Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Era Poll

conflicted. going for champagne supernova cos i bled learning the double guitar solos when i was 15.

Acquiesce by a long way

I could honestly see myself voting for any of the following:

Don't Look Back In Anger
Some Might Say
Cast No Shadow
Morning Glory
Champagne Supernova
Talk Tonight
Acquiesce
It's Better People
Live Forever (Live at Glastonbury '95)
The Masterplan
Underneath the Sky

I always liked the coked out paranoia vibe of the "Morning Glory" video, even if it was a harbinger of the coke overload coming with the next album.

"Rockin' Chair."

the masterplan is the one that actually includes the word "acquiesce" in the first verse isn't it? i quite liked that one.

Yeah, Rockin' Chair is brilliant. I'd forgotten all about that one.

"Champagne Supernova" has Paul Weller passing the torch.

ace run for what, 18 months? lotta gold here

"Don't Look Back In Anger"

yeah I think that's gonna be my vote too. seems to encapsulate all that the band did well - a Beatles nick and a Bowie ref, a soaring chorus, T. Rex-y production, a little swagger and a little sentimentality.

always surprised me that Wonderwall was the bigger hit in America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdvqss4S_-I

Underneath The Sky.

Go and listen to it again.

I probably like this more than the debut, although I never liked 'Champagne Supernova' and 'DLBIA' really does my head in these days. It's between any of these:

Acquiesce
Wonderwall
Underneath The Sky
Hey Now
Morning Glory

I tend to like Oasis more when they throw in some minor chords.

'Morning Glory' for me. Only about half of this stands up. I read an interview with Noel after this had blown up and he was lamenting how 'Hey Now!' was one of the biggest highlights of the album, but no-one seemed to give it any attention. That's when I was sure he had no idea what he was doing.

These are all ace:

Roll With It
Wonderwall
Don't Look Back In Anger
Cast No Shadow
She's Electric
Champagne Supernova
Talk Tonight
Rockin' Chair
The Masterplan
Step Out
Underneath the Sky

It has to be "Wonderwall" in the long run though, just ahead of "Don't Look Back In Anger". Two of the songs that gave me the faith back in contemporary music back in 1995-96.

'Staying Out For The Summer' was 1994

Yes, but too few people noticed it.

This would have made a HELL of a tracklist for an album - I like them better bright and poppy than sludgy and guitar-blankety.

Hello
Wonderwall
Some Might Say
She's Electric
Morning Glory
It's Better People
Rockin' Chair
Round Are Way
Underneath the Sky
Champagne Supernova

If I were honest with myself, I'd give it to "Wonderwall" which is definitely the best song here - but I REALLY burned out on it that year, ditto "Champagne Supernova" (one of the first couple videos I sat watching MTV for hours hoping they'd play it again) (the other was Wu-Tang's "Triumph")... so, hell, "Underneath the Sky."

I read an interview with Noel after this had blown up and he was lamenting how 'Hey Now!' was one of the biggest highlights of the album, but no-one seemed to give it any attention.

This happens when you give a fairly decent song a dull generic title.

See also "Come On", Jesus and Mary Chain.

hey now or possibly don't look back in anger

Acquiesce, easy.

this is Oasis best period, will have to think about it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i never did get around to listening to some of those b-sides again, so i will vote for the best song on the album. it goes to "Champagne Supernova" because at the time that song had the biggest impact.

Given the quality of the B-sides this is kind of a bafflingly-sequenced album... are "Hey Now," "Cast No Shadow," and "Swamp Song" really stronger cuts than "It's Better People," "Rockin' Chair," "Round Are Way," or "Underneath the Sky"? And then there's "Roll With It," which is a near-total waste of time and yet was an A-side single??? Really weird decision-making here...this could have easily been a no-miss rapid-fire classic, they had the material at their fingertips.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Acquiesce? WTF can someone tell me what's so special about that song? Cuz I usually skip it.

its the best oasis song.

Given the quality of the B-sides this is kind of a bafflingly-sequenced album... are "Hey Now," "Cast No Shadow," and "Swamp Song" really stronger cuts than "It's Better People," "Rockin' Chair," "Round Are Way," or "Underneath the Sky"? And then there's "Roll With It," which is a near-total waste of time and yet was an A-side single??? Really weird decision-making here...this could have easily been a no-miss rapid-fire classic, they had the material at their fingertips.

^^also totally cosign this (with the exception of Cast No Shadow, which I think is great)

sorry, it's Wonderwall then Morning Glory

Acquiesce? Really? Just seems like a throwaway track to me. The "be-li-eve" part is lazily filling a boring melody.

^^^exactly. and that totally clumsy phasing effect! I can understand that people would like this song but thinking its the BEST is a headscratcher

I agree with the order of the rest of the list but I do have a soft spot for "Cast No Shadow."

"Cast No Shadow" is one of the best ever Oasis songs. Beautiful song, and some beautiful vocal harmonies too.

Geir is right.

its way better than dont look back in anger and wonderwall.

^^also totally cosign this (with the exception of Cast No Shadow, which I think is great)

Glad somebody to this before me, looooove "Cast No Shadow". I'm not surprised that "Acquiesce" won, but I am surprised it doubled up on the second place song.

I like "Don't Look Back In Anger" and "Wonderwall" better but "Cast No Shadow" is WAY better than "Cigarettes And Alcohol" and "Shakermaker".

huh. i don't even know "acquiesce." must have been added on later versions than the one i have. but listening to it now ... eh. would've voted the title track.

oh ok, i see the poll wasn't just album tracks. gotcha.

I really like the sound of this album. Syrupy, sludgy, maximalist impressionism.

It means nothing to the kids of University Challenge!

ilx votes boring b-side shocker

Heard cast no shadow and champagne supernova on a playlist yesterday. Must revisit, i burned out on oasis but no disputing these tunes

University Challenged kids also failed to identify a single Elvis song a few weeks back

XP - On the other hand, there was a lady on "Mastermind" last week who had John Peel's Festive Fiftys as her specialist subject, and I got more of them right than she did.

ahhh .. i heard there was a question re Age of Chance on Mastermind .. now i know the context ..

I read an interview with Noel after this had blown up and he was lamenting how 'Hey Now!' was one of the biggest highlights of the album, but no-one seemed to give it any attention. That's when I was sure he had no idea what he was doing.

It's a haunting tune, perhaps the best on the album.

^ Heh, it's funny that 'Hey Now!' was the last song to be discussed on this thread, because I wanted to post about how much I love the way those mellotron strings come in on the chorus. Back in the day, it was probably my least favourite tune on the album, but now I love it.

Big fan of Hey Now. Production on the drums is #crisp

I don't know what the hell happened to Alan White, his drumming circa 1995-1996 was great and he seemed hungry and willing to put his stamp on the tracks he played on, then suddenly post-Be Here Now his contributions became both sludgier, lazier and reliant on the same old tricks to the point where when Oasis changed drummers for Don't Believe the Truth it made a fuckload of difference. His playing on this album is awesome, though.

(Owen Morris preferred McCarroll and felt the band lost something when he was kicked out)

Crazy crazy talk. White made them classic.

Backbeat

Arguments for both.

White drums was a great change for this album but with hindsight was the first step towards high flying birds

After enjoying revisiting (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, I've now thrown Definitely Maybe on... it's always good to remind myself that this band were fucking legit great once upon a time.

definitely maybe sounds like a bomb going off

just pure rock violence

i don't know if it's white that gave them the "heft" that i perceive in def mayb.. but there's definitely a nice wallop/pummel to the rhythm

as to the poll question, hard to choose. wonderwall is the obvious choice. hello tightens my nutsack, roll with it/hey now/some might say all classic

um ew, please don't

That's McCarroll on Definitely Maybe ... he played drums on everything from the beginning up to (and including) the 'Some Might Say' single, so that's also him on 'Acquiesce' and 'Headshrinker' too.

Headshrinker's such an obvious ripoff of Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting it still cracks me up.

It's true about Alan White's early years, even stuff like Wonderwall still has some tasty drum moments; that little bit before the second verse kicks in etc..

mm, it just sounds like he was faded up late.

I can hear 'Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting' a little bit in there, but the most obvious reference point for 'Headshrinker' for me is the intro to 'Stay With Me' by the Faces.

Heh you'd want to be a surgeon to pick out all the inputs tbf

True, but I'll tell you what I don't hear a lot of in early Oasis: The Beatles! There's a little bit in there, but not as much as some would have one believe!

Agreed it's a harder sound than that (or the glam rock that's offered as another big source a lot of the time)

Yeah, I hear a blend of T. Rex, Slade, The Sex Pistols and late '80s/early '90s indie (baggy and a subtle hint of shoegaze in there, too)

There was a bid on YouTube which matched Oasis songs with whatever song they nicked things from. Its very long..

yeah, totally agreed. For all the Beatles comparisons made at the time, Definitely Maybe doesn't really sound like them.
Of course there's the "My Sweet Lord" riff in "Supersonic", Liam's Lennon circa "Rain" voice (in "Columbia" especially) and some references/quotes here and there but overall, it's much more Glam, Punk and Baggy, as said previously.
It's still a great album. Their only great album. After that, I quickly got bored (the point I got off was "Whaveter" I think. Never liked that song and then "Wonderwall" made me hate them for a while).
There are still some good things circa Morning Glory (and even Be Here Now !), though.

The Masterplan is almost as good as Definitely Maybe.

hum. I don't remember exactly what's on it but I think there are too many Noel sung tracks for me.
The worst being his acoustic tracks.

The Masterplan is as good as either of the first two LP's.

If they'd called it quits after either Knebworth or Be Here Now it would have been perfect.

Yeah the Masterplan is great (although I could do without the live 'I Am the Walrus' in the middle).

xpos yeah, but think of all the Noel solo albums...

eheh I can't imagine a worst (audio) torture than having to listen to all Noel solo albums (how many has he committed ?).
How boring can they be !?

As for quitting after Be Here Now, I remember an interview with Liam (early 00s I guess) saying it was over since Be Here Now and the rest was only for the money !

Yeah, think of all the Noel solo albums that I wouldn't listen to! Knowing the way things panned out, though, I think Noel would have taken more time over his albums if he'd went solo after Be Here Now ... stuff like 'I Can See a Liar' and 'Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is' just wouldn't have come out... and even better, 'Little James' wouldn't have happened.

Liam hates his voice on Definitely Maybe, but I disagree... I think his voice is in fine form and he can hit the high notes no problem, which is something he seemed to have difficulty with later one. I still think Be Here Now is Liam's peak vocally, though - his voice is great on that record.

Liam sounds great on DM and (WTS)MG, I don't know what he sounds like on anything after that because apart from hearing songs on the radio I'd stopped listening by then. Although I did see them live in a freezing stadium in December 2005 and he sounded absolutely dreadful, just a tuneless bellow.

He'd literally had his teeth knocked out in Munich by then, if I remember correctly.

hello is a rocker

only track to sound like the beatles related stuff is don't look back in anger

slip inside in the eye of yr mind lads

I love the way 'Cast No Shadow' sounds... that light drum sound combined with the mellotron strings and backing vocal harmonies. Beautiful. How the fuck they got from that to shouting "GO LET IT OUT GO LET IT IN" over a half-inched 'Strawberry Fields' keyboard lick...

there's some echoes of "rain" era lennon in liam's early vocals, but other than that i never heard any real beatles influence in oasis either -- i don't think anyone would have ever thought to make the connection if noel hadn't talked about them all the time in interviews. i hear a lot more t. rex influence, not just the tunes/riffs but noel's penchant for good-natured nonsense in his lyrics, "i know a girl called elsa/she's into alka-seltzer" etc.

yeah the "Beatles ripoff" stuff always seemed overboard to me. A bunch of lyrical references doth not a ripoff make

I think the Beatles comparison really started with « Whatever » and the band telling everybody « we have made a Beatles song, mates ».

I wonder if they’d have been as big as they were if Noel looked like Bonehead and Liam like Tony McCarroll

Slade is a good shout

Not much fuckin cred in touting yr Slade credentials in 1994 tho tbf

definitely maybe was such a jam for me in '94. Columbia and Slide Away ftw, i still think those are their two best songs.

The one I feel most like listening to now might be.......headshrinker?

That can't be right but yeah headshrinker

Or bring it on down but I mean lol that's just headshrinker

I think the Beatles comparison really started with « Whatever » and the band telling everybody « we have made a Beatles song, mates ».

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, November 15, 2017 2:45 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The Beatles comparison came more from Noel talking about how he wanted Oasis to be as big as The Beatles, but musically it didn't really go beyond quoting the occasional Beatles song title in their lyrics and putting 'Strawberry Fields Forever' flutes and 'Tomorrow Never Knows'-style drum "riffs" in there, but a lot of that stuff set in later.

Liam really did want to be John Lennon badly, but the Plastic Ono Band era of Lennon rather than 1964 era Lennon. As such there's a couple of tracks where I hear a bit of solo Lennon in there, but not really The Beatles.

Really ? I hear more Lennon 66/67 in his voice than solo Lennon. The latter being more expressive and personal compared to the more psyche / straightforward pop of the former (I simplify, of course).
And LG was more about shouting the melodies and words - and doing it very well - than being expressive and delicate with the emotions, I think.
Also, for the Beatles comparisons thing, there was this stupid statement from Liam that he would only sing songs by NG and Lennon. ever. And then somehow he ended up singing "Little James"...

Yes, really. Liam's songwriting contributions are more rooted in solo Lennon than Beatle Lennon. 'Little James' and 'Born on a Different Cloud' are his attempts at re-writing 'Beautiful Boy', for example ...

Aw, post Be Here Now, maybe, I really don't know their output enough to judge about that !
But between Definitely Maybe and Be Here Now, I get more of a Lennon 66 vibe from LG than solo Lennon, is what I meant.

So, talking about vocal performance, not songwriting, obviously.

giving the Be Here Now remaster a listen now and it sounds a lot better than i remember it sounding 20 years ago. 20, good christ.

anyone want to give a quick ranking of the post-BHN albums?

Don't Believe the Truth > Dig Out Your Soul >>>>>>>> Heathen Chemistry >>>>>>>> Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

Don't Believe the Truth > Dig Out Your Soul >>>>>>>> Heathen Chemistry >>>>>>>> Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, November 17, 2017 9:23 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

rankings you will never be able to evaluate because there's no way you're listening to even 1 post morning glory oasis album

There's some excellent stuff on those last two Oasis albums, tbh.

my answer to this poll = morning glory, obviously. it's really exciting to hear still

i actually really like roll with it and might have voted for it, i find the falsetto backing vocals hilarious/great

also a northern britain working class anthem robbed in a manful competition vs awful "arty" southern bastards blur's execrable country house

The "and I want you to know" bit in She's Electric is very "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", as an example of a Beatles lift. I'm in general agreement about the influence being overstated though.

.....the entirety of she's electric is a Beatles lift ..?

'She's Electric' is one of the ones I can detect a Beatles influence in, yeah... the 'Polythene Pam'-ness of the lyric and the outro is pretty much modelled on the outro to 'With a Little Help From My Friends' ...

You wanna know what I think the real influence on 'She's Electric' was, though? It's gonna sound silly but 'Lithium' by Nirvana. Listen to the chord progression and imagine it hasn't been shoehorned into a shuffle.

Throw Noel's voice on it it's damn near a nilsson track

liam sounds like paul mccartney on the "and i want you to know" part

well i never.
ilm vs oasis : love.
i never ever ever expected such a thing to happen.
oh, and after several middling albums, their last one, is fucking wonderful.
especially the extras (DIV productions) in the boxset.

seems p obvious why ilm likes oasis again

...because there are more oasis fans here now?

lex left!!

no but srsly, it's the growing sense that the 1990s were some sort of irretrievable halcyon era, with oasis their supercharged optimistic champion. it's getting better (man!!) ah if only. we yearn for this imo

lex left!!

i laughed.

oasis: dumbly heralding the zenith of our species

Whisht willya

Does that mean 'Pray go on, visionary!'?

It doesn't feel like we've quite entered into a full-on '90s nostalgia era yet, though. It still feels to me like we're in the era of '80s nostalgia, although the existence of The 1975 pretty much confirms that we're nearing the cigarette butt of that particular era.

I still don't like Oasis, AMA

90s nostalgia is huge. it's quite selective - people aren't getting into Sugar Ray and, i dunno, Filter - but it's been here for quite a while.

Problem for Oasis is that they , nor their countless imitators on council estates throughout britain, never really went away and so it's hard to be nostalgic for anything more than their "heroic" period.

Which "countless imitators of Oasis on council estates" are selling truckloads of albums or getting mainstream attention or even exist beyond being amateur bands in 2017? Not many, if any.

The fact of the matter is that for a good number of years, this particular strand of guitar music from the UK has actually been quite unpopular.

xp. That's what I'm saying. There's no retro appeal to something which has been grindingly omnipresent for a quarter century and no reason to think that it will ever come back.

I think any recent interest in Oasis over here comes from Liam being a classic tweeter and the Be Here Now reissue to a lesser extent getting some press. I'm not sure people are going to dig much further or deeper.

Blur still has a solid fanbase over here, but they appeal to that Flaming Lips daytime festival neon colored balloon crowd a bit more. I think to get back to an extremely old argument Oasis seems a bit more working class rock so their scene is a bit more narrow and has less "cred."

I might have skewed a bit more Blur a few years ago but I lean Oasis now.

no working class people in America know who Oasis are

"narrow" meaning within the landscape of alt and indie rock in the U.S., I can't speak to the U.K. of course.

ah yes that's def true. Blur's appeal a bit broader here imo, doesn't hurt that they were clearly more interested in American bands than Oasis was. I suppose that "whoohoo" song is probably on the same level of recognizability as "Wonderwall" in America.

i feel like i've never NOT heard 'Song 2' played when i've gone to a sporting event in the past decade.

also "working class" is probably not entirely accurate, i think for a lot of festival crowds they're regarded as a bit conservative, more a dad rock band than an alt-indie one. they're not considered to have much in the way of edge or experimentation though i think that's a bit inaccurate; they weren't unwilling to try a few things or play around w/electronica at the time.

Blur have
Blur have
Blur have

I don't think any of the members of Oasis - particularly the Gallaghers - were much interested in Oasis being some kind of small indie band with a cult following at any point in their careers, and they were pretty upfront about what sort of band they were from the outset. They wanted to sell records, they wanted to write crowdpleasing anthems, they wanted to play to huge crowds and all the trappings of fame, and for a couple of years they were good at it.

in America, not so much

I agree, but they always seemed to find some way of fucking things up for themselves whenever they were in America. It seemed that every time they went to the US for a couple of years, Liam or someone else in the band would act up on tour and Noel would quit the band and fuck off home for the zillionth time. Noel really wanted Oasis to do well in America, but the rest of the band seemed to treat American tours as a joke.

yeah the footage of their American shows in the doc is so hilariously bad, just really half-assed

the show when they're on jib in the documentary is absolutely hilarious

yeah that's what I was thinking of

Personally, I am less nostalgic about the 90s than I've ever been. Oasis' work in the 00s ranks as possibly the most sustainedly uninspired run of any once good band ever; though I don't think I ever heard anything from Dig Our Your Soul.

Yeah, I disagree with you about the last two albums. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and Heathen Chemistry I mostly agree, they mostly suck but there's a couple of decent songs on both.

Obviously, they were at their best 1994-1996, but the last two aren't terrible.

http://78.media.tumblr.com/a8a56cfa988e3c19604cc8c1e05396fd/tumblr_oyzax0yHWN1sl5xsco1_1280.png

hahaha. Also can't get past the fact that the account is called @HummusMem3s meaning that upon it's creation, there likely already was one account in existence decicated to the particular niche of posting memes related to hummus.

this album sounds like shit

"roll with it" is a miserable song

"Acquiesce" is a dreadful song with no visible point

always glad to see "Roll With It" get the hatred it deserves, what a draggy attempt at an anthemic pub-rocker

She's Electric and Underneath the Sky are both unassuming and kind of delightful, and have stronger melodies than the Oasis usual. Soft sentimental spot for the title track. The rest I can give or take - either atrocious or overplayed or both. I used to love Round Are Way but it sounds hugely naff now.

As an aside I have terrible personal experience of Liam (via my partner, who worked with him) and I would (rightfully) be chased out of the house if I ever played them again

yes go on.....

i like “cast no shadow” quite a bit still, and i think “hey now” is a pretty good slowed down shoegaze song

potentially contrarian opinion but “some might say” is a good chorus that the rest of the song hangs onto by its fingers

I think I’ve got a feeling I’ve lost inside / so take me away