Oasis would seem to have spent the past two-and-a-half years careening from one crisis to another, among them the exodus of band members Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar) and Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (bass); the departure of key personnel at their label; the rumored disappearance of frontman Liam Gallagher, who eventually turned up; and 1997's incomparably bad Be Here Now, a shamble of an outing with all the charm of a police lineup.
Previously, Oasis had seemed like Britain's best contribution to '90s rock (not counting the Verve); the group released a first-rate debut, Definitely Maybe, and a giddy, sublime follow-up, (Whats the Story) Morning Glory?, before intra-band squabbling and assorted personal crises received the better part of its attention. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, the band's first official release since Be Here, isn't exactly a return to form, but it's still Oasis' finest work in years.
Giants finds the Gallagher brothers in reliably high dudgeon, snarling, preening, and mercilessly aping the Beatles (as is their wont), though the record has little of the conviction of its early predecessors. There's nothing here as briskly appealing as "Morning Glory" or as mournful and glorious as "Champagne Supernova," but Giants is not without its moments: Gallagher is at his whiny best on the derivative, psychedelia-heavy "Who Feels Love," and the somewhat sludgy first single, "Go Let It Out," has as close to a hook as the Gallaghers are likely to get.