Oasis

Definitely Maybe

They're not the messiahs...

Review Score:

(10/10)
Whan Oasis exploded onto the British music scene in 1994, many thought them the true successors to that other great underground Manchester band, The Stone Roses. They had the swagger, they had the sneer, and more importantly, they had the songs. Definitely Maybe is testament to that. From the opening bars of Rock N Roll Star, the bravura of a band who knew they had the world at their feet was agressively evident and in Liam Gallagher they possessed one of the truly great frontmen of the 90s. Definitely Maybe is an astonishing debut and far superior to the 12 million selling (What's the Story) Morning Glory. It is rawer, heavier and more confident than the subsequent Oasis albums, and all the better for it. Noel Galagher betrays not the merest shadow of a doubt that he knew he was one of the greatest songwriters Britain had produced in years. His lyrics have often been cricicized, but with the supreme arrogance and honesty of youth he put some fantastic lines into his brother's mouth - "I can't tell you the way I feel, cos the way I feel is oh so new to me", "I'll be scraping your lives from the sole of my shoe tonight". There are no bad tracks on the album, and some real monsters too. Supersonic, Colombia, Cigarettes and Alcohol, Bring it on Down and Live Forever are all fantastic songs, but none of them surpass Slide Away, a raw, tender, joyfully euphoric six minutes of Gallagher brilliance.

That Oasis were not the messiahs is now painfully evident. They have never managed to recapture the exuberant majesty of their first album, and although they have displayed the odd flash of greatness since (on songs such as Some Might Say, Do You Know What I Mean and I Hope I Think I Know) I fear Oasis are a spent force. But if you want to know how great they once were, ignore the last three albums and head straight for Definitely Maybe - you won't be disappointed.

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