Once the greatest, toughest, most thrilling band of the world, OASIS abruptly collapsed from the pinnacles of fame and fortune through 1997.
After two brilliant records, sold-out tours, media praise and hate in equal measures, with England on their knees and US waiting eagerly for it, OASIS suffered a considerable decline on their songwritting/sampling rate. 1997 s Be Here Now overcompensated on arrogance. After shattering sale records at home and nearly topping Billboard, OASIS fell to miserable heights and RADIOHEAD claimed the British Rock N Roll crown with their masterpiece OK Computer. Brains, not beers, were now the main course.
Hampered by creative blocks and heartbroken (the Gallagher s marriages ended almost simultaneously), OASIS fired their founding members Paul Bonehead (guitar) and Marc Guigsy (bass), leaving the brothers Noel (guitars, vocals, lyrics) and Liam (vocals, problems) with the charge of finding decent replacements. Counting on the support of drummer Alan White and engineers Mark 'Spike' Stent and Paul Stacey, the Gallaghers decided to record and release the humblest record of their discography - 2000 s Standing On The Shoulder of Giants (sic) - before finding definitive collaborators in RIDE s Andy Bell (bass) and Gem Archer (guitar).
It meant Noel recorded a lot of basses and all the guitars, leaving Liam with the unsurmountable task of crafting his first song ever to be recorded (remember Noel entered his brother s band after quoting their repertoire was 'pure crap' and taking monopoly of songwriting duties thereafter). Add the Electronica high tide of late 1990s, the newfound RADIOHEAD s popularity, their homeland Manchester and what did you get?
Standing On The Shoulder of Giants is a transitional effort that would become permanent once OASIS skept hormones for inner searching (this you wouldn t know by 2000). Retro, they have always been and always will. The difference? Retro with sensibility. Instead of THE BEATLES, PINK FLOYD (both kaleidoscopic Syd Barrett era and colossal folkish David Gilmour era). Their adoption of Psychedelia is seamlessly filtered through the retro electronic approach of fellow Mancunians CHARLATANS UK. Until our days with 2005 s Don t Believe The Truth, the pattern remained untouched. That s not to say brilliance, whatsoever.
Ageing rockstars and solid craftsmen nonetheless seem to coincide, and OASIS was confortable with this role. To celebrate this back to the future cleanup and hide the signs of age, they opened their record with an instrumental vignette, daringly named F*cking In The Bushes. The outcome sounds as OCEAN COLOUR SCENE, retro 70s rock egotrip. Hey, it s good! OASIS never sounded that vintage before, maybe they got there unassumingly. There s an Woodstock broadcast sample placed underneath the guuitar tricks, placing this thing firmly back in...1992. OASIS managed to be retro twice in the same song!
Go Let It Out is their first and best attempt on psychedelia. THE 21st century BEATLES...Groovy, gravitating guitar and bass played by Noel and engineer Paul Stacey, that is, a whole lotta cohesion. Warped extended bridges and tantamount choruses. Can Liam sing that restrained??? And what about those reflective lyrics? 'We are the builders of their destiny'? Where s OASIS! Go let it out please! That acute soloing shuts my mouth.
The band is back in full effect(s) to keep in check with the ballad Who Feels Love. Hello hippiedom! Cheers to Mark 'Spike' Stent. Out: testosterone. In: patchouli. C mon, what an accomplishment! Even melancholy - 'Now you understand that this is not the promise land they spoke of'. Wow! And those post-choruses eerie harmonies unseen since Magical Mystery Tour? Low key OASIS...Not perfect, but there s something intriguing about it.
Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is, harsh OASIS returns with a vengeance? Oh no...Sensible Psychedelic Power Pop Hard Rock. I will even forgive their borrowing of AC/DC s TNT guitar. They turned the whole thing inside-out, this can t stand beside anything Be Here Now, not to mention abrasive Definitely Maybe. They even skipped the chorus!
Little James - Liam writting? No alarms, no surprises, after those one-two-three-four punches of reinvention. Even a sensible piano ballad to his newborn son is OK man. Liam hands down to ELTON JOHN and you feel the tide is rising. And White waves with splendour. And Noel is gorgeous on those sun-drenched guitar harmonies. Confessional Liam, caring father, says much more than his brother about their failed relationships - 'You made it worthwhile for the both of us'.
Gas Panic (terrible name) adds Trip-Hop to acoustic guitars, it would have happened someday. OK, you wouldn t think it was OASIS that would bring it to surface. Maybe U2 s Staring At The Sun. It s not on par with that slice of Psychedelic Pop gem, though. It s just a deranged, out-of-the-tracks OASIS power ballad in search of a desert chorus. It s U2, but that from The Joshua Tree s outtakes. Lumbering epics will never be their calling card.
OK. OASIS is anew and sensitive and pretty in their psychedelic clothes. So...Let it be. A power ballad was the kind of anthem of sorts needed by this band, Mark II, sung by its leader. Curiously, Noel named it Where Did It All Go Wrong. Writting on regard of the wrecked marriages of the Gallaghers, it ironically implied this Mark II was nowhere near where OASIS wanted to be. 'I am alone under cloudy skies'...'I hope you know/These things won t let go'. They can t let it go out. By virtue of sheer will, Noel manages to get there where ERIC CLAPTON used to be in the early 1970s, screaming his lungs out before filling them with pot and etc.
They followed this subtil diatribe with a cold, eerie, insular RADIOHEAD inspired ballad that sucked any remaining flesh from the rotten core of old OASIS larger-than-lifestyle - Sunday Morning Call. Behind the scenes, the acquiescence: OASIS was dead, long live post-OASIS. The new band and attitude was forged through choruses in crescendos, reminescent of U2 circa 1983. A true redemption.
I Can See A Liar continues with the diatribes, instead of the dunderheaded lad anthems of yesteryears. This time, even the roughest offerings would be gems, not razors. Lyrics are, maybe, self-referential - if so, brilliant: 'I can see a liar/sitting by the fire/I wonder where do you think I am'. Not brilliant, but how many bands you can get that sincere derisory statements from?
Last but not least, Roll It Over is a bye-bye to arms, canvassed by nail s pace loose guitars. Not soul-searching anymore, this is Liam confortable with his newfound emotional environment, amidst SOUNDGARDEN miniatures. Noel trades skin for PINK FLOYD (one of his most gorgeous soloing ever). 'Roll it over my son/You are living here', the lyrics are simple, but Liam rejoices in clear singing. And the backings recall PINK FLOYD once again, the desertical psychedelia matching the dark side of the moon. It swoons beautifully towards the FLOYDian eclipse. See ya there!
Tracklist:
01 (* * * *) F*cking In The Bushes
02 (* * * * ½) Go Let It Out
03 (* * * ½) Who Feels Love
04 (* * * ½) Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is
05 (* * * * ½) Little James
06 (* * * ½) Gas Panic
07 (* * * * ½) Where Did It All Go Wrong
08 (* * * *) Sunday Morning Call
09 (* * * *) I Can See A Liar
10 (* * * * ½)Roll It Over
To see the beginning of the OASIS saga check out
1994 s Definitely Maybe
