mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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definitely maybe (what’s the story) morning glory be here now the masterplan standing on the shoulders of giants heathen chemistry don't believe the truth
Definitely Maybe Released: 1994 Rating: 6/10 Track listing: 1. Rock ‘N’ Roll Star/ 2. Shakermaker/ 3. Live Forever/ 4. Up In The Sky/ 5. Columbia/ 6. Supersonic/ 7. Bring It On Down/ 8. Cigarettes And Alcohol/ 9. Digsy’s Dinner/ 10. Slide Away/ 11. Married With Children This record is some kind of mystery to me. I can’t really see what made the press and the kids go wild about it. I mean, I like Dylan and I can see why people don’t like it, but I can also tell you why they should like it. I don’t like Spice Girls, but I can see that they are appealing to the public (yes, I’m talking strictly about the music now, not about looks. But for your info, Dylan’d be the winner either way! Just kidding, of course…). Definitely Maybe has nothing that’s exciting. Sure, there is energy but it isn’t enough to make you sit through it. Liam Gallagher’s vocals sounds thin and insecure. The only thing to be happy about is that Liam’s older brother, Noel, manages to pull a cupple of good songs out of his songwriting hat. Live Forever was the song that gave them some notice at all in the beggining of their career, and it’s a good mid-tempo song with thoughts of life. I think. We also have Up In The Sky, that follows Live Forever. It’s a good rocker, but you should really try to track down the version from the group's MTV Unplugged gig a few years later. My favourite is the album closer. An acoustic little song with great lyrics not to be taken too serious. I kinda get the feeling that Noel wrote ‘em about his brother. Liam, on the other hand, sings it well and probably is thinking of Noel. It could be about their father as well. Or it’ just about being married with children, hence the title. What do I know anyway? I do know this, there’s is very little here suggesting that their next album would be a classic. This album is a classic too, but doesn’t deserve it. It’s dull and sounds the same from the begging to the end.
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Is this the same band!? It’s so good it’s not even funny. The only let downs are the two untitled instrumentals. They must be bad, otherwise I’d probably renenber them. But the rest! Look at the songs and try not to drool. Don’t Look Back In Anger sung by Noel, the great melody of Hey Now, the pure rock in Morining Glory and the wonderful pop in Some Might Say. You probably know all that yourself, since you probably bought the album after hearing the single Wonderwall on the radio millions of times each day. This is so much more diverse than the debut and the quality of the songs is unexpectably high. This is also where Oasis actually gave some points to their worst critics who claimed they ripped off the Beatles. I actually tried to figure out which Beatles-song they had “borrowed” for She’s Electric. For three years I tried to figure that out. I finally decided that they must have written it themselves. Talented blokes, them Gallagher brothers!
Be Here Now Ok, how do you follow up a record like Morning Glory? Well, one way is that you don’t follow it up. It certainly looked like that was the brothers plan. Fortunately enough, they got their act together and released an album praised as a successful piece of art in the the same way as Sgt Pepper was exactly 30 years earlier. Since then the critics have changed their opinion and calls it a fatal mistake and the beggining of Oasis’ death. I warm heartly disagree. I think it’s a superb follow up and if it weren’t for Magic Pie, the overlong All Round The World and its reprise I would gladly put a 10 up there instead of a 9. I wouldn’t hesitate for one second. Sure, some songs are too long, mostly because of Noel’s guitar playing. The solos has a purpose, though. They help to build up a tention that often ends up in a climax when the chorus finally arrives. However, the songwriting is just as solid as on the previous album, Liam sounds more confident than ever (if that’s possible) and even though some of the songs are on the boarder to overproduced, they do rock.
The Masterplan Released: 1998 Rating: 8/10 Track listing: 1. Acuiesce/ 2. Underneath The Sky/ 3. Talk Tonight/ 4. Going Nowhere/ 5. Fade Away/ 6. The Swamp Song/ 7. I Am The Walrus/ 8. Listen Up/ 9. Rockin’ Chair/ 10. Half The World Away/ 11. It’s Good To Be Free/ 12. Stay Young/ 13. Headshrinker/ 14. The Masterplan This is a collection of B-sides. While most bands and artists is satisfied with a dancemix or an instrumental version of the A-side, Oasis and Noel released truly great songs hidden on singles. Most of these tracks would have been clear highlights on pretty much any album released in the same era. The fantastic melodic Rockin’ Chair, the pure rock in Acuiesce or the title track which is an amazing ballad are enough to make you want to spend money on this collection. Of course, their cover of I Am The Walrus isn’t too entertaing. It’s a live version and before they kick it off Liam ask the audience “does it matter if he’s out of tune?” which kinda sums it up pretty well. Anyway, Stay Young from the Be Here Now-sessions and the acoustic Talk Tonight deserves a better fate than forgotten, dusty B-sides. Why don’t you give it a try?
Standing On The Shoulders of Giants Now this is where Oasis for the first time met some resistence both in the press and from the fans. It’s not as direct and convincing as their earlier efforts, but it’s also far from being the miserable failure as its reputation claims. In fact some of Noel’s best songs can be found here. Sunday Morning Call and Roll It Over might be the best ballads he ever wrote and Gas Panic! together with Where Did It All Go Wrong? makes up for a weak start of the album. People say that this is where Oasis stopped copying Beatles, but I must say that I think they never were the Beatles imitators as the media tried to make them look like. Until now, that is. Little James just screams Magical Mystery Tour. A song that was penned by Liam, and the first song on an Oasis album that isn’t written by Noel. It’s quite good as long as you ignore the simplistic lyrics. Who Feels Love? is an attempt to sound as Tomorrow Never Knows in the year of 2000. Do I even have to tell you it fails? Enough with criticism, since this isn’t a bad album. As I said, it has its moments. Noel is still writing good pop songs and Liam sings with a passion rarely heard before.
Heathen Chemistry Ok, the press was ready to shoot the boys down. This was really suppose to be the end of a rock & roll ferry tale. Well, the press didn’t slaughter the album. Why? They simply couldn’t. The electronia elements from Standing On The Shoulders of Giants are gone. So is the risk of overproduction and lenghty guitar solos from Be Here Now. So what we got ourselves here might very well be the best record to come out in 2002. The band rocks in The Hindu Times and Hung In A Bad Place in a way they didn’t on Giants. The ballads works surprisingly well and the grand Stop Crying Your Heart Out along with Little By Little and Songbird makes it evident that whatever missteps the group might have done in the past, where simply just missteps and not lack of talent. On the last album Liam was honord with one own original song. Here he wrote three. The already mentioned Songbird, which is a clear highlight, a rocker in the vein of Jimi Hendrix called Better Man and the highly Lennon-inspired ballad Born On A Different Cloud. It makes me think of Mr Kite, don’t ask me why but it does. Speaking of Lennon, the younger Gallagher-brother sounds very similar to John in Songbird. It’s quite spooky. Even though Liam shines on this record, you can’t get away from the fact that Noel is the most experienced songwriter and he is it for a reason. He’s long past the phase of living on raw talent, now he is a master of writing pop songs. Filled with skill and despite the fact that he’s not contributing as many songs as in the past, his work is very impressive. Little By Little is a great, powerful song. It doesn’t rock, but I wouldn’t want to call it a ballad either. She Is Love is a nice pop ballad driven by acoustic guitars and of course the album opener, which also was the first single, The Hindu Times and already mentioned Stop Crying Your Heart Out is a statment that Oasis are far from over. And if Noel’s would lose his magical sense for writing a good, catchy song, his brother is ready to catch him when he falls.
Don’t Believe The Truth In recent interviews Noel Gallagher has mentioned that he listened a lot to artists such as The Who, Bob Dylan and The Velvet Underground. It really shows on the album, too. If the obligatory Beatles-comparison should be made, it is that listening to Dylan has helped Oasis to create an album that sometimes recalls Rubber Soul. Under-arranged songs and great acoustic guitar sounds, makes the album a little more folk-rock than previous releases. Only in places, though, as the Heathen Chemistry-sound still is evident in tracks such as “The Meaning of Soul” and “Keep The Dream Alive”. “Mucky Fingers” is most definitely a minor Velvet Underground-tribute and one of the highlights here. The unfairly slaughtered single “Lyla” is another good moment, sounding a little like already mentioned The Who (mid-60’s) with a Dylan-ish sneer vocal delivery. Other 60’s acts that comes to mind is The Kinks, when the Noel-sung “The Importance of Being Idle” appears. “The Meaning of Soul” starts off as a “Proud Mary” ripp-off, but quickly turns into “Jumping Jack Flash” with a White Stripes-feeling to it. Yet, no matter how many influences you find, this doesn’t sound like a cover-album. It wears the Oasis-tag all over it, which is nice. It’s far more subtle than probably any Oasis album released so far, which should please people thinking the Manchester boys always been over the top too many times. On the other hand, the melodies isn’t quite as strong as on the first couple of albums which prevents it from being a minor classic. There are bright moments here that are promising for the future (“The Importance of Being Idle”, “Love Like A Bomb”), but brightest of all is Liam’s album closer “Let There Be Love”. A ballad which is so beautiful in its modesty making me looking forward more to a solo album from Liam rather than the next Oasis record.
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