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

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 ...

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