Oasis

Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants

(Nearly) A return to perfect form

Review Score:

(8/10)
With their first two albums, Oasis became Britain's most important band. Then their third, Be Here Now, almost entirely destroyed their reputation single-handedly. To regain it Oasis were going to have to pull a stunner.

And they came so close to doing it.

Personally this is my second favorite Oasis album, after Morning Glory, just better than Definately Maybe. A number of people wouldn't seriously consider it after Be Here Now, which was a shame. If you read the reviews, you'll see that generally it was liked by the media, and nearly every review admits it to be better than its predeccesor.

This was the album when Oasis finally began to evolve from their formula, in fine evidence on second single Who Feels Love?, their chromium rock with a drop of Eastern added, using tablas and other Indian instruments. Meanwhile third single Sunday Morning Call is both a classic tune and emotional at the same time, something rarely achieved by Oasis, and Gas Panic! is a classic anthem like the songs found on the first two albums, not just an imitation of them, like many of the songs on Be Here Now.

Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is rocks heavily and happily and F**kin' in the Bushes is one of those great riffy instrumental intro you get from the likes of Led Zeppelin. Go Let It Out, the No. 1 single, it good too, although it doesn't match the brilliance of many of the other tracks.

SOTSOG suffers from only two problems:

1. The choice of singles isn't too good. On the first two albums, the best songs were released as singles. Here, all three singles were good, but the first was the worst out of those released, and the two of the three anthems were ignored (the three anthems being Sunday Morning Call, Gas Panic and Where Did It All Go Wrong, of which only Sunday Morning Call was released).

2. Little James. It is appaling, the only really bad track on the album. Liam's lyric, and I believe he wanted to give it a simple, emotional feel. Unfortunately it is too simple and seems difficult and unpoetical, with some awful rhymes (You live for your toys/Even though they make noise). Stick to singing, Liam.

However, the album is generally excellent and a massive improvement on Be Here Now. That makes it 3 out of 4 for Oasis, not bad so far.

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