Believe the hype: With their new Epic album, (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY, Oasis erase any lingering doubts that they are anything less than the premier English rock & roll band of the present decade. Here is a record brimming with that special blend of confidence and creativity, energy and personality, which characterizes such past pop masterworks as the Rolling Stones' Between The Buttons, the Small Faces' Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, and the Beatles' Hard Day's Night.
The successor to Oasis' debut Definitely Maybe (released August '94), (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY was co-produced by Owen Morris and Oasis Noel Gallagher and recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales. It features the premier US radio and video track "Morning Glory" and nine more Noel Gallagher originals including the hard-rocking #1 UK hit "Some Might Say"; the current #2 UK single "Roll With It"; and the future classics "Hey Now" and "Wonderwall." There are several rewarding experiments with strings and mellotron, and a truly epic closing track, "Champagne Supernova," which moves majestically from delicate acoustic intro to towering Spectorian wall of electric guitars and back again. (The song's 7½ minutes feel closer to three.)
(WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY is a remarkable achievement by a band which formed just about three years ago in their native city of Manchester. Signed to Creation Records, Oasis released their first UK single, "Supersonic," in April 1994 after they'd been playing out live for roughly a year. The follow-up, "Shakermaker," rose to #11 on the British chart, followed by Oasis' first Top 10 UK hit, "Live Forever."
Definitely Maybe was released in August, 94 and promptly rose to #1 on the UK national chart--the fastest-selling debut album in UK pop history. At this writing (in August '95), Definitely Maybe has been certified gold in the US and double platinum in the UK. It has hung in the Top 20 of the UK album chart for a solid year, and sold more than two million copies around the world.
Oasis made their US live debut during the 1994 New Music Nights festival, appearing at Wetlands on July 21. Their first full-scale US club tour began September 23 in Seattle, ending October 29 at a SRO (Sweating Room Only) show at Wetlands in NYC. "What separates Oasis from new American punk bands like Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins," opined The New York Post's reviewer, "is that these Brits look as they might actually mean it...In today's pop world of pre-packaged outrage and re-packaged dinosaurs, you can't ask for more than that. Stardom beckons."
Appearing on MTV's "120 Minutes" on October 30, Oasis band performed live and premiered a new version of their "Supersonic" video. (This clip would go on to establish a new record for the longest chart run--24 consecutive weeks--in the 11-year history of CVC Report, America's leading music video trade publication.) On January 28, 1995, it was back to Seattle for the start of a second headlining US tour of eight weeks' duration. This time, however, Oasis were playing larger venues--including San Francisco's legendary Fillmore and The Academy in New York--and selling out every show.
Oasis' last performance in their original lineup took place April 26, 1995 on the BBCs "Top Of The Pops." Drummer Tony McCarroll was soon replaced by Alan White, a 22-year-old Londoner who made his first appearance with the band on the May 4 edition of "TOTP" when Oasis performed their #1 UK single "Some Might Say." In this year's BRIT Awards, the UK equivalent of the Grammys, Oasis was named Best Newcomver. And in the "BRAT Awards" sponsored by New Musical Express, Oasis walked away with Best Album (for Definitely Maybe), Best Single (for "Live Forever"), and Best New Band.
In the summer of '95, Oasis performed at several major European rock festivals, including Glastonbury in England and Roskilde in Denmark, and appeared as the special guests of R.E.M. at their 100,000-strong show at Slaine Castle in Ireland. In October, Oasis will set out on their third headlining US tour.
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