Oasis were one of the biggest and critically
acclaimed bands of the 90’s. But unlike many others that deserve their hype,
I just can’t see what was so special about them. Yeah, they were fine representatives
of the Manchester scene of the 90’s, but it doesn’t make them better as, say,
Joy Division. Yeah, the guitarist Noel Gallagher
is a talented songwriter, but he either writes boring same sounding songs or
overproduces them in the worst way possible. Yeah, his bro, the singer Liam
was “cool”, but his vocals are still awful and he can’t write a good tune even
if his life depends on it (not to mention that he’s complete asshole, idiot
and total alcoholic). Yeah, they have chosen the image and the music of The
Beatles as the blueprint of their career, but it certianly doesn’t
make them better than Beatles, right? Right. It’s more careful to call them
“Led Zeppelin of the 90’s”, not because of music, but because of huge number
of rip-offs both bands can “boast”.
But, as I told, the guys were BIG. The anthemic hit ballads, powerful rockers
that were written to be sold made them superstars back in 94-95. But, since
then, I can hardly remember any Oasis song that became a hit or can’t remember
a person who owns Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants or Heathen
Chemistry. So, for the last six or so year, Gallagher brothers were
milking their past hits and releasing mediocre albums. Is it good? Definitely
not.
There’s a little to be said about the line-up, simply because it consists of
Gallagher brothers and some other guys nobody cares about. Noel and Liam changed
them all for almost every album, so fuck it.
- (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY
- STANDING ON THE SHOULDER OF GIANTS
This one is a little bit different from Oasis albums. There
is no Beatles favour anywhere – the whole album is filled with rip-roaring,
awfully produced, same sounding rockers with boring, unmemorable riffs and melodies.
If this is your definition of “an excellent debut”, like fans and critics state
it, you will probably like this album. If not, you will still enjoy some songs,
but not the album in overall. I really don’t know why the critics raved about
the album so much and still rave about it. Surely, it introduced “new” sound
for a ’94, but, by the standards of today (almost nine years after the album
was released), it sounds just like anything The Strokes or someone could record
in five minutes. And The Strokes aren’t my favourite band ever, that’s for sure.
The album opens with “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star”, and that song simply introduces the
entire mood and the sound of album – raw, generic and hard rocking. But not
very intersting at all. The meaning is quite similar to Stone Roses’ “I Wanna
Be Adored” (no surprise, by the way – Noel and Liam were heavily influenced
by the band and visited almost every their Manchester gig since 1985!), but
the long Liam’s scream of “Toniiiiiiiight, I’m a rock ‘n’ roll star” doesn’t
even come close to gorgeous Ian Brown’s chant of “I wanna be adored”. The theme
of bunch of guys who want to become stars is all through the album. You can
call it “conceptual”, but I don’t care.
As for four singles, they all are good. “Live Forever” is an ultimate brit-pop
anthem with wonderful catchy chorus and amazing tune. It’s uplifting and it
kicks ass. “Cigarettes And Alcohol” steals its’ riff from some T.Rex tune which
I have never heard, but it’s good anyway. “Supersonic” is bouncy and catchy,
and “Shakermaker” is a very good tune to start a day.
Other songs? Don’t ask. The closing acoustic ballad “Married With Children”
may give your ears some rest after ten roaring numbers, but it’s dull and repetetive,
so forget it. Such stuff as ‘Up In The Sky” or “Slide Away” just passes by and
goes nowhere without even a hint of a memorable hook anywhere. “Digsy’s Dinner”
is supposed to be funny, but it’s just stupid and irritating beyond words. Simply
because of this ugly bunch of filler tunes, I can’t give the album high rating.
And the sound and production aren’t great at all, so let me call this one “a
debut album that is little above average”, and end the review.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
Much better. In 1995, Gallagher brothers finally discovered
the meaning of the word “production” and recorded their second album. And Noel
Gallagher decided that it’s needless to re-write the same boring song for ten
thousand times, so (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Can boast
of having Beatlesque ballads, dreamy neo-psychedelic ballads, relaxing tunes
that sound just like ballads and two or three rockers. The album’s sound is
dominated by the ballads, but that’s not a bad thing, since Noel can write a
ballad or two. Tunes like “Don’t Look Back In Anger” or “Champagne Supernova”
are catchy and beautiful. And the rockers are clever too, and this mix of great
ballads and superb rocker make this album the best in the entire Oasis catalog.
There are only two songs that I can call “filler” (unmemorable “Hey Now” and
“Roll With It”), and two strange untitled tracks, which are little instrumental
interludes that don’t mean anything at all.
But, apart, from those songs, the album shines. The opener “Hello” is a great
way to open the album – straightfoward and catchy rocker wth great melodies
all the way through. “Wonderwall” was a REALLY big hit, and it’s a nice ballad
with an awesome pre-chorus part. Only Liam’s extremely irritating vocals spoil
this one a little bit. The other big hit ballad comes next – “Don’t Look Back
In Anger”. Oh my, what a song. Noel sings lead, and he does it very well, kicking
Liam’s ass ito the fire. And the song itself has a shitload of great, fantastic
vocal melodies. The chorus is especially good. I bet you’ve heard this song
a lot of times, so you knopw it all without me.
“Some Might Say” was yet another hit, and it’s probably my least favourite single
off record, but it’s still good. It sounds exactly like everything from Oasis’
debut album, only better. Liam sings terrible as always, but who cares? “Cast
No Shadow” is a tribute to Richard Ashcroft (yeah, that guy from The
Verve who is guilty for the most repetetive and boring hit of 90’s
– “Bittersweet Symphony”) who is a big friend of Gallagher brothers. Not sure
what the song is exactly – it sounds like a ballad, but it’s not a ballad for
sure. It’s good anyway, and I like that “Cast no shaaaaaadow” hook too. “She’s
Electric” is bouncy, lightweight, British, Beatlesque and wonderful. Something
like “Digsy’s Dinner”, but so much better. “Morning Glory” is a rocker, and
a very good one. Just like “Shakermaker”, it works when you want to wake up,
or something. Even the meaning is the same – “Need a little time to wake up,
wake up”. I like this tune.
Finally, the albums ends on a long (7:29, as my CD says) neo-psychedelic/brit-pop
ballad “Champagne Supernova”, and this one is my favourite Oasis song of all
time. A dreamy, wonderful melody with a fantastic chorus and great guitar solo
– that’s what the song is all about. It never gets boring and isn’t overproduced
as the stuff from the next album, Be Here Now. It’s Noel Gallagher’s personal
pop masterpiece and it ends the great (by Noel’s standards) album on a very
high note. Get this one.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
One can’t mistake a song from this album. The Be Here Now Song
is pompous, overproduced, optimistic, generic and repetetive five-or-seven-minutes-long
monster with self-important lyrics of how famous Oasis are and how they rock
the world and Liam’s nasal whine (when Noel sings, it isn’t a lot better). None
of the songs on here are exactly bad, but all the factors I’ve counted above
make this album stink a litle bit. Why do we need to listen to a seven-minue
Oasis song if Noel rarely can write a four-minute song without dumb generic
solo or stupid repetition of chorus? Now these two bitches of Noel’s songwriting
are doubled, you can’t hope for a big new artistical breakthrough of the band
at all. The album had huge commercial success (mainly because it was one of
the most waited albums back in ’97), but fans and critics were disappointed
too. And yeah, two main singles off the album (“D’You Know What I Mean?” and
“All Around The World”) was hits, but most of the radios didn’t play them, ‘cause
they both are over seven minutes long, so Oasis released somewhat less long
“Don’ Go Away” and “Stand By Me” as a single, but even they didn’t chart really
well for this band, so Oasis didn’t get anything from this album, apart from
money.
Speaking of these songs, none of them is really really good, as, say, “Champagne
Supernova”. Yeah, “D’You Know What I Mean” or “Magic Pie” are catchy, but, once
again, why Noel lasted them for seven minutes is beyond me. And is it me or
the chorus of “Magic Pie” is just a re-write of the verse from R.E.M.’s “Orange
Crush”? “All Around The World” and “It’s Getting Better (Man!!!)” are both looooong
“Hey Jude” rip-offs. You know, pop songs with a really long repetetive coda.
However, “All Around The World” could be the finest song on here, if not its’
reprise in the end, which I (for some reason) like most of all. It’s just a
pretty little two minute instrumental reprise of the longest Oasis song, but
the horns are very nice and melody is so cool, that I just can’t help myself
liking it. It rules.
I don’t care for other songs, though, simply because they all sound same to
me. I know that they are different, but they are all the same. Big brit-pop
melodies, generic hard-rock – Oasis manged it all to sound the same. Plus, the
album is really long (over seventy minutes) and doesn’t really justify its’
length, so it’s better to give this album a 7 for me after all.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
Now this is what every doctor in the world must put in his book
of different illnesses: Noel Gallagher’s syndrome. The first signs of this one
is when you’re a professional songwriter, a superstar, but out of three albums
you have released two sucks ass, and (here’s the most important one!) you put
your greatest songs on some singles. Seriously, Noel must be really obsessed
with putting loads of great, incredibly catchy songs on the b-sides. This collection
of, well, fourteen b-sides shows it. All of the songs rule on here. Except for
some six songs. These six are all, unsurprisingly, from Definitely Maybe
singles and they all suck ass. The worst offender is, by far, their live cover
of Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus” with the whole band being drunk as ass and the
sound quality being under all possible levels. And it just drags for six minutes.
But, wait, it’s actually the edited version. The original, on “Cigarettes &
Alcohol” single, runs for two more minutes. Disaster. “Listen Up” uses the same
drum intro and beat as “Live Forever”, but it sucks, ‘cause it’s long and tuneless.
“Fade Away”? “(It’s Good) To Be Free”? Anyone who remembers how songs like these
go can go and get himself or herself a candy. And what the point for horrible
instrumental “The Swamp Song”?
Other songs are damn catchy, and that’s the right word. Rockers are uplifting
and superb, ballads are great and touching. Actually, people who read any Oasis
(read: Gallagher brothers) interview knows that all of their ballads are incredibly
fake, but, somehow, they managed to made them touching. “Half The World Away”
and the title track are simply brilliant. The former is quiet, humble and simply
genius. “The Masterplan” is big and very carefully arranged, and it’s Noel who
sings on here, so you can hope for some emotion. He also sings on “Going Nowhere”
– another ballad with keyboards and horns all around and another great refrain.
It sounds just like everything from Be Here Now, but it isn’t
overblown as anything on that album. It simply rules. And Noel simply steals
the show on “Talk Tonight” which, as far as I understand, features only him.
A great song too.
Rockers are fucking great. Opening “Acquiesce” is one of the best Oasis songs
ever – with smart melody, great Liam’s vocals in the more melodic verses and
even better Noel’s vocals in the straightforward pop choruses. “Stay Young”
may be my favourite Oasis song (beside “Champagne Supernova”, of course). When
the chorus with immortal “Hey! Stay yooooooung and invisible!” goes, I’m somewhere
near cloud nine. It’s a truly pop masterpiece, almost nothing that Noel have
ever written comes close. Finally, fantastic “Rockin’ Chair” has one of the
best Oasis melodies, and although lyrics are extremely dumb (“You bring me down,
I think you’re rude”… Well, yeah…), the song is just a big attack of careful,
interesting, pop rock on your ears.
Overall, The Masterplan is a forgotten gem of Oasis career.
When everybody still ramble about Definitely Maybe or (What’s
The Story) Morning Glory?, be cool and go buy this collection right
now. Plus, they’ve got some more gems in their b-sides (like a fantastic rocker
“The Fame” from Be Here Now sessions), so we can expect another
Masterplan. Let’s hope Noel and Liam will be good boys and
release that one.
Any comments or reviews to grant us with?
Yeah, right, after Be Here Now, Noel had run out of any ideas. In desperation, he decided the next Oasis to have elements of electronica and that stuff. At the same time, he decided to make it even closer to Beatles by bringing Mellotrons and writing neo-psychedelic songs. Hell, he even gave a chance to Liam to write a song. Unfortunately, it all resulted in disaster. No, the mentioned Liam’s song, “Little James”, is the best one on the album with bouncy melody and infectious chorus. But all Noel contributes some of his worst songs ever. Already the first song on here – “Fuckin’ In The Bushes” – demonstrates his inability to make an electronica song – the number is just a collage of beats, old movie sounds and various stereo effects. All this somehow reminds me of closing section of Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus”, except that “Fuckin’” is very far from that masterpiece. This song sounds incredibly dated even by 2000 standards.
Other songs? A ballad like “Sunday Morning Call”
could easily be penned by ’85 Phil Collins time machined into 00’s,
and nobody would notice the difference. “Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth
Is” may be one of the most obvious rip-offs ever- this song is almost
directly taken from Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues”, even lyrics
don’t differ too much. “Gas Panic!” is, as I understand,
a centerpiece of the album, but it’s way too overproduced and sinks
totally in its’ pompous Mellotron, flutes, electric guitars and all
that stuff. And “Who Feels Love?” is a dumb Eastern-flavored piece
of neo-psychedelia. Noel, do you REALLY think all this stuff is worthy a listen?
Burn in hell, Noel, burn in hell.
