And now, nearly two years into this website blogging thing I’ve been doing, it’s time to finally spit out a favorite songs list. I intended to start this way back when but just never got around to it. It’s not really hard to do so I don’t know what the hang up was. But there’s no time like the present so here we go.
I’ve chosen to tackle Oasis first. I wrote about them a bunch when I started this but haven’t got a ton into them lately. When I was debating on exactly how many songs I was going to post I wound up with being able to fill 20 spots, so I’ll go with that. I’m going to split this into two parts. There isn’t a ton of writing on these but the YouTube clips take up a bit of space and I want to keep things kind of clean.
So the first 10 will be up today then the top 10 will be tomorrow. Pretty simple concept so off we go.
20 – Gas Panic!
This track hails from the band’s fourth album, 2000’s Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants. The album as a whole had a psychedelic vibe and this song benefited greatly from it. It’s actually about Noel Gallagher having panic attacks which were attributed to his drug use and the music fits a drug trip sort of thing perfectly. I’d kind of passed on Oasis after their mid-90’s glory days but this one is a gem from their life after the peak.
19 – The Shock Of The Lightning
This one comes from the final Oasis album Dig Out Your Soul which hit in 2008. Oasis actually had a bit of a late-life comeback just before their 2009 implosion and this single was fair part of that. It rocks pretty hard, gives off vibes of the classic Oasis while still hanging out in that trippy territory they’d done quite a bit in through the 2000’s. This one made it easy to get a bit excited about them again, though fate had other plans.
18 – My Big Mouth
First appearing live at the legendary Knebworth 1996 gigs, this song got its studio version on 1997’s Be Here Now. This one is a total banger and it addresses the Gallagher brothers’ reputation for having big mouths. This did nothing to shut them up, it was just a song they sang, but this was a good cut. This is one where I do prefer the Knebworth live presentation a bit to the studio track but the studio cut is still really good.
17 – The Hindu Times
It’s on now to Heathen Chemistry from 2002 and the lead single from that record. While the album was all over the place, this song was a good lead off and probably the strongest song from the record, though not the most well-known. This is a light, cheery and a bit of a trippy song. Noel named the track based on a t-shirt he saw in a shop but the lyrics were written later and have no connection to the title. But it’s no matter, this is a really good one.
16 – Lyla
Up next is the lead single from Don’t Believe The Truth released in 2005. This is a simple, fun song about a gal who is really great or something. It’s not a love song per se, more of just this person is generally awesome kind of thing. This one really has the vibe of Oasis getting it right and is one of the best singles of their 2000’s era.
15 – Wonderwall
And here we are. I know that music is relative and subjective, and that a lot of people don’t have exposure to a lot of things that seem common to others. But if you haven’t heard this song you’ve literally been living under a rock since 1995. The most secluded of hermits have heard Wonderwall.
This was the mega hit that still rings loud and clear 28 years later. It might be overplayed but that doesn’t really affect my opinion of it much. This was a very well-done song and there’s a reason it got so popular. I’m honestly never upset to hear it, no matter how many times I already have.
14 – Acquiesce
This one originally appeared as a B-side to Some Might Say in 1995, then this got its own single release ahead of The Masterplan compilation in 1998. It features both Liam and Noel singing, with Liam handling the verses and Noel on the chorus. This is one where the studio version is very good and this easily could have been an album track, but the Knebworth live performance of this really puts it over the top. That raw, energetic version is massive and a must-listen.
13 – Supersonic
The first of probably more than one from the red hot debut Definitely Maybe, this is a total hard rock ass kicker. The lyrics are straight up nonsense and great fun and the song is just a magical trip to where the hell ever. While many think of Oasis as a one hit wonder, they clearly had more up their sleeves, even from the word go.
12 – Cast No Shadow
The second pick here from the band’s magnum opus (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Oasis were not a band prone to a lot of sad songs, and even when they did go that route they were often sweet and sentimental about it. But here they did pursue the more forlorn path of outright despair, offering a dirge about a hard luck guy. The song was inspired by and dedicated to Richard Ashcroft of The Verve, someone who had his fair share of knocks through the 90’s music scene. This was a bit of a thematic departure for Oasis but this is more my kind of sad song, generally speaking.
11 – Some Might Say
The first part of the list wraps up with another of the many singles from WTSMG. This is a pretty nice alt-rock track at mid-pace that also has some fun with strings of words that don’t really say a hell of a lot, though there’s also some bits of common wisdom in there too. This song often gets overlooked by the heavyweights it’s paired with on the album but people really shouldn’t sleep on this one.
That nails down the first part of the list. The top ten will be known tomorrow. Part II is now live.
This week’s pick goes a bit back to 2019 and the second solo album from Oasis’ cantankerous former frontman. Liam Gallagher had returned in 2017 after a hiatus and was an in-fashion hero for a crowd now well engaged in Britpop nostalgia. His first album was an unexpected success, could he keep it up?
Also, as a note – I had totally forgotten that brother Noel was releasing a record last Friday when I decided to pick this Liam album for AotW. Or maybe I did it subconsciously, I don’t know. Either way, here it is.
Liam Gallagher – Why Me? Why Not.
Released September 20, 2019 via Warner Records
My Favorite Tracks – Once, Shockwave, The River
After the explosive break-up of Oasis in 2009, Noel Gallagher launched straight into a successful solo career while Liam and the rest of Oasis fell short with their Beady Eye project. Liam returned to the scene in 2017 with his solo debut As You Were, absolutely defying skeptics by picking up a UK number one and taking high spots on charts all across the world. The table was set for a knockout follow-up.
Liam has crafted his solo albums with the collaborative help of many musicians. While Liam’s own lack of songwriting has been a criticism of him from some circles, it is fairly standard business in the music industry so I don’t see the issue.
The actual writing, performing and production credits for the album are far too extensive to go over here. Two primary contributors were Greg Kurstin and Andrew Wyatt, both of whom have very impressive music resumes. Both would shape the bulk of the album’s songs as well as produce a majority of things.
As for the album’s name, this Radio X article tells the story – the name is based off two drawings done by John Lennon that Liam had come into possession of. One was a purchase, the other was a gift from Yoko Ono.
The standard release comprises 11 tracks with 39 minutes of listening. There are other versions with different bonus tracks but I have the standard vinyl so that’s what I’ll run down. 3 bonus tracks are available on Spotify’s version of the album.
Shockwave
The opener kicks things off with a barnburner. A little bit of a honky tonk flavor seasons this mid-tempo banger that sees Liam fully embracing his return to the limelight. It’s no secret that Liam is one of rock’s bad boys and he counters his detractors with this excellent song.
One Of Us
Another single release, this song mellows things about a bit and gets into some more melancholy territory. The song is clearly about Liam’s estranged relationship with Noel and is most likely a call to get Oasis back together. The video clip only furthers the concept, using a famous shot of the brothers from the past and updating it to today’s sadder state of affairs. The songs goes out on a bit of a gospel kick which seems a bit odd at first but I’ve gotten used to it.
Once
This was also a single and was the song that really made me truly sit back and pay attention to what I was hearing. This is a sad ballad about the realization that you can’t recapture the magic of years gone by, you really only can do it once. The song might have roots in Liam’s brotherly relationship but the theme is universally applicable.
There are touches of what might be over-production in the song, such as the echoing “once” in the latter part of the song, but small issues don’t derail the magnificence of this track. Now with three albums to his credit, this song is easily the best of Liam’s solo career. The video for this one is also great, it features Manchester United football legend Eric Cantona delivering a magnificent performance.
Now That I’ve Found You
This one moves on to more upbeat territory, it’s a pretty simple yet very effective number. The song does have more serious underpinnings, though – it is about and dedicated to Liam’s daughter Molly, who Liam did not have a relationship with until Molly was 20.
Halo
This song is a fast one with a piano-driven focus. On first listen I wasn’t all that into it but after repeat spins this moved up to being a preferred tune. The song is simple and is dedicated to Liam’s fiancee Debbie. It’s a fair bit of fun on an album that has its share of haunting moments.
Why Me? Why Not
The title track is another bit of simple but nice pop and rock. It does see Liam exercising his vocal range a bit more, something he’s been able to start doing again after years of medical issues nearly ruined his voice. This song’s theme is pretty well spelled out in the title – why not Liam?
Be Still
This one runs with a nice, kind of dirty guitar riff (I would’ve liked a bit more dirty but look at what I normally listen to). The song is a bit of a tribute to Liam’s mother Peggy, who was a guiding force in the Gallagher brothers’ somewhat shambolic early life, and remains so today. This song is another that sees Liam rise up and move on despite the obstacles in his way, a pretty standard theme for his career.
Alright Now
The next track has a very old school, classic song feel. It’s a bit of a departure but it’s nicely done and doesn’t veer so far off that it’s distracting. No telling what it’s about, seems to be one of those “that’s how life is” kind of songs, with the good and bad and all inbetween.
Meadow
If someone wasn’t aware that Liam was a huge fan of The Beatles, this song will inform of that fact. It’s pretty standard lyric-wise, hold your head up and press through the bullshit. Feels maybe a bit abstract compared to the rest of the album but still a workable song.
The River
This was a single and is another total banger, another hard rock track akin to Shockwave. This time Liam is advising against trusting the way things are going. It’s a very fitting track for the modern day and the dystopian atmosphere around everything. A very nice way to pick up some steam after the last few songs meandered a bit.
Gone
The album closes with an epic kind-of ballad featuring some attention-grabbing instrumentation. The song deals with the end of a relationship, no real idea exactly who Liam might be singing about here as he’s had a few end in his day. This one got released as the final single but that was just after the COVID lockdowns started happening so it kind of got lost in that shuffle.
Why Me? Why Not. was another smash success for Liam Gallagher. The album gathered another UK number one and also hit on charts in over 20 other countries, which included 5 other top 5 placements. The album was certified gold in the UK. Just as a wave of Britpop nostalgia was rising up as that group were nearing the 25th anniversaries of their milestone efforts, Liam struck gold as a solo performer.
There wouldn’t be a huge touring cycle for the album due to COVID but some songs were worked into an MTV Unplugged set and also as Liam did a performance while floating down the River Thames in 2020. Regular touring resumed in 2021 and Liam finally went out with these songs as well as working in a number of old Oasis favorites.
Liam Gallagher isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, both musically and personality-wise. But he showcased the ability to step out of his brother’s shadow in his solo career, moving albums and live tickets at a fever pace. Bringing a collection of songs of this caliber certainly didn’t hurt.
Last week I was trying and failing to find something to watch across streaming services when I landed on a series called This Is Pop! This was a short series filmed in 2021 by the Canadian crew Banger Films, responsible for Metal Evolution, originally Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and many other quality documentaries.
I did not watch the whole series and I probably won’t, but one was really interesting to me – Hail Britpop! This recounts that brief but lovely time in British music when a bunch of different forces converged to reshape the English music scene, and at least one act broke out internationally. So I figured I’d go over the episode a bit and also run down the Battle of Britpop, which was discussed in some detail on the show.
The show depicted Britpop as a movement of rather different music interests, ranging from alt-rock to shoegaze and other forms, that would fit together to express a uniquely English musical identity in the early 1990’s. While Suede is generally credited with the birth of Britpop, the show paints Blur as the main culprits. Alex James and David Rowntree of Blur both give pretty insightful interviews for the episode.
The consensus is that Blur were on tour in America and were lamenting the lack of English identity in music, which at the time was very much under the thumb of American grunge. Blur returned from the tour and recorded their seminal Parklife album, which celebrated British culture and made them superstars. The fact that some of Parklife was a sneer at that same British culture rather than a celebration was left out of the show.
Once Blur went over, it was open season for the British music press for anything Britpop. The show does a great job of painting the music press as the actual main purveyor of Britpop – this wasn’t a codified music scene with a common sound and characteristics, this was a bunch of different bands grouped together because they sounded British and were generally more cheery than the alt-rock of the day. Members from bands like Lush and Echobelly give interviews to this effect.
The show does make what I assume is a joke, that one day a heavy metal band changed their attire and “became” a Britpop band. I don’t know of any such act who actually did that, if one did I’d be happy to know who it was. But even if the show made the point in exaggerating fashion, it was true that there was a hop on the press-driven bandwagon of Britpop.
While Blur were the early winners of the Britpop phenomenon and it was largely a London-based scene, most everyone who was alive at the time knows what eventually happened – a group of sneering lads from Manchester came along and stole the spotlight.
The part of Oasis in the episode is represented by Alan McGee, the head of Creation Records and the man responsible for signing Oasis to their record deal. The introduction of Oasis also brings about the North-South divide in England – the south being more posh and the north more working class and perhaps grim. Blur would come to represent the south aesthetic while Oasis would carry the torch for the working people of the north. While this depiction is true to some degree, it’s also a media invention that would fuel the Battle of Britpop in 1995.
The Battle of Britpop was pretty simple – both Blur and Oasis released singles from their new albums on the same day – August 14, 1995. It was billed as a titanic heavyweight fight in the British press, extending far beyond just the music rags. The show offers arguments from both Food Records and Creation Records label heads as well as Blur band members about the choice to release on the same day, note that Blur’s band and record exec stories directly contradict one another on the show.
Blur would come out winners of the Battle of Britpop, as their single Country House outsold the Oasis offering Roll With It. While this temporarily went in Blur’s favor, the show quickly pivots to the runaway success of Wonderwall and the massive sales Oasis would see of their second album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Oasis would trounce Blur in full album sales and, while this wasn’t mentioned on the show that I recall, music press even changed reviews of Blur’s The Great Escape after Oasis mania truly took hold.
Just as quickly as Britpop took hold, it would fizzle out. A bit of Oasis’ triumphant Knebworth gigs in 1996 are touched on, this was likely the zenith of Britpop. Oasis’ third album Be Here Now did well out of the gate but landed pretty hard in critical reviews and tends to signal the end of Britpop. Blur also changed tack, actually embracing the American music they’d forsaken years ago and had their big international hit with their self-titled album and especially Song 2.
This wraps up the episode of Hail Britpop! I felt the episode was good, though it did move quick and leave a lot of Britpop out. It nailed the central points of being a press movement and it got the rise of Oasis and the posh/working class clash of the Battle of Britpop right, but a lot of Britpop’s other history was left unaired. Suede, Pulp and Elastica all played big roles in the Britpop phenomenon but were relegated to pictures and small mentions in the show. I don’t intend this to be a huge criticism of the show as I understand the makers were going over the main points in their 45-minute airtime, but I do admit to being more of an admirer of comprehensive coverage.
Overall though, I do think this episode was really good and it’s a nice primer to the main aspects of Britpop for those unfamiliar. I had a good time watching it and reliving a small but very important part of my music listening history. It is a good place to go for those maybe not as vested in the finer points of the Britpop movement but who want an easy to digest version of what all the fuss was about from England in the mid 1990’s.
Since I’ve been writing about Britpop, I figured I would take a moment to link back to some old posts of mine on the subject. I covered Oasis extensively in this site’s early days and I have a few more here and there about the subject so I’ll link up to some relevant stuff below for your further reading pleasure.
The quick and easy posts continue this week as it’s that time of year for Spotify Wrapped.
I’ll add a quick bit of context before getting into mine – this year I used Spotify for two main purposes – small playlists of 6 or so songs when I go on bicycle rides (which is most every day) and to check out new releases. I figured my wrap-up would be distorted this year based on the small series of 30 minute playlists I constantly rotate through, but as it turns out I can say the results were fairly representative of my listening habits.
First up the is genres. Not a whole lot to get into here, besides whatever “post-doom metal” is. Music descriptors get awesome these days when everyone is trying to invent a new term for a sound that sets even somewhat apart from the rest. I’m also not entirely sure what they’re referring to with “country rock” but that’s a more understandable term.
Now on top artist. Not really shocking to me – I have a handful of LoG songs in my playlists and then when Omens came out in early October I played the hell out of it. I’ve liked them for a long time but the new album really knocked me over and likely explains how they took my top artist crown this year.
And here is the overall Wrapped sum-up. Kind of funny that my top played song in 2022 was the same one as from 2021. My only real “huh?” moment is Muse being in my top artist list – they put out a new album this year which didn’t really hit with me, though one song off of it is pretty awesome. I guess that one new song and whatever sprinkling of others I have in my playlists put them over the top. None of the others register any surprise to me all.
Here is one other little bonus that was going around in the past few days leading up to Wrapped – the Instafest lineup. It essentially takes your Spotify data and generates a three day festival based on what you’ve played. Here is mine.
I’m honestly pretty happy with mine. Now, I do love Oasis, but in no universe would I book Iron Maiden as an opening act for Oasis. I’m sure plenty of people would have my head for that. But beyond that, I would pay huge money to attend that fest. It lines up with what I like pretty nicely. The only oddball? I don’t know the artist “Lord” as listed on the festival bill. No clue who that is referring to and I’m not getting any easy answers on Spotify.
That covers my Spotify Wrapped for 2022 and also the bonus Instafest thing. As a preview for my end of year stuff, I’ll do my top albums of 2022 on December 12, in place of the regular Album of the Week feature. I’ll probably do a small Songs of the Year list too, maybe three or five, don’t know yet. On through the ass end of 2022.
After dispensing with the Album of the Year on Monday and a more fleshed-out list the week prior, I’m back to wrap up 2021 with a variety of thoughts on things. I’ll discuss music as a whole, where I’m personally at and going with this blog into the new year, and I’ll give out a few “… of the year” awards as I go along.
The End Of The Year In Music, 2021
It’s about time to bring 2021 to a close. Christmas is just days away, and with that just one more week until 2022 begins. The COVID pandemic rages on after a brief glimmer of hope in the summer. Political unrest and partisan hostility continue to define the social conversation. We appear headed to the brink of some dystopian disasterpiece, but it’s kinda hard to say.
In music, the industry and artists tried their best to get back to the business of making music, tours and money. Legacy acts sold off catalog rights for large sums while smaller acts hit the road in uncertain conditions to try and make a buck. Bands who had sat on albums hoping to air them out as part of a new touring cycle instead chose to release their efforts and see some recompense.
Psychical formats came back strong, even in the wake of massive streaming numbers. But those formats might be threatened by short supply. Record plants are backed up on orders for years, only pushed further when one of the world’s biggest artists needs half a million copies of her album pressed ASAP. Cassettes have returned as a novelty but are only made in one place on a mountain in some remote Himalayan nation. More and more physical format collectors are casting fond eyes once again at the CD, a format thought to have been rendered obsolete by streaming. Hey, some people want to have something on their shelves.
Fans have turned out again for the bands who have braved the perils of travel to tour. While many places in the world continue to lock down over virus concerns, other parts have flat outlawed health restrictions and are as open as they were before 2020. It’s in these enclaves that bands and fans have met again after a nearly dead touring scene in 2020. It appears that the touring machine is preparing to fire up in a bigger way for 2022, replete with arguments about vaccination requirements and other protocols that have become as divisive as opinions about the best Metallica record.
2022 appears to be promising for a real return to the business of music, at least on the surface. Bands left and right are queuing new albums for next year’s release and many acts who sat on the sidelines during 2020 and last year are gearing up for tours this next go around. It might be a tenuous hope, but it is some hope after all that these groups can get back to what they need to do in order to keep themselves going.
Live Album Of The Year 2021
I’ll just be real – I didn’t listen to a lot of live albums this year. I don’t know of that many even released. I know some legacy acts like Kiss and Metallica pump them out almost in constant rotation, and that Deep Purple dumped a few old recordings on the market. Hell, I guess Pink Floyd just did a massive dump of early 70’s live stuff the other day. But I haven’t got to any of it yet. There’s stuff I’ll give a spin to later, sure, but live albums as a whole aren’t the biggest part of my music experience.
Of course, one live album did get released that caught my attention this year. In fact I spent a good portion of time on here discussing the band in the lead-up to the album’s release.
The live album of the year, to probably no one’s shock: Oasis – Live At Knebworth 1996.
I went into very full detail on this album and the accompanying documentary already in this earlier post, so I’ll spare details now. I’ll probably back off on Oasis content for awhile since knocking out the first two albums and the Knebworth discussion does tend to cover most of their career highlights. Liam does have a solo record hitting sometime in 2022 so I’ll certainly give space to that, but for now Oasis can give way to a multitude of other stuff I want to discuss.
This Blog In 2022
I was uncertain how I’d feel about getting back into blogging after a 10-plus year absence. Also I was unsure of sticking with one topic – in the past I would just write about whatever I wanted. But these days require a bit more specialization of subjects to hold any attention at all and music has always been one of my primary interests, so music it was.
So far I have to say I’ve been quite pleased with how things have turned out. I don’t find myself with as much time to write and plot out future stuff as I’d like, but I’ve started getting a handle on that. I have some new series and project-style features I want to air out and I should be getting to some of those early next year. I do hope at some point to expand to at least 4 days a week of posting, but for the time being I’m going to hold to 3 a week as it suits my present routines and time constraints.
One project I had intended to have going by now was a YouTube channel. I figured it would be a good way to do some list-style things like ranking a band’s albums and stuff of that nature. I haven’t found the time to get to work on that yet though I have a bit of planned content ready to go. It is a whole other animal with more demanding time requirements than the blog so it’s been a bit to get it going. I’ll be knuckling down after the holidays to get that ball finally rolling, though in reality the blog will remain my main mode of expression.
Thanks to everyone who has dropped by and read, and either left comments here, on social media or in person. It’s been a different world than when I blogged in the past, when it was semi-anonymous and almost no one knew or cared what people were writing. Even in an age where social media and video have driven many people from this written format, I’ve still found that people are interested. Time marches on into the new year, and this thing will keep going.
Song Of The Year
I’ll leave off with one more “award” presentation. Albums are fine and all but the individual songs do mean something and have their own processes to evaluate and take in. I didn’t bother with a ranked list or anything else for this one. Perhaps next year I’ll take some extra time to give a list.
But for this year I’m just going to crown a champion. I discussed this EP early on in the blog’s beginnings and I’ve been over it a time or two since. It wasn’t much of a contest for me to determine my pick for Song of the Year – To The Hellfire by Lorna Shore.
I went over it in my Spotify Wrapped review a bit ago – I played the shit out of this song. I was reeled in right when I heard it. I did miss it when it actually released in June due to being busy with a million other things, but I got into it right when the EP released in August. And I played it a few hundred times since.
I’ve noticed a lot of adverse reaction to this song after the hype built for it across the Internet. Now I can find as many people dismissing it or digging up every other deathcore release in 2021 to proclaim that “better.” I guess that’s how things go, but no other deathcore act captured that many ears and put up the kind of numbers that Lorna Shore and this song did.
But hey – it isn’t worth it to try and argue against people arguing against something. The song struck a nerve with a whole lot of people and did great things for the band and the subgenre as a whole. A rising tide lifts all ships, as they say. Lorna Shore have completed recording their new full-length, an album I’d expect to see sometime next year. They gave themselves a tough act to follow with this song and EP, we’ll see if they can live up to it.
Wrap It Up
That’s about all for my look back at 2021. A wild year, unsettling and chaotic with everything going on and the uncertainty of the future. But the music landscape looks to possibly be brighter in the coming year, and even with all the chaos, it seems many artists were able to turn in some great releases over this pandemic-soaked landscape.
I will be posting on my regular schedule for the rest of the year – this coming Friday and 3 days next week. And I’ll have a special album of the week that ties in to the coming of 2022, I’ve been looking forward to this since I got this up and running back in August. Have a good holidays, I’ll be around on my normal schedule, and off to the new year we go.
This Album of the Week will be a deluxe edition. I am going to cover an album, Blu-Ray and documentary. It was a few weeks back that the entire package of the Oasis – Knebworth album and film came to retail shelves and now it’s time to get into the astonishing amount of material within.
Oasis – Live At Knebworth
Released November 19, 2021 via Big Brother Records
My Favorite Tracks – Slide Away, Acquiesce, Columbia
The Album
The official live record compiles the entire setlist of both shows, though this compilation borrows from both shows to make one record. I suppose a completionist might have rather have both shows in full as an audio offering, though this stitched-together effort does a fine job of showcasing the gigs.
The songs are presented in order from the shows, the setlist did not deviate between the two nights. Almost all of the songs are slightly truncated versions of their studio counterparts – the structure is verse-chorus-verse-chorus and close, things were kept simple for the massive concerts. Set opener Columbia loses over a minute from its studio runtime, and everything besides Champagne Supernova has a bit of fluff trimmed off.
The song selection is almost completely spot on – 5 songs from the debut album, 8 from the seminal What’s The Story…, 5 non-album cuts and 2 tracks from the band’s next release Be Here Now. There is only one glaring omission from the chosen set and that’s a point addressed in the documentary – Rock N’ Roll Star is a perfect tune for the energetic festival performance. For some reason the band wasn’t playing it at all during this touring cycle.
For this massive scale performance the band would necessarily leave some nuance behind and put more force behind the musical presentation. Even with that, songs like The Masterplan and Wonderwall get string arrangements to accompany them, and horns join in on Round Are Way (which also sees the chorus of Up In The Sky sneak in at the end). Even the melancholy Cast No Shadow translates well to the stadium-sized performance.
If any one song loses a bit of something to the noise of Knebworth, it’s Don’t Look Back In Anger. Noel simply turns up his guitar and slams through the song. While the rendition is fine, it is a song that could have benefited from an arrangement of some sort. It is not a large disappointment but it is a note to be made out of the set.
Of course, Oasis has no shortage of hard hitting tracks that translate very well on the big stage. Supersonic, Cigarettes And Alcohol, Some Might Say and Morning Glory all stand out in the noise and power of 125,000 people. And the second song Acquiesce, a celebrated B-side that probably suffers from not having a proper album release, is an especially on-fire version of the song. Liam’s snarl through the verses is beautifully matched by Noel’s more delicate delivery of the chorus and the song absolutely stands out in the Knebworth gigs.
One track stands out above the others from Knebworth. It has been long known among Oasis diehards that the Sunday performance of Slide Away is perhaps the definitive version of that song and many consider it the band’s best live offering ever. While I haven’t checked out other landmark gigs enough to make such a determination, I will say that Slide Away absolutely hits on this live set. It is a complete monster performance, that much is certain.
In the end, the choice to piece an official Knebworth album from both nights works well. The diehards who wish to have both nights on audio probably already do digitally or in bootleg form, so it’s not a disservice to the product to patch this set together from both nights. Many celebrated live albums have gone that route in order to deliver the best possible experience.
And it’s nice to finally have one of the band’s historic gigs in official form. Oasis only released one live album during their tenure while Knebworth and other massively-celebrated concerts have been relegated to bootleg or YouTube status. A superfan will of course hope that Earl’s Court, Maine Road and other landmark gigs from this and other tours will get official releases in the future, but whether or not that happens is impossible to say.
The Blu-Ray
The video presentation of Knebworth offers the theatrical documentary as well as both concert sets in full. While we did not get an complete official audio package, the video side does deliver with both nights.
The footage does a good job of joining high definition content with more grainy film from 1996. I didn’t have a problem with how the video played out, it was all put together well. There isn’t a lot else that needs to be said – both shows are here for anyone who wants to get into them.
The Documentary
The centerpiece of the Knebworth package is the documentary filmed earlier this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the gigs. It was an historic occasion for Oasis and so Noel chose to honor the memory with this deluxe offering.
The film is very well-done and does not offer a dry run through historical facts, nor is it some hollow puff piece that kisses the band’s ass while not offering anything of real value. The filmmakers chose to let the fans tell the story of Knebworth and it’s a choice that makes this documentary stand out from many other music films.
The film runs through the build up to the concerts – the pain of getting tickets, finding a way to the shows, and getting on the grounds and up front when there. There is no central narrator – most of the story is told by the fans, while Noel and Bonehead also contribute thoughts. Liam only speaks briefly at the end, perhaps owing to how shitfaced he reportedly was on the night between the two shows. Also of note is that no modern-day footage of anyone from the band is shown – everything is from that weekend in 1996 or recreations of fans’ experiences.
I don’t know how well the film would play out for someone who isn’t a fan of Oasis. Some documentaries can be compelling viewing even if a person isn’t a fan of the subject, but Knebworth is very much a fan service film. It doesn’t offer up a lot to someone who doesn’t have a vested interest in the band and isn’t an accounting of facts and figures – it’s the true story of that weekend in August 1996.
The fans tell their stories of that weekend – a young man who found out his girlfriend was pregnant just before arriving at the shows, the requisite group of lads who drove a junk car across the country, and a couple of girls who were able to score tickets early Sunday morning with just enough time to get to the festival grounds. One woman’s story about her brother, told as the band ran through The Masterplan, is especially touching and a standout moment from the film that truly captures the weight of these concerts and Oasis at their peak in 1996.
It is a theme discussed in the film – these shows in August were the end of youth and innocence for many in the crowd. These shows are often looked at as the end of the Britpop movement, though some choose the next year’s release of Be Here Now as that moment. While I wasn’t at the gigs it also was the end of my youth – I turned 19 about a week after these gigs. It was a strange and interesting time where the last vestiges of childhood fell by the wayside. Music and life wouldn’t be the same after this.
The Knebworth film does a great job of showcasing how much weight Oasis and these shows held. The story is told by the fans, for the fans in celebration of that historic weekend in 1996. This film lines up very well just after the Supersonic documentary, as its endpoint was these Knebworth shows. This is likely the end of full-form documentaries about Oasis, as their high points are now covered by these two films. It is a collection of stories – about the band, the 250,000 fans who packed the house those two nights, and the millions of fans around the world.
This will be a new series with a bit of discussion of a song and a story, just as the title says. It’s a way to just talk about something for a bit that’s funny, sad, or whatever. Sometimes the connection might be deep, others tenuous, it’ll be what it’ll be. It should in time be the regular feature on Wednesdays as I start shuffling a few things around.
For the first installment I’m going back to the well with Oasis, a band I’ve already covered a lot here. I have a bit more to go too, but this story came out over the weekend and just fit the theme for this new series all too well.
The Song
Oasis – Acquiesce
This is one of the band’s more famous B-sides, originally released as the other side to Some Might Say in 1995. The song quickly entered the band’s live set, as demonstrated here being the second song performed at the historic Knebworth gig. It would go on to appear on the group’s 1998 B-sides compilation The Masterplan, often touted as the band’s second- or third-best album despite not really being one.
The song is a nice contrast study – Liam belts out the hard rocking verses, while Noel offers a softer and higher chorus with a sentimental message. The song is reportedly about the relationship between the brothers Gallagher, which was not quite as bad in 1995 as it is at the end of 2021. Of course, the song could fit any sort of family, friend or romantic relationship.
I have no particular connection to this song – I didn’t own the singles or The Masterplan back in the day. I really only came into their B-sides when I got back into Oasis in the mid 2010’s. It’s a wonderful song and one I’d most likely include on a list of their top 15 or however many songs, should I ever get to such an exercise.
So what is the story with this song, if I myself have no real attachment to it? Well, you might need each other and believe in one another, especially if you’re stuck with 60 or so people in an English pub for 3 days.
The Story
Here is one of many media reports about the incident, this from Consequence. Over the past weekend a group of 60 or so people went to a Yorkshire pub to have a few pints and catch Oasis tribute band Noasis. Unlucky for the pub goers, a ton of snow fell in the area as Noasis played and the group was stuck in the pub. It would not be until Monday morning, a full three days, before the bulk of attendees were able to leave.
The story quickly made social media rounds, with many getting a chuckle and others thinking the scenario was heaven or hell, depending on one’s view of Oasis. I’d wind up with a snow-in of my own, getting messages and posts about the story plastered all over my social media. The event ended with no casualties and seemingly great spirits among the attendees and pub staff, so all’s well that ends well.
And I’ll be real – I’d love to be stuck in a pub for 3 days. Hell, I’d do it even if the tribute band was for someone I didn’t like, say Dave Matthews. Or, even better, if there was no band. But add in a tribute band to one of my favorites like Oasis and hell yeah, I’m down to be stuck in a place with beer and bar food for days on end. I guess the worst issue was that the place ran out of sausage. I could make do, I’m sure.
A bit about the tribute band – Noasis formed in 2006 and have over 1,100 gigs under their belts. They’ve gone nearly as long as the band they are paying homage to at this point. People might want to argue about the merit of tribute bands but hey, if you can make a living playing music, go for it. Or even if someone just wants to do it as a hobby, have at it. I’d surmise that it’s more than a hobby after 1,100 gigs and 15 years for these guys.
Of course this isn’t much of a story with any grand lesson or anything like that. It’s just a fun bit of trivia from across the pond that involves a band I talk about a fair bit and catch a fair bit of shit for liking, as I went over a few weeks ago. But hey, if anyone wants to lock me in a bar with a bunch of booze and all the Oasis songs I can handle listening to, hook me up.
This coming Friday the 19th marks the long-awaited official release of the landmark Oasis concert at Knebworth 1996. I will be waiting a moment for my package with everything to arrive from Europe so to bide my time I’ll talk about the band’s landmark second album.
Oasis – (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
Released October 2, 1995 via Creation Records
My Favorite Tracks – Champagne Supernova, Don’t Look Back In Anger, Morning Glory
Oasis entered the release cycle for What’s The Story … in a singles chart battle with Britrock rivals Blur. The end result would see Oasis become one of the biggest bands on the planet, with over 20 million copies of the album sold and one of music’s most recognized songs living on for decades after its release. The album was the UK’s best selling of the 1990’s and it marked the pinnacle of the Britrock movement.
This is my favorite Oasis record and, like so many others, my jumping-on point for the band. It was a changing time in music as well as my life – I had just graduated high school a few months before its release and would be on the other side of the world a few months after it. These songs would be with me as I entered a new phase of my life and left childhood behind. And music in the late 90’s would not be what it was in the early 90’s, that much is for sure.
It’s only fitting to tackle this record track-by-track, there’s a lot to talk about here.
Hello
The album opens with a nice, steady rocker that’s bright but also gets a bit in your face. The song serves its titled purpose well – it’s a nice introduction to the album about to unfold. Some nice, washed out guitars compliment the album’s compressed mix (apparently compressed because no one besides Noel Gallagher could play their instruments…) The song doesn’t do much besides say “hello,” and it does that just fine.
Roll With It
The album’s lead single was the focus of a chart battle with countrymen Blur in 1995. Blur’s Country House would edge out this song as the winner of the week’s battle, but What’s The Story… would obliterate The Great Escape in album sales. The chart battle was a media invention that pitted the British everyman that Oasis represented versus a more upper class, artsy vibe offered by Blur. Honestly the whole thing was kind of a lame, media-contrived mess and I don’t put much stock in the war between the bands other than noting its historical significance.
Roll With It is a perfectly fine song but an odd choice for a lead single given what else lies on this record. This song doesn’t punch as high or hard as others but that doesn’t make it a bad song. It’s still a nice tune and fits the vibe of the record well.
Wonderwall
Here we are – the immortal, titanic song from this record, from Oasis and from Britrock as a whole. This song took over airwaves of all forms and lives on today as one of the 90’s most recognizable hits. Wonderwall was the second song recorded before 2000 to hit over a billion streams on Spotify, trailing only Queen’s epic Bohemian Rhapsody. It is often found on polls of “Best Britrock Songs Ever” behind maybe only Live Forever or Pulp’s smash hit Common People.
Wonderwall is a mainstream sensation, even to this day it’s near impossible to escape hearing it. But it’s also a huge point of debate amongst Oasis diehards – is the song worth the attention it gets or is it possibly the worst song on the record? I’ve ran into this argument on many occasions and especially in the past few years as Oasis nostalgia has a lot of people revisiting their work.
The truth is that no, it’s not the worst song on the record. It is an expertly-crafted song and most likely deserves the fanfare it gets. I wouldn’t say it’s the best song on the record but I won’t throw Wonderwall under a bus just because it took on a life of its own, even if I feel the next track is the one that should have seen the supernova of attention.
This tune is often cited as a love song but there is confusion as to its real meaning, a discussion taken up on the song’s Wikipedia page. That confusion is owing to the song’s creator, Noel Gallagher. Noel did state that it was a song dedicated to his then-wife, but after divorcing that wife he said the song was about “an imaginary friend who’s gonna save you from yourself.” Of course we probably won’t know the truth of the matter as Gallaghers and historical facts tend to not get on together at times, but I do like the alternate meaning of the song he proposed later.
Whatever the case, Wonderwall lives on in the hearts and ears of both willing listeners and people sick to death of it. It is the defining moment of this album and the Oasis legacy.
Don’t Look Back In Anger
I could write another essay about this song. Thankfully, I already have. Don’t Look Back In Anger was my third selection to my list of S-Tier Songs, those being what I consider the greatest of the great songs. That post covers the major points I’d want to address.
There is the question of this song’s place in history – is this the true crown jewel of the record? Did Wonderwall steal the thunder from this tune, which has become entwined with British culture? Was Noel’s decision to handle vocals on it instead of Liam what held this song back?
There’s an argument to be made that DLBIA was a bit held back, but there is no stopping popular culture. Wonderwall became the sensation and this song rode in the backseat. But in the years since it has quietly taken the driver’s seat as the album’s premier song. Its message is universally resonant and it has been a part of triumphant and tragic moments in culture over the decades since its release.
And yes, while objectivity is rather impossible when looking at music, I would say that in an objective sense this is the best song on the album. It isn’t my favorite, we’ll get to that in a bit. But there’s no denying how powerful and impactful DLBIA is.
Hey Now!
The album’s fifth cut is the one that many feel drags down the record. Many evaluators put the band’s debut Definitely Maybe ahead of What’s The Story… and Hey Now! Is exhibit A in the arguments. This tune is certainly meandering and ponderous and probably isn’t going to win many “best of the bunch” awards from anyone but the most contrarian of listeners.
I don’t look at the song as harshly as others but I do get the arguments. I don’t mind hearing it and I can play the album as a whole just fine without needing to skip this. There is no danger of this song appearing in a future S-Tier Song post, but that’s fine.
Some Might Say
The album’s mid section picks back up after a brief interlude with another of the album’s singles. Some Might Say might sit a bit under the radar in the wake of Wonderwall, DLBIA and Champagne Supernova, but the song brings its own weight to the table.
The song moves through some silly but great lyrical observations along with simple yet well-placed guitar work and the sum becomes greater than the parts. Liam drawls through the verses before belting out a powerful chorus full of some very interesting word choices. It’s one of several Oasis songs that is total nonsense yet still totally brilliant.
Cast No Shadow
This haunting, melancholy song was written by Noel to his friend, Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft. This interview with Noel spells out more of the background behind the song and Noel and Richard’s relationship.
The song is absolutely gorgeous and also depressing. I definitely feel the vibe coming from it, the desperation of trudging through life and just being plowed over by everyone and everything around you. It is a shitty thing to identify with but it’s there, no getting around it.
Cast No Shadow is a quiet favorite of many fans as well as the band, Liam has said it’s one of his favorites and he often includes it in his present-day solo sets. It’s just yet another example of how amazing Noel was at songwriting in this time.
She’s Electric
The band is back with another fun, silly tune about a girl and a crazy relationship, or lack thereof with the protagonist. There’s a nice mix of the usual lyrical nonsense often found in Oasis songs and a very interesting narrative of a guy and girl who are or aren’t about one another, kind of hard to say.
The song is really nice and I enjoy it when it comes on. It won’t ever be accused of being the best on the record but it certainly still has a place here.
Morning Glory
The album’s quasi-title track is an absolute banger. It comes in loud and runs red hot. Oasis only really “rocked out” a few times on their debut and this marks the only example of it here. While I clearly don’t find much fault with the band’s music, I do wish they had done a bit more of these headbangers.
The song is obviously about the band’s favorite party favor – cocaine. The white line is ubiquitous with rock n roll and Oasis did not shy away from their consumption of it in the 1990’s. It would lead to numerous issues for the band through their height of popularity and would mark their coming descent from the top of the mountain just around the bend in 1997, but it also gave us this magnificent tune.
Champagne Supernova
The album’s closing track and fifth single takes a different turn, bringing a trippy and atmospheric vibe to close out the record. The song did extremely well worldwide and is often the second most-recognized track behind the gargantuan Wonderwall.
The song is, like many other Oasis tunes, total lyrical nonsense. It is perhaps the most famous example of words simply meaning whatever the listener wishes them to mean. Noel has made no effort to shine greater meaning to the words, only indicating that it means what the fans who sing every word back to him want it to mean.
This song is also my favorite Oasis track. It is simply splendid and it flows with just killer vibes that can’t be faked or conjured out of thin air. The song always takes me back to the mid 1990’s when I was in continental Europe as part of the US Navy. It was that perfect time between adolescence and adulthood where it seemed like the world was in my hands. It was all too brief of course, those moments are just that – moments. But it was a moment I’ll take with me as I drift into middle age.
Outside of my own personal connection, the song resonated with multiple generations of Oasis fans. It was one of the band’s most-played songs live and is often found in the solo sets of both Gallagher brothers. People far and wide still wonder just what the hell a Champagne Supernova is.
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory saw Oasis truly conquer the music world in the mid 90’s. It is today the fifth-best selling album in the UK and only Adele has topped its sales numbers with an album since. Oasis would ride the wave as conquering heroes into a series of landmark festival shows in 1996, with two epic concerts at Knebworth being the exclamation point on their career and the Britrock movement as a whole. The band would live on until their 2009 implosion, but were unable to attain the same stratospheric heights reached with this album.
Many words have been said about Oasis and the Gallagher brothers, some reverent and some reviled. But there is no question that for a time in 1995, they changed the shape and face of music. They lost a chart battle to Blur in the beginning of the album’s release cycle, but in the end they conquered everything.
It’s time to wrap up Oasis week here on The Crooked Wanderer. I’ve enjoyed going through what I have so far, remembering Definitely Maybe and gifting S-Tier status to Don’t Look Back In Anger. I would have loved to write up a discussion of the Knebworth documentary that hit theaters yesterday, but sadly no theater in my town showed it. I’ll give some space to that when I can watch the film and also when the album and concert footage releases in November.
Of course there are many other things to talk about with Oasis. I’ll eventually cover other albums and songs as time goes on. I just wanted to spend a moment with them on the week of the Knebworth release.
But there is a huge elephant in the room when it comes to Oasis and it’s now time to discuss that. Oasis came to an end in 2009 when Noel Gallagher left the band after yet another altercation with his brother, singer Liam Gallagher. Noel would immediately start a solo career, while Liam and the remaining Oasis members briefly toured the ill-fated Beady Eye project. Liam would launch his own successful solo career in the late 2010’s.
The question is pretty simple – will Oasis ever get back together? Reunion tours are big business in music and Oasis has captured a wave of nostalgia in recent years that would set the table for a literal truckload of cash. There are several factors to consider in trying to answer this question.
First of all, Noel and Liam have engaged in a rather bitter sibling rivalry in the decade since Oasis split up. I’m not going to recount specifics but it’s not hard to find examples of the two slagging each other off. The feud has gotten extremely personal at times and it does feel like one of the irreconcilable matters. They really, truly do not like one another.
Secondly, Noel does not show any real inclination to get the band back together. He has pursued several experimental musical directions with his High Flying Birds project and every word he has said about an Oasis reunion has been negative. Liam, however, seems ready to do a reunion show the next day if only it would materialize.
An Oasis reunion would be a big-ticket event. There is demand from fans old and new, as their music has transcended its moment in time and lives on today. It’s often cynical when old bands get back together but there is a convergence of interest and nostalgia involved with Oasis that would send that tour to the moon.
I’m gonna be real – I honestly don’t think an Oasis reunion will happen. I take Noel at face value when he says he’s not interested. I think a lot of people want to believe something is brewing behind the scenes, what with the work that went into the Knebworth documentary and the brothers’ high profiles in the past few years. But I really am just not seeing it. Noel has been unequivocal in his dismissal of the reunion concept and of his brother.
Sure, the tour would be huge money. But Noel has made mention of the small fortune he already has. If money were his motivation we would already have had a reunion to talk about. He seems touched by the fond recollections of Oasis fans but seems very interested in going forward with his own vision, and his vision is one not owing to reminiscing.
I could, of course, be wrong, and Oasis might announce a reunion tour the second after I post this, or perhaps after the pandemic has run its course (when the hell ever that will be…). But based on my obviously uniformed opinion as nothing more than a fan, I honestly do not see a world where Oasis gets back together.
I’ll leave with this Noel quote from the How To Wow podcast a few weeks ago. Noel addresses the state of his and Liam’s solo careers, and I think it truly illustrates Noel’s mindset regarding an Oasis reunion.
“He’s doing massive gigs, he’s selling more records than I am and he’s selling more tickets than I am, if you can believe that.”
“So he’s doing his thing and I’m doing mine and we’re both pretty happy doing that at the moment.”
“Liam’s doing his thing, he’s responsible for the legacy being what it is, he’s keeping the flame alive and all that and good for him.”
This post was part of a series that I called S-Tier Songs. I later decided to abandon the series in favor of a simpler Song of the Week format. I am keeping these posts as I wrote them but removing the old page that linked to the list of S-Tier Songs, so that is why these posts might look a bit odd. Enjoy.
Oasis – Don’t Look Back In Anger
The song is a curiosity from the get-go as guitarist/songwriter/head honcho Noel Gallagher sings the track as opposed to his brother, singer/man of the people/loose cannon Liam. It was an interesting choice and one that might be criticized in retrospect. The story goes that Noel told Liam he could choose between Wonderwall or this and Noel would tackle vocals on the other. Liam chose Wonderwall, probably correctly, and the rest is history.
It’s fun to imagine a world where Liam sang this tune but it doesn’t matter. Noel guided the ship well through the song. Of course, when you write a song as magnificent as Don’t Look Back In Anger, it’s probably not hard to carry a tune along with it.
As with much of Oasis, the song does borrow from the realm of the Beatles. In this case, DLBIA has direct ties to John Lennon. The song’s intro hearkens back to Lennon’s magnum opus Imagine, while lines in the pre-chorus like “the brains I have went to my head” and “gonna start a revolution in my bed” are culled from things Lennon said and did.
The song becomes Oasis’ own in the chorus, and it marks one of music’s signature anthems. The song’s message of letting things go really hits when “So Sally can wait…” comes on. It is an iconic chorus that has taken on a life of its own, often belted out at soccer/football matches. It’s also a song that, much like Live Forever, gets airplay at weddings, funerals and the like.
Of course the central theme of Don’t Look Back In Anger is spelled out directly in the title. And yeah, it’s an important one. I’ve been known to hold a grudge or two in my day, but as time wears on it becomes clear that holding on to old resentments is tiring and unproductive. It’s almost always wise to let shit go and let your soul slide away.
Don’t Look Back In Anger would help Oasis’ home city rally in the wake of tragedy – after the terrorist bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in 2017, the town used the Oasis anthem to find their way through the devastation. A lone woman at a rally led the crowd in an impromptu rendition, and later at the One Love Manchester tribute concert Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland would serenade Ariana Grande with the tune.
Why is this an S-Tier song?
Don’t Look Back In Anger is a masterful anthem with a gorgeous melody and an iconic chorus. The song’s message of letting it all go is powerful and important, and at times the world has used the song to soothe disappointment and even tragedy. In a time period when Noel Gallagher was maybe the hottest songwriter on the planet, this song perhaps stands out even over many of the other memorable tunes he wrote.
The Crooked Wanderer 