Oasis: Looking Back in Fondness

Oasis: Looking Back in Fondness

So like I was working in a chicken fast food restaurant late one year in the mid 90s when I heard a song about ‘Rolling With It’ and thought it sounded pretty sweet. And that was that. Didn’t hear it again till weeks later. Then I heard Wonderwall. I NEEDED that song. I recall my mother drove me to K Mart (those were the days!) and I got what had turned out to be the biggest selling album in recent times. Oasis mania had arrived in Jimmy Jangles' house and I began to.. er.. roll with it.

I played that album non stop for two weeks. Then a friend of my lil bro turned up. This guy was like Mr Music Man and was like: "Oh Oasis?, here’s a copy of their first album."

And I'm like "Their first album? Oh, they did that Live Forever song I saw a video of once where they buried the drummer? Sweet."

Now we had two albums for the soundtrack of our summer which came down to playing Oasis in the garage while playing pool, drinking Steinlager. Bless. There may have been some Stone Roses played too, but that's another story.

And thus I became an Oasis diehard. U2 who? Summer finished and I went to university and started getting my hands on everything Oasis I could. I bought all the singles I could find. There was no ‘real’ internet in 1996/97/98 – it was just this magical thing I could get at the University labs so there was no real web surfing, it was all newspaper headlines. Yes, I had a folder full of Oasis articles where they stated “We’re bigger than God” and “We hope Blur die of Aids”. I signed letters home to my family as Noel Gallagher. That's how cool I was, even back then...

I decided to learn the guitar as I had to be able to play Wonderwall. Playing Oasis b-Sides became a speciality.

This fandom culminated in a crazy Oasis concert in Wellington where Liam stormed off, Noel did an acoustic set featuring Setting Sun with the band in full force for the last song of Champagne Supernova. Rough as, but Mega.

Anyways I thought I’d reminisce about each Oasis album.

Definitely Maybe

Who wants to be a rock n roll star? If you believe the lyrics, Liam was one before the album made him one. It was the seemingly self referencing that was so clever. It was the same for GNR's Welcome to the Jungle – they were singing about the excess and trappings of Rock Stardom before they had it. It was like both bands were in on the joke about rock and roll joke before both bands became a rock and roll joke in many people’s eyes. I call those people Oasis Haters. Supersonic Live Forever, Slide Away. Songs that will stick around as markers in rock history for all those who follow (as they followed The Stones, The Who, David Bowie and of course, The Beatles.

What’s the Story? (Morning Glory!)

Did you need a little time to wake up after being run down by Definitely Maybe? The title reference to cocaine would pick you up no end with songs Wonderwall, Roll With It, Don’t Look Back in Anger and a song so good the Beatles should have written it, Champagne Supernova. Those songs define Oasis and the Britpop mania wave they rode (and created). They will be living off the royalties from those songs till the day they die. Morning Glory is probably the soundtrack to a generation of British folks.

Be Here Now

Supposedly the Great Rock and Roll Swindle. The punters were eager for a fight and they easily stepped into the ring when they realised that Be Here Now was not another Morning Glory. A few weak songs (despite the A grade D’yer Know What I Mean and All Around the World) and over blown production left many fans turned off and Oasis labelled as has beens. On reflection, Be Here Now is chock full of great songs – the song structures in many are perfect – witness Don’t Go Away acoustically and any objective listener will note its beauty, shame its album version solo was basically a rip off of Slide Away crossed with Live Forever.

Heathen Chemistry

An album full of great songs but, like Be Here Now, the sum of its parts was not greater than the songs on it. On their own songs like, Songbird, Stop Crying Your Heart and Born on a Different Cloud were majestic. As an album the punters when eh, Oasis diehards loved it – the singles were quite popular.

Don’t Believe the Truth

This was the unexpected comeback. Taken as a whole, this was an Oasis album you could listen to as one piece of music and totally enjoy. Lyla was a fun, poppy single, The Importance of Being Idle was a surprisingly quirky hit. The album owed a small debt to the Velvet Underground and a more considered song writing effort from Noel (the album did however have many songs from other band members). Let There Be Love was a beautiful album closer and could be seen as the antithesis of the sibling rivalry that dominated the headlines as Liam and Noel had regularly argued their troubles out in public over the years. Sadly the sentiment of the album closer was lost following the break up of Oasis after the release of the next album.

Dig Out Your Soul

If you had to label an Oasis album as psychedelic, Dig Out Your Soul was an Eed up Oasis plugging in George Harrison’s sitar and turning it to 10 and a half. Falling Down and I'm Out of Time were Oasis best singles since anything from Morning Glory. Waiting for the Rapture was a wall of Oasis that had live favourite all over it. Lyrically it was sharp and it had an awesome example of drumming expertise from Zak Starkey on The Shock of the Lightning. If Don’t Believe the Truth was the album Oasis should have released after Morning Glory in preference to Be Here Now, this album should have been the immediate follow up (like Zooropa was soon released after to U2's Achtung Baby).

Lucky for those still listening to Oasis, this album did follow DBTT and so it got plenty of listens and some good reviews.

In hindsight, that the single Falling Down was first Oasis song in over a decade to not go top 10 in the UK was the signal that perhaps Oasis’ time was coming to an end. In the tour that followed, Noel finally got fed up, smashed Liam’s guitar and quit the band.

Conclusion: You know what's coming right?

For an Oasis diehard it's very easy to look back on Oasis' music with fondness. The music has been the soundtrack to my life so it's kind of hard to think of Oasis in any other way. As a chorus to one of their b-sides went, thank you for the good times.

DO you know what I mean?

"D'You Know What I Mean?" is a song by classic British rock band Oasis. DYWIM was the first single from Oasis's third album, the great rock and roll swindle, Be Here Now and was released on the 7th July 1997.

DYKWIM reached #1 in the UK singles chart, the 3rd Oasis song to do so. It was written by Oasis mainstay, Noel Gallagher. It was certified platinum for UK sales.

At the time "D'You Know What I Mean" was released, Oasis were at the height of their fame, and as a result, the single, along with the album, was highly anticipated. Upon its release it was critically and commercially successful.

The guitar chords on both the verse and the chorus are similar to the chords used for the Oasis single "Wonderwall" (F#m7/A/Esus4/Bsus4).

The song also shows more of Noel's influences. References include Bob Dylan ("Blood on the tracks and they must be mine"), and The Beatles ("Fool on the hill and I feel fine"), and even their own earlier work ("Don't look back in Anger "). The song also features a drum loop from N.W.A.

The Morse code in the background translates to include such sayings as "bugger all", "pork pies" and "Strawberry Fields Forever." Oasis haven't performed this song since 2002.
B-Sides

One of the B-sides, "Stay Young", has become a popular Oasis song, so much so that fans voted it onto the B-sides collection The Masterplan - one of only two B-sides from the Be Here Now period which made the album. The song was originally intended to be the "Digsy's Dinner" of Be Here Now (the lighthearted novelty track, such as "Digsy's Dinner" on Definitely Maybe and "She's Electric" on (What's the Story) Morning Glory?), until Noel set it aside in favour of "Magic Pie". Gallagher claims not to be particularly fond of the track.
Interview with Noel Gallagher on the song:

In a 1997 interview promoting Be Here Now, Noel Gallagher had the following to say about the first single: "I was going to make up some profound statement in the chorus but I couldn't come up with anything that fitted. Then I just thought "All my people right here, right now. D'You Know What I Mean? Yeah, Yeah" Very vague, very ambiguous, that'll do. Look in the mirror and wink while you're singing it and it's quite saucy. And I f***ing love that line, 'Coming in a mess, going out in style'. We were a bunch of scruffs from Manchester and we're going out in a Rolls Royce."

In another 1997 interview, this time on BBC, Noel Gallagher said: "I cant believe I wrote it, it's going to blow people away."

"The morse code in the background was inspired by Strawberry Fields. We got hold of a code book and tried to tap out 'Bugger All' to follow that line 'Don't look back cos you know what you might see'. But if anyone can tell me what we really said, please let me know. Profound lagerisms..."
Seven Ages of Rock

In an interview with the BBC for their documentary Seven Ages of Rock, Gallagher said of the song, "Its eight and a half minutes, the first single, the drums haven't fuckin' come in for two minutes- its all feedback!". He also says that he expected someone to ask them to edit the introduction to the song down, but such was their status in Britain, nobody did. They even performed the song on Top of the Pops, still playing most of the lengthy introduction.

The performance on Top of the Pops ended with a stage invasion by surrounding fans- the second of three stage invasions in the whole history of the show (the first was Nirvana and the last Symposium).
Cover information

The single cover photograph, by Michael Spencer Jones and directed by Brian Cannon of Microdot, was taken in front of the 'Blind Steps', a staircase in Wigan so called because they run past the Blind Workshop, which can be seen to the left of the shot. The steps can still be found on Darlington Street. The shoot was shrouded in secrecy to protect mass media coverage, but newspaper The Wigan Evening Post got exclusive rights to cover the event and subsequently sold the photos to the Daily Mirror. At a lunchtime break, Liam Gallagher and sleeve designer Brian Cannon enjoyed a pint of beer in the nearby Crispin Arms pub by Birkett Bank.

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All Around the World by Oasis: Lyrics and History

"All Around the World" is an epic song by Britpop kings, Oasis. 

It was released on 12 January 1998, hitting  number 1 in the UK Singles Chart; it is the longest single ever to do so.  So that's longer than the Beatles' Hey Jude! which was number one in 1968.

"All Around the World", nearly ten minutes long, is drugged out with string and horn pieces, and is followed up on the end of Be Here Now with  a two-minute-long instrumental, "All Around the World (Reprise)".

Unsurprisingly it also features a backing vocal in the coda remarkably similar to the corresponding section in The Beatles' song "Hey Jude".

All Around the World was written by Noel Gallagher, and there are recorded sessions of the band rehearsing it at the Boardwalk club as early as 1992 but it was not used until Oasis' third album Be Here Now when the band could really afford the overblown production.

Here's the Lyrics to All Around the World:

Its a bit early in the midnight hour for me,
To go through all the things that I want to be,
I don't believe in everything I see,
Y'know I'm blind so why dyou disagree

Take me away, cos I just don't want to stay,
And the relise you make me say are getting deeper every day,

These are crazy days but they make me shine,
Time keeps rolling by.

All around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
Youre gonna make a better day.

All around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
You know it's gonna be okay.

What you gonna do when the walls come falling down,
You never move you never make a sound,
When you gonna swin with the ridges that you found,
If you're lost at sea well I hope that you drown,

Take me away, cos I just don't want to stay,
And the lies you make me say are getting deeper every day,

These are crazy days but they make me shine,
Time keeps rolling by.

All around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
And all around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
You know it's gonna be okay.

Nanana, nanana, nananana nananaaa,
Nanana, nanana, nananana nananaaa,
Naaaa, naaaa, naaaaa, naaaaa, nanananana,
Nanananana, nanananana,

All around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
Youre gonna make a better day.

And all around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
You know it's gonna be okay.

Cos all around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
Youre gonna make a better day.

And all around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
You know it's gonna be okay.

Its gonna be okay.!
Its gonna be okay.!
Its gonna be okay.!
Its gonna be okay.!

All around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
Youre gonna make a better day,

Cos all around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
You know it's gonna be okay.

All around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
Youre gonna make a better day,

All around the world,
You gotta spread the word,
Tell em what you heard,
You know it's gonna be okay.

La lalalala la lalala la,
La lalalala la lalala la.

And I know what I know,
What I know what I know,
Yeah I know what I know,
Its gonna be okay.

And I know what I know,
What I know what I know,
Yeah I know what I know,
Its gonna be okay.

And I know what I know,
What I know what I know,
Yeah I know what I know,
Its gonna be okay.

And I know what I know,
What I know what I know
Yeah I know what I know
Pigs don't fly - never say die.!!!

So things are gonna fly - never say die.!!!
Things are gonna fly - never say die.

Nanana, nanana,
Nananana nananaaa nanana,
Nanana, nananana nananaaa

Things are gonna fly - never say die.!!!
So things are gonna fly - never say die.!!!

Random Noel Gallagher Quote on Be Here Now

Random Noel Gallagher Quote on Be Here Now

"I still tell people that the Be Here Now is the best advertisement against taking cocaine. It goes on too long, it's smothered by its self importance - the same as coke users are."

Oasis go Top 5 in America

Oasis' Dig Out Your Soul Debuted at number five on the American Billboard Top 200 Charts. Fairly impressive for a British band these days, not even Robbie Williams made a fair crack in the US market. Dig Out Your Soul sold 53,000 physical units. On the interwebs front it sold 20,000 digital downloads.  

Someone called T.I. debuted top of the the charts with 500,000 plus units......

Be Here Now was Oasis' highest debut in America, going in at Number 2.

Source

Noel Gallagher reflects on Be Here Now

Mr Oasis reflects once more on the Great Rock and Roll Swindle.

Here's an article that Stop Crying Your Heart Out found.

Noel Gallagher regrets jetting off to write much-criticised Oasis album Be Here Now with celebrity pals Johnny Depp, Sir Mick Jagger and Kate Moss - because he came back with a dud.

The rocker decided to write and record the demo for the album on the Caribbean island of Mustique, while hanging out with his superstar pals - but he admits it was a big mistake.

He tells the new issue of America's Spin magazine, "I was doing it for the wrong reasons. And that’s how you get a situation where at the beginning of (Be Here Now single) D’You Know What I Mean? there’s no music for the first minute. It’s the sound of an airplane landing.

"Of course, we thought it was the most amazing thing we’d ever recorded. We took the tapes back to Sony in London, and you’ve got all the suits sitting round the boardroom stereo thinking, 'These fucking jokers are riding on the biggest expectations of any band this decade, and they have recorded a plane landing.'"

Oasis star Noel Gallagher has revealed the band's first three albums were all written while he under the influence of hard drugs.

The rocker admits he penned classics like Wonderwall, Supersonic and Live Forever after snorting cocaine.

He tells the upcoming issue of Spin magazine, "Before 1997, I hadn’t written a song without the aid of the old Colombian marching gear (cocaine). Don’t forget, I was on drugs before I was even in a band. The whole of the first three albums were written on drugs.

"I remember being off my nut and going into the back room and setting the goal of writing a song in 10 minutes - that was Supersonic.
"All those albums and all the B-sides were written on drugs. That’s why they’re so good. And that p**ses me off.

"I think, 'Maybe I should get back into taking drugs, and then it would be brilliant again.' But that thought lasts less than a second.”

Be Here Now: Oasis Third Album Revisited

Be Here Now: Oasis Third Album Revisited

I recall the anticipation during the WAIT for Be Here Now was almost agonizing. Oasis were the only band that matter in the world for the prior 3 years.

Everyone knew Wonderwall and dad's whistled Don't Look Back in Anger as they went about doing what dads do. I had the DYKWIM single. It was mega epic. It had 3 awesome Oasis B-sides, where could it all go wrong?

The Lore: At the time, the hype was so dangerous that HMV stores opened at midnight, and BBC News covered the release like it was a royal wedding. Noel had written most of these songs on an island in the Caribbean while being "treated" to endless supplies of gin and whatever else was in the cabinet. They thought they were untouchable.

The infamous Rolls Royce in the pool. Pure '97 excess.

The Great Rock n Roll Swindle was released and it became one of the biggest selling albums ever in Britain and sold faster than free P on K road. And then the reviews came in. It sucks! Its overblown! There's no Wonderwall! They took too many drugs! Its self indulgent! etc etc.

And it was kind of true. It was not Morning Glory Part II. It was not Definitely Maybe Pt II. It was just a good album and for that reason it was declared gobshite.

But was it really?

Let me, Swamp Song Fan go thru each song, judging on the following criteria: a) it is, does it stand alone as a well written song and b) could it be successfully covered by a decent singer? c) is it really an Oasis song and d) is it better than Stay Young (DYKWIM b-side)?

Do You Know What I Mean?

Mega Epic early single, this was a wall of sound. Odd, yet catchy lyrics which were reminiscent of early Oasis, a subtle low key solo and just had the Oasis sound. Hard to imagine any one doing a cover of the song well as its too guitar oriented.

Verdict - Pass wit Merit, a classic Oasis song.

My Big Mouth

Big Fast rocker number, a not too subtle dig at the press. Not very rememberable other than for the lyric "in my big mouth, you could fly a plane". Doesn't have any really notable musical moments and is most definitely not classic Oasis.

Verdict - Fail.

Trivia: Noel claims there are over 30 guitar tracks on this one song. It’s the sonic equivalent of a jet engine in a phone booth.

Magic Pie

Nonsense Lyrics from Noel, a strange slow tempo. Probably loved by hard core fans. Doesn't float my boat. No one will cover this, it's not an easy song. Would have been a great B side.

Verdict: Fail, but only just.

Stand By Me

Jumped into the British charts at number 2 on the hype of the Be Here Now's release. An attempt to be heroic? As a stand alone song, it sounds great when played acoustically and could easily be covered. Could be accused of being a lil smalzty.

Verdict: Pass, but as a C+

I Hope I Think I know

As I write this, I cannot even think of the melody. It must be gobshite.

Verdict: Epic Fail

The Girl in the Dirty Shirt

It's kind of like a Wonderwall without the awesome singalong chorus. It's Noel in love with some bird he probably divorced. I like Stay Young better. It's classic Noel but not classic Oasis.

Verdict: Pass but another C+

Fade In-Out

Trying to be some kind of Bon Jovi western song as I recall. Has Johnny Depp on it playing slide I think. Life Magic Pie, it has an odd tempo/slow burner feel. Stay Young is a better song. No one will ever cover this.

Verdict - Fail

Don't Go Away

A true epic. Classic Oasis, classic love song, anyone could cover it. A minor hit all around the world, this is actually the best track on Be Here Now and is arguably one of Oasis' better songs. I saw Noel do it acoustically at the Queens Wharf Events Centre in about 1997 and it was pretty special.

Verdict: Pass. Top of the Class.

Be Here Now

Wrap up cold, when it's warm inside. Oddest, dumbest lyric since that one Oasis did about having a girl around for lasagna and perhaps thus it perhaps deliberatley references Digsy from the same song (Digsy's Dinner). And odd tune, saw it live, it didn't really work for me.

Verdict: Fail

All Around the World

Written before Definitely Maybe was recorded this is Noel channelling the Beatles while at the same time blatantly ripping off the Beatles with all the horns. An attempted at Epicness, this song was another minor hit. Great melody, fun chords, works as a stand alone acoustic guitar busking song.

Verdict: Pass, B+

Fact: At 9:20, it’s still the longest #1 single in UK history. Noel waited years to record this because he wanted a full orchestra or nothing at all.

It's gettin' better(Man!!)

Its a fast, Strong rocker. Could have been a classic Oasis song if only it was better produced. The structure is good, it just doesn't sound right, but it worked live so there you go.

Verdict - Fail (but want it to pass)

All Around the World (Reprise)

Great Melody, a nice close.

Verdict Pass

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Summary: I've given 5 songs passes and one of those was a reprise so its fair to say Be Here Now is not chocker full of big career defining hits, but those hits are damn good ones.

Maybe if a few songs were excised liked I Hope ITIK, Fade In-Out and and Be Here Now and replaced with Stay Young, and other better produced B sides like Going Nowhere, Flash Bax or the Fame the album would have been a lot stronger and better received.

It is telling that none of the songs on this album where included on the best of, Stop the Clocks. DYKWIM? should have definitely be there but it could seem that the band has disowned the album as few of the songs turn up in their set lists these days. It should be noted that Oasis did recently play My Big Mouth in the Liverpool Set.

As I noted earlier, this album is a good album, not a great one. It's very listenable but is no Morning Glory which on reflection should have been no real surprise.

I guess the kindest thing that a critic could say now is that at least its better than the album that followed...

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