STANDING ON THE SHOULDER OF GIANTS (Big Brother)

Head And Shoulders Above The Rest

Oasis’ fourth album, 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants', is only the most hotly anticipated of the third millennium. Here a shadowy music industry insider tells us all about it...

Fuckin’ In The Bushes

By the end of this, the opening track, you'll realise this is an album which isn't going to be full of the kind of multi-layered, overblown guitar wankery which weighed heavy on "Be Here Now".

An instrumental based around a super-crunching Led Zeppelin-type drum break, bluesy guitar twang, swirling Hammond and, of course, a trademark tambourine rattle, "F***in’..." could almost be called a dance track. Throughout, the kind of Fifties-stereotype old crone East Ender you'd find in one of those dreadful BBC2 Saturday afternoon movies babbles away. The closing snippet of dialogue seems to point towards the current Oasis mindset. "Yes, indeed, all are welcome. Fun, nice, life, beautiful...I'm all for it".

A brave start and certainly not one you'd have expected. Sets up the rest of the album rather nicely too.

Go Let It Out

Back on more familiar Oasis territory, the first single sees a wonderfully loose acoustic strum loop over and over for the intro. Noel has been spotted on more than one occasion at Beta Band gigs; here we see a rubbing off of their influence with this repetitive riff echoing the kind of groovesome strum The Beta Band are so fond of. Like a single DJ scratch is followed by Noel’s off-mic shout of "Bring tne bass" and the drums and bass fly in like a slap in the face.

A real sing-along, "Go Let it Out" is sure to become a classic Oasis stomp. Liam’s voice is rich and warm, while a Beatles-y pipe organ punches out a repetitive looping melody, as the song builds and builds to a climax.

It’d seem that "Standing..." finds Oasis letting the tunes develop over the duration of the song, rather than just turning everything up and jumping in feet first, as was the case with much of "Be Here Now".

Who Feels Love?

When asked to describe the album during the summer, Noel said it sounded "a bit psychedelic" and this is the most obvious sign of that influence. The introduction of backwards guitars and sitars shows off their Beatles obsession to the nth degree, as does the 'Dear Prudence' homage of the middle eight. Although very much Oasis in sound, "Who Feels Love?" is one of the album's more gentle moments.

Even Liam discards his recognisable snort for a more measured, multi-tracked gentle vocal style, which sees each word pronounced slowly and clearly. There's a distinctive tenderness to Liam’s voice, which should surprise a few.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

An electrical buzz gives way to a melodic keyboard riff which loops over and over throughout the track. The keyboard sound is very reminiscent of the way The Who used keyboards. loads of deep, stabbing notes, plenty of delay, everything turned up to 11. It also features an absolutely huge backing vocal which appears to be a choir of angelic schoolboys. The track slowly fades out, letting the electrical buzz with which it began bubble to the surface

Four songs in and you really get a feeling for what Oasis are up to now. Here is an album which towers over the last record in so many ways. There’s clearly been a lot of hard thinking going on since 'Be Here Now', and as a result 'Standing...' is a much more complete work, much less hit and miss and full of the kind of enthusiasm and energy we reared they may have lost.

More importantly, it's a record In the same vein as 'Definitely Maybe', a record concerned with songwriting, with proper choruses and infectious melodies. On the evidence of this, the brothers laying off the drink and drugs has certainly made a difference. Here is a record made with a clear mind, a record which sees a return to focusing on the music, rather than believing you are so famous that you can do anything and get away with it.

Little James

The track which is going to attract the most interest, as it's the first song Liam has written for Oasis. Noel has clearly indulged his little brother here, with "Little James" sounding very much like The Beatles' 'Hey Jude'. Which is no bad thing. Beginning with a very John Lennon-style piano, Liam pulls out all the stops on the vocal on which you can virtually hear the late Beatle singing. lndeed there is a very noticeable Lennon twang in his voice.

Despite the lyrics being a little naive, the sentiment is very sweet ("Thank you for your smile / you make it all worthwhile to us"). It also contains the classic line. "You live for your toys / even though they make noise", a sign that Oasis are some way yet from casting aside their by now traditional knack of turning out some fantastically stupid rhymes. Here we also get Liam pairing "Plasticine" with "trampoline". Absolute class.

Much of the criticism of 'Be Here Now' was levelled at the way many the songs lasted for days. There's no such problem on 'Standing...' yet if there is a fault with "Little James" it's that it isn't long enough. This is a song which hits its stride for the outro, paying full homage to The Beatles with plenty of "na-na-na" vocals and handclaps. The outro locks itself down into such a delightful groove you could listen o it for ages. Unfortunately, it fades too soon. It's also clear that Oasis have made a record for vinyl, this clearly being the end of side one.

Gas Panic

Side two then begins with a song much more in line with what you’d expect from Oasis: a thumping guitar blow-out delivered with their trademark guitar squall. Oasis by numbers, it certainly won't disappoint fans of old. The beauty of this record is the way many of the tracks take their time building towards enormous endings, rather than just ripping into being enormous in the way 'Be Here Now' did. "Gas Panic!" is no exception.

Where Did It All Go Wrong?

The first of two tracks featuring Noel on lead vocals. You notice straight away that it's Noel, due to his voice being much softer and warmer than Liam’s distinctive snarl. Something of a smoocher, "Where..." is probably the least Oasis-y track on the record, tipping its cap very much in the direction of Noel’s mate, Paul Weller.

Muted to be the title track early on in the recording, the band clearly realised the error of their ways. With a title such as "Where Did It All Go Wrong?" they would have just been asking for a kicking. You can just read the reviews now. It would have also drawn too much attention to the track itself, which is the most dadrock moment here. There's much much better...

Sunday Morning Call

...Including this, the second track featuring Noel on vocals. An absolute cracker. Very ballady, with the addition of a few sleigh bells, it could easily be a Christmas Number One! Very much a songwriters' song, "Sunday..." has one of the most catchy choruses on the whole record. Musically, it sparkles with little blips and tiny noises popping away in the background. Again, it starts very minimally and builds and builds into a towering anthem. You'd be surprised if it didn't appear as single at some point.

I Can See A Liar

And so, after a breather with two gentle moments, Oasis kick you in the teeth with a monstrously heavy riff. They've clearly been listening to plenty of AC/DC. It really is that heavy. The drums too are absolutely gargantuan. Again, it carries a lyric which leaps right up there into the hall of fame. This one is such a corker you actually have to make sure you’re hearing it right: "I can see a liar / sitting by the fire". A wonderfully daft moment and very much a part of Oasis' charm.

As with the opening track, "...Liar" also suggests that Noel has been listening to plenty of dance music recently. The end of the track utilises a well known DJ trick which involves hitting the power button and letting the record deck slow to a half. Very cheeky. A list of influences for this album would be fascinating.

Throughout, Oasis are respectfully chucking in bits and pieces of off their favourite bands, much in the same way dance producers sample theirs. And although you can't actually hear a clear dance influence, you get the feeling that it’s very much in evidence. Even if it is just in Noel’s record collection.

Roll It Over

What a way to finish! Oasis go out in style with this swooping, arms-in-the-air power ballad. Again they nod to music past, this lime it's Pink Floyd, with a haunting, chorused-to-f*** solo underpinned by another angelic choir. When the track finishes, the first thing you'll do is press the play button, and take it in all over again, this lime listening between the lines for their apparent new-found love of beats and loops.

Where 'Be Here Now' sounded like a huge amount of guitar noise squeezed into a tiny space, "Standing..." has plenty of room to breathe. no, don't worry, it's still stuffed to the gills with blistering rock’n’rol guitar. It oozes with a confidence 'Be Here Now' just didn't have. Gone is the bluster of their lost outing and in comes a thoughtful, multi-influenced record which suggests Oasis are ready to reclaim their crown as the biggest rock'n’roll band in the world.

More curiously, unlike the sprawling 'Be Here Now', "Standing..." clocks in at a very modest 47 minutes. The perfect length for an album, due to the fact it'll neatly fit onto one side of a C90.

Oasis: The fans’ verdict on new material.

We played the tracks to Manics and Oasis fans - and promptly made their day. Oasis have released a limited-edition 12-inch to clubs. It features "F***in' In The Bushes", which is the opening track from their forthcoming new album, 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants'. It's an instrumental, built on an enormous rhythmic power which is reminiscent of Led Zeppelin's 'The Immigrant Song', but was reportedly inspired by an old Hendrix session.

Keyboard riffs and guitar solos compete with each other as the track thunders along, with echoes of The Charlatans, The Stone Roses' 'Love Spreads' and an ancient hit by Chicago, called 'I'm A Man'.

However, this is very much a new, rip-roaring Oasis. The final moments of the track are filled with samples - one of them a man's voice intoning that: "Kids are running around naked, f***ing in the bushes."

James Mealey (17) from Basingstoke

Good, bad or brilliant: "That was weird. I thought Noel was trying to get a kind of rock Chemical Brothers type thing, with the samples in. I was waiting for Liam to kick in! It's new, it's different. I like it. Yeah, definitely."

Do you like it more or less than typical Oasis: "It's not as striking, maybe as 'D'You Know What I Mean', but it’ll grow on me cos it's different and, yeah, I like it."

Does this make you look forward to the album more than you were: "Yeah, cos I'm thinking, 'What are the others going to be like?' That'll be quite a good one live, I should imagine. With 'Be Here Now', people got bored with the seven-minute epics, but I can't imagine people getting bored with this."

Rachel Green (15) from Milton Keynes

Good, bad or brilliant: "Oh, I love it. It's completely different from some of the other ones. I'm surprised."

Do you like it more or less than typical Oasis: "It's not typical Oasis, but I really like it. It's a good change. I like the way all the instruments fit together. You can tell where Noel is with the guitar."

Does this make you look forward to the album more than you were: "I can’t wait, yeah."

Laura Plowman (28) from Whitstable, Kent

Good, bad or brilliant: "I like it. I couldn't believe it was Oasis of first. It sounded punky, then it started to sound like Lenny Krovitz’ "Are You Gonna Go My Way". I don't know It the Manchester crowd will like it, but I certainly did."

Do you like it more or less than typical Oasis: "If anything, I think I probably like this better."

Does this make you look forward to the album more than you were: "More, definitely. I think this is what they needed to do. I hope the rest of it is as good - the other songs will be great if they are as different as this."

Aaron Corr (19) from Shannon, County Clare

Good, bad or brilliant: "It's like Noel's trying to make a dance track with drums and guitar. It was surprising. If I’d heard it on the radio, I wouldn't have had a clue it was Oasis. It sounds like something he’d do solo, like his 'X Flies' thing."

Do you like it more or less than typical Oasis: "If they're changing, if that’s their style, fair enough, cos everything's been the some so far. It's OK, it sounded like an Ocean Colour Scene riff with a bit of Kula Shaker on it, even though he doesn't like them."

Does this make you look forward to the album more than you were: "Well, not really. It doesn’t make me jump up or anything, but I still want to hear it. 'Definitely Maybe’ is my favourite Oasis album."

Kara Noblett (14) from London

Good, bad or brilliant: "It was a bit strange without Liam on it, but I thought it was really good, a bit like Chemical Brothers, but still distinctly Oasis, because of the guitars and the drums. The sampling surprised me."

Do you like it more or less than typical Oasis: "I actually think it’s a bit better than traditional Oasis. It’s a lot more fresh and new and interesting."

Does this make you look forward to the album more than you were: "Probably a bit more."

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c 2000 Andrew Turner

aturner@interalpha.co.uk

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