(What's The Story) Morning Glory - Oasis > Reviews > I Awoke With An Erection but Why

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	great
Disadvantages:	nay

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

We all know the score. We all know what's going down here. It's all over now baby blue.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory is the second Oasis album. It came out in 1995 -the height of the foul Britpop outbreak- a year after it's marvellous predecessor Definitely Maybe. That album had been quite unbelievable fantastic, with the birth of a new breed of baggy rock'n'roll being seen. That album had been a massive number one smash hit, that album my people was in short one hell of an album to have to follow up on. Sometimes when a band pull out a great album they follow up by trying to go in a new direction in order to avoid the inevitable comparisons being made and that most terrible of conclusions being drawn: The follow up ain't as good as the previous album.

Oasis didn't experiment. They went exactly into the same realm as before. Potentially then this is a tired and un-unique album. In reality however this album is in fact as good if not even better than the first one. A pretty impressive feat to pull off, whether they did it by accident (yay) or on purpose (nay).

So the mood of this album is much the same as we've already heard on the first album. It's slightly rough at the edges, big baggy and cumbersome rock'n'roll music. Although as we'll discover there is a new edge to this album, a tender edge almost. It's nice, real nice. I like it, you will too. Unless you won't.

~*~The Music~*~

1-Hello - The basic idea is to get the album underway in an upbeat, fast and soaring manner. The result is -to their great credit- an upbeat, fast and soaring rock'n'roll opener. The drum beat is groovy, make sure you pick it out from under the guitar noise that fills much space. "It's Good To Be Back, It's Good To Be Back" comes the line, nay boys it's good to have you back. Excellent.

2- Roll With It - Oh as anyone needs to tell you about this song! "You gotta roll with it, you gotta take your time, you gotta say what you say and never let anyone get in your way" - it's a masterpiece in short, it truly is. It's powerful, fun and just makes a great listen. Liam's vocals are of course just sublime in there most brutal manner.

3- Wonderwall - Once again, it's hardly a requirement to describe such a song. We've all heard it countless times and really it's hard to fault. It is very mellow for Oasis with that beautiful acoustic feeling. Outstanding stuff.

4- Don't Look Back In Anger - Yet another massive hit song here, and it all starts with some Piano chords and builds into a slightly hand swaying tune. Noel provides the vocals on this song, and a fine job he does too. Another very enjoyable listen.

5- Hey Now! - The heavier side of Oasis makes a return on this rather fulsome tune. The melody is naturally stolen from elsewhere but employed to great effect here. It's a great album track.

6- untitled - a brief and titillating instrumental break with effects employed and a rocking band, shame there isn't more!

7 - Some Might Say - Rock'n'roll guitar riffage here we go! This is one of those songs that you can feel swinging, and makes you sway with it. It's good, I always think the vocals are slightly too low in the mix and the rough guitar noise too high, but then Oasis are supposed to be a little rough. Great track.

8 - Cast No Shadow - This starts with some surprisingly delicate guitar work and soon finds itself coasting along with a string section, lorks! Some fantastic singing from both Noel and Liam, it' a well produced and fine song.

9 - She's Electric - This gives a nice electrified shock. Once again the melody sounds stolen but is employed excellently, and why not steal.. everyone does at some point! I like the head nodding effect of this Beatles inspired song.

10 - Morning Glory - Helicoptering it's way in the title track involves many effects and noises, a move that really works and soon a soaring riff led tune comes from underneath it. It's a great rock'n'roll track with that Oasis edge. What's the story morning glory? That's a question I often ask myself- in fact this song is relevant every day it seems!

11- untitled - another short instrumental / effects show off. Again, it's great but needs to be longer.

12 - Champagne Supernova - Seven minutes twenty seven seconds of bliss. It starts in a mellow manner, with glorious and moving vocals from Liam. And so it goes on, never tiring and never tiring us. It's a great conclusion.

~*~Conclusions~*~

Actually, it isn't like the first album at all. Well it is- objectively speaking. It's more mellow and relaxed in many respects. Is it better than the first album? That's a debate that will never be settled, I love both album myself. Maybe for me the first has the overall edge as it seems to have just a little more energy to it. Make no mistake though: this is a classic album with many classic songs on it, it's a must for a record collection. It's rock'n'roll like the first album only this time the bottom lip isn't stuck out quite as far.

It makes a brilliant listen.