platonism's Full Review: (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis
Nostalgia... truthfully, this is a sentiment with which I'm fairly well acquainted. When I came by chelledun's Nostalgia W/O, I thus fell inclined to submit an entry. And it didn't take long to choose what product to review...
Even though I went to a music school in my youth, I only became a true music listener in my mid-teens. I began listening to the radio more and more frequently, and the first band I got into was Oasis, whose two leaders were (and still are) brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, respectively the lead singer and lead guitarist. I enjoyed their first two albums, but also the many singles they released during these albums' life span (1994-1996), and I had some posters and concert videos; after this, I embarked on a Beatles infatuation which lasted a few years.
The record that started my one year infatuation with Oasis (I eventually bought their third and fourth albums, but didn't like them much) was their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, their most resounding success thus far. I had acquired the book with the songs' guitar tablatures, and played all the songs on my acoustic and electric guitars. Before writing this review, I had not listened to it for... at least five years, probably more. How does it hold up for someone who has very little interest in Oasis anymore? Let's see (this being an entry for a Nostalgia W/O, the reader should expect many "then and now" remarks)...
Well, what's the story?
Hello begins with the chords from Wonderwall being played very quietly on acoustic guitar... and it then suddenly erupts into the much louder main body of the piece. I can't remember, but I was probably fooled by this trick the first time I listened to the album, jacking up the volume during the intro, and being nearly deafened by what followed. This is a pretty good hard rocker, with a slew of guitar overdubs and wah-wah aplenty. This experiment in calculated nostalgia is off to a nice start...
A simple, upbeat song, Roll With It was the second single from the album (an odd choice, in my opinion, because this is far from the album's most memorable track). This is anything by a substantial piece, but it's still a lush tune, with varied guitar tones and a steady pace despite an average at best melody. The coda brings it to a chaotic, fairly exciting close.
Wonderwall is the first Oasis song I ever heard, and strangely enough, I didn't like it much: Liam's vocals, as nasal as ever, put me off, as did the melody of the verses. I say "strangely enough", because I gradually warmed up to this mostly acoustic ballad, and even bought the album on the strength of it (I had also seen the black-and-white video). I heard it so often in ten years that it has lost a lot of its power... but the highlight, for me, is definitely Alan White's drum and percussion track, which is heads and shoulders above what Tony McCaroll had brought the band at that point.
If I remember correctly, the Noel-sung ballad Don't Look Back in Anger was about to get released as a single when I bought the record. This song holds up well for me. I feel it has the best melody on the album, and a lingering melancholic mood.
Hey Now! is widely considered the worst song on the album; I, too, held that opinion in 1995-1996, and still do today. This is a big, slow and sluggish mess with an uninvolving melody and an appalling lack of redeeming values. As many listeners have pointed out, the band recorded B-sides that were far better than this. A must-skip...
We can then hear the first of two extracts from the instrumental B-side titled Swamp Song. As far as interludes go, this is decent enough, but too short to have any kind of impact; it worked better when it was the first song being played during Oasis concerts. It still does a good job at introducing the listener to the album's second half.
Some Might Say was the album's first single, and hence the only one featuring ex-drummer Tony McCaroll, who was fired by the band after an incident with the Gallagher brothers; it bridges the styles of 1994's Definitely Maybe and this second album. It's a strong, driving piece that is musically thin but does show some appealing swagger and powerful guitars. Some of Noel's most head-scratching lyrics are to be found here (The sink is full of fishes / she's got dirty dishes on the brain), and a few of these are quite funny (Some might say they don't believe in heaven / go and tell it to the man who lives in hell). Not bad.
Cast No Shadow is a quiet ballad, in many ways the sister of Wonderwall. As a result, it was overshadowed (!) by that massive hit. Today, I feel that the unknown song is more interesting than the other, partly because I wasn't overexposed to it. The lyrics tell (not once but twice) the short but evocative tale of a man being stripped of everything, including his self-esteem and his soul. As a whole, the song is a little repetitive and not developed nearly enough, but it has an uncharacteristically melodic bass line from the usually understated Paul McGuigan.
The semi-country She's Electric is a "novelty song", as they say; I had somehow forgotten it after all those years. It has a lot in common with the first album's awkward Digsy's Dinner. Unexpectedly, the high notes are perfectly nailed by Liam. Thin, once again, but decent...
While frequently performed acoustically in concerts by Noel himself, the album version Morning Glory is a straight, hard rocker, possibly the loudest song on the album alongside Hello and Hey Now!. It begins and ends with helicopter sounds, and is anchored by siren-like guitars and a booming, anthem-like chorus in which the album's title is used. The wall-of-sound production - one should not be surprised that the song name-checks the Beatles' swirling Tomorrow Never Knows - is sometimes confusing, though, and the coda is overlong (it would get even worse on the band's third album, the bloated Be Here Now [1997]).
The second Swamp Thing extract is drowned in watery sound effects and leads into the 7-minute, mellotron-drenched and psychedelic Champagne Supernova. This song was a belated discovery for me in the mid-1990s, in that I only began to actively listen to it when the music video was released. This is as odd an epic as you can get, with such infamous lyrics as Slowly walking down the hall / faster than a cannon ball. The overall build-up is quite effective, with soothing quiet sections in the first tier, but the later, louder parts (with solos by guest Paul Weller) don't sound quite right and are anticlimatic. A disappointing ending...
And in the end...
Revisiting What's the Story (Morning Glory)? was an interesting experience. Despite the album's rough spots and its overall thinness, I can understand why Oasis was my favorite band in my mid-teens; several songs hold up well, and bring back many memories for me. At the same time, I'm not compelled to hop on the Oasis bandwagon once more. The ride was exciting while it lasted, but I've gone elsewhere...
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