Where would we be without Oasis? Well the TV programme "Royle Family" would not have a theme tune for a start, and the press would not have had as much to write about in the papers....
The music scene in the summer of 1995 was dominated by the battle of the bands between Blur and Oasis. In round one, Blur's "Country House" may have pipped Oasis' "Roll With It" on points, but in round two Oasis delivered a knock out punch. In the September of that year Oasis released the album "What's the Story (Morning Glory)?" onto an unsuspecting audience. This album had already spawned two hit singles "Roll with It" as already mentioned and "Some Might Say" which had already topped the UK charts earlier in the year. The album went on to shift more than 4 million copies in the UK alone making it one of the top five most successful albums in this country of all time. At the time of release the album was met with mixed reactions by the music press, so is actually any good?
Well yes, it's fantastic!
The album consists of ten
songs and two short instrumentals. The tracks are placed in a logical order with the obvious opener "Hello”, borrowing heavily from Gary Glitter’s back catalogue. This provides a good strong start to the album, reminiscent of their debut album “Definitely Maybe”. This is followed by the previously mentioned “Roll With It”. I have to admit that this is easily the worst track on the album. It sounds dull and weary compared to the rest of the songs present.
Thankfully this is followed by the highlight of the album which became the third single - "Wonderwall". This is a deceptively simple tune, which many people consider as Oasis' best track. It follows a similar style to one their previous releases “Whatever” with the acoustic guitar favoured over electric.
"Don't Look Back In Anger" was the fourth single and the first on which Noel took lead vocals from his brother Liam. This track also played out the end of "Our Friends In The North" which is one the best moments of British TV. Subtlety doesn’t seem to appear in the Gallagher’s dictionary as the opening to this song is blatantly “Imagine” by John Lennon. Having said that, it is perhaps the song that best defines the feeling in the country during the year 1996.
Next up is “Hey Now” followed by “Some Might Say”. Tony McCarroll plays the drums on this track. He was their original drummer before being replaced by Alan White.
“Cast No Shadow” is Noel’s tribute to Richard Ashcroft. This was another brilliantly simple track and the string arrangement is superb – one of the highlights of this album. This leads into the song “She’s Electric” which is a much faster paced tune. It offers a bit of comic relief on the album before we get to the two final epics.
First up is “Morning Glory” on which the guitars sound very dark and moody, these provide an excellent backdrop to the singing, which many credit as Liam’s best vocal performance.
Finally we reach the euphoric “Champagne Supernova” and this can be easily considered as Noel’s “Magnum Opus” (Greatest work of music – I had to look it up in the dictionary too!). The song weighs in at over seven minutes, which at the time was considered epic proportions. The string arrangement and appearance of guest guitarist Paul Weller” combine together to make this my favourite Oasis track. Unfortunately on the next album Noel attempted to go one better but ended up failing miserably.
The vinyl release of the album included a bonus track entitled “Bonehead’s Bank Holiday”. As the title suggests, Bonehead and not Noel wrote it – the first Oasis track released to be so. It is not brilliant but it is rather jolly, and the chorus is fairly catchy. Recently CD promo copies of this album have been appearing in the second-hand market, these usually include the track “Acquiesce” which was later omitted before general release. This is perhaps the finest song to grace a B-side of a single (“Wonderwall”) and would have easily fitted in with the other tracks present on this album.
Overall the album is excellent and the band sound as they are really enjoying themselves, which makes a difference. Production is also excellent and has been kept fairly simple, later albums have suffered from trying to be too fancy.
Noel may have borrowed heavily from the Beatles, Slade and Gary Glitter among others to create this album, but he and Oasis have managed to craft a truly exceptional musical masterpiece. It is some tribute to them that since this album's release many bands have tried to emulate their style especially the track "Wonderwall" (Travis did an entire album!). Oasis might never again reach the heights they achieved with album but it does merit them a chance to stand alongside their heroes the Beatles in rock 'n' roll's hall of fame.
To finish off this review, I’ll let Noel Gallagher have the final say, "They don't write albums like that anymore, not even me."
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I thought definitely maybe was better tbh but their both masterpieces of the britpop era some might say is amazing along with some greats had this a akid and it scared the crap out of me when those 2 filler sound effects songs came up shudder nightmares which means it was a very powerful album at least er... hehe, great review
kingsanj 13.06.2001 22:20
Really good op. you've obviously put a lot of effort into researching this. My fav. track is Champagne supernova. i love this album, but I'm not sure how much is to do with the memories associated to the tunes rather than the tunes themselves.
Nameless 17.05.2001 22:52
Great op on a truly awesome album. Still the most played CD I own. :o)
Oasis were already dubbed the New Beatles before the release ofWhat's The Story--within a ... more
month of it going multi-platinum,The Timesclaimed they were more important than the Fabs; and Liam Gallagher was inviting George Harrison to fight him on Primrose...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Oasis were already dubbed the New Beatles before the release ofWhat's The Story--within a ... more
month of it going multi-platinum,The Timesclaimed they were more important than the Fabs; and Liam Gallagher was inviting George Harrison to fight him on Primrose...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: The album has good songs and very interesting lyrics, also the album has an atractive cover. Disadvantages: This is not what you would usually expect from Oasis
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