Review from CDNow - (What's The Story) Morning Glory
Oasis lit a fire under the ass of the British music scene with its 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe. It wasn't that the band's blend of working-class British rock and holier-than-thou attitudes were anything novel, the Mancurian five-piece just happened to do a better job of it than most.
When it came time to record a follow-up, Oasis faced the ubiquitous sophomore album dilemma: Was the first release a fluke, or were these guys actually on to something here? Oasis dropped (What's the Story) Morning Glory in October 1995 in the wake of about as much pre-release hype and wide-eyed scrutiny as possible. It was anything but a sophomore slump.

Where Liam Gallagher's vocals snarled and grated on Maybe, they soared on Morning Glory. "Some Might Say" and "Cast No Shadow" are two of the singer's finest performances. Lush arrangements entered the picture as well, helping to create two of the most gorgeous ballads in British rock history in "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back in Anger," as well as the sweeping "Champagne Supernova."

Although it's undeniable that singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher borrows from a plethora of past masterminds (Beatles, Small Faces), it's also indisputable that Oasis tapped into something magical here. Morning Glory broke the band in America (going on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide) and represents that one moment that all musicians pray for -- where the musical stars align just so, paving the way to glory.
 

Review from CDNow - Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
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.

Giants is packed with such busy mid-tempo tracks as "Gas Panic!" and the CD opener (and, for Oasis, surprisingly unsubtle) "Fuckin' in the Bushes." Both songs are seeded with the sort of buzzy background effects that marked previous outings, but all the bells and whistles in the world can't mask the aura of entropy burned into Giant's every groove.