taxi on the way to the studio. It's a great track, it's got that pure thundering Oasis sound in places but it's gift wrapped with an arty approach that bares little relation to the track, which is a shame as it could have been up there with the greats you know!

Don't get me wrong this is not an album full of long self indulgent tracks as it's not. We have the classic straight for the jugular tracks, the mean, snarling tracks that are something Oasis can pull off with a certain flare and on some they do it with flare, two that spring to mind are "My Big Mouth" and "Be Here Now" -They've both got that classic Oasis sound - it's about playing music and using the tried and tested pack a punch method . Others that you would stick into the back to basic mode are: "I Hope I think I know" and "Don't Go Away".