There are records invaluable for their timelessness; there are records invaluable for their attachment to specific times and places.

OASIS sophomore record, 1995's (What's The Story) Morning Glory falls somehow in between. It was the record of mid 1990's Britpop craze. But its appeal was erected upon explicit reliance on tried and safe Pop-Rock stereotypes.

The record found its strengh amidst those twofold sources, becoming the soundtrack to a revivalist, nationalist, politically and aesthetically-tamed British working class youth. "New Left" and globalization rearing its profitable head. Seattle and Madchester agonizing, at the tenets of their challenge to the recording industry that blackholed the early 1990s. The sexed-up pop and vanguard music of the late 1980s' definitely buried under the conservative aspirations of newcomer teens so young and detached to understand Kurt Cobain's (or Richard James', by the way) life-as-art sacrifices.

1994's Definitely Maybe exulted arrogance and youthful grit. It was a relief, a unstoppable Rock record unself-conscious of its own limits and sources. It was the last gem from the seminal early 1990s. It was a come-on from a hungry gang. We want the world and we want it now! It was art from the guts.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory is the aftermath, the requiem of hormone-fueled pleas for innovation and renovation. It is a calculated statement, more insular, less edgier, less challenging, still arrogant, but vicariously. It is safe from harm. It's the home one finds after a night on the town.

When I had my first contact with leading single Some Might Say, it felt like a requiem to all those effervescing early 1990s, it was the acquiescence of repetition, the necessity of adequateness. It was a put-down from someone in command. Know you master, dude.

Noel Gallagher (all songs, lead guitars and some vocals) was the most gifted British artist of his generation for heading this aesthetical graceful downfall. His exhausting approach to songwritting involved stealing older standards and making their core adorn his plaintive, straightforward, forceful statements. Even acoustic, he sounded larger than life, unfettered in his palatable, derivative approach. He provided everyman's profane hymns, for romance and setting the town alight.

It was never solipsism, as Gallagher aimed at other people's mixed emotions. It was not self-condescendent, but indeed , in Definitely Maybe we barely hinted at OASIS' psyche. Simply posing this kind of sociological analysis demonstrates what sets apart the two first releases from this band. They matured. The public was given what they wanted, though - conferir this approach some legitimacy...

Anyway, Noel Gallagher still provided the ideal fodder for Liam Gallagher's impassive tongue-in-cheek vocals, the inexorable ruler of a recurring world. Deluxe sidemen Paul Guigsy (bass) and Paul Bonehead (rhythm guitar) provided the murky, humongous sonic commodities for Gallagher brothers's populist trickery. Newcomer Alam White (drums) beared a more spacy, reflective approach than his predecessor, Tom McCarrol.

When laurels rested solely on aesthetic merits, OASIS was defeated by BLUR in August 1995's Battle for England. Country House exulded personality and kaleidoscopic Britishness, whereas Roll With It was a collapsing, booze-fueled poor man's STATUS QUO. It seemed improbable that the crown slided from Damon Albarn's hands, after masterpiece Parklife and his then-current (eventually aborted) collaboration with TRICKY KID.

However, life is larger than ars and OASIS at this point was larger than life. As Winston Churchill, it improbably bounced back with Wonderwall's monster success overseas. From America to the isles, the feedback of the British Invasion, OASIS become the largest band in the world, eventually trending BLUR out of homely waters (they, as a vengeance, resorted to Alternativa American Rock for their superb reinvention on the 1997's eponymous record).

Americans loved OASIS for their plaintive, traditional Rock posturing and approach. Britons loved OASIS for their fish-and-chips, earthy, not metaphorical (BLUR) or mythical (SUEDE), Britishness. I still prefer SUEDE to them both, unnafected by current trends, popular acceptance or mutual envy. But that's another story.

Back to morning glory, we find a band near the top of its game, playing safe and confident, for a wider audience eager for good and old palatable-larger-than-life-though-sensitive-even-cheesy rockstars. Everything Art School offsprings Brett Anderson and Damon Albarn simply couldn't (or wouldn't, regarding post-Bernard Butler's SUEDE) provide.

A little bit uneven, too much gloss - like a good and old record from THE BEATLES.

The thing arrives authoritatively, with lumbering guitars and calculated statics. Hello. It doesn't demand attention - it grabs you by the throat and starts shaking impassively. And it contains a GARY GLITTER sample!

The record could have arguably been a concept album on procrastination. Roll With It just rolls alongside the STATUS QUO-esque boogie drive. It is the sound of a bothered bar band dancing with Mr.Booze whereas the world falls apart. It's as sweaty, un-glammy and un-arty as any proletarian could have demanded. Still, guitars are psychedelic humongous and semi-acoustic licks are wondrously sprinkled here and there. No surprise BLUR found a profitable Achilles' Heel with Roll With It. This is the soundtrack of carelessness.

All of a sudden, OASIS turns off the lights to provide an irreprehensible ballad with Wonderwall, their perennial calling card. I didn't know those brats could be so sensitive, with so much dignity. This is the turning point, the key to world ascendance. BLUR was too self-consciuos and Baroque, SUEDE was larger than life, and Wonderwall is all about earthy vulnerability. Even Liam Gallagher was surprisingly restrained.

It touched a string within millions of listeners, it was the most dynamic song on the record. It even hinted at virtuosity. Arguably, Noel Gallagher's apex as a pop composer. When I was introduced to this song back in 1995, I found it cheesier than anything on Definitely Maybe. Now I understand.

Noel Gallagher would surprise listeners again lifting JOHN LENNON's piano and DAVID BOWIE's guitar to forge something quite admiring in itself, which was the second ballad in a row, Don't Look Back In Anger. Honey-voiced Noel Gallagher carved only the exact words and turned simplistic bridges transcendental ("heart oooooooooooooooout"). It's much more than Imagine-meets-All The Young Dudes. It beats BLUR in its own post-modern referential game with even the required irony: "Please don't put your life/In the hands/Of a rock n'roll band/who throw it all away". This moment, OASIS becomes inexorable and Morning Glory does justice to its name.

Unfortunately, the brothers were so touched by the hand of Fab Four and supremely confident their lesser moments sounded effortless, simply charming pleasures. Additional craft would have done good to Hey Now! murky OASIS-by-the-numbers. Still, those cloudy guitars...Always impressive.

Arrogance was given away as OASIS included 30-second anonymous guitar-driven vignettes that could have arguably been hits in their own sake, with additional craftmanship. This first vignette is the best of the bunch.

Even more arrogant was the pointless lyricism of the musically debauched Some Might Say, which plays as an encapsulation of Definitely Maybe played by a drunk band after-hours. We don't need this mess, brothers. You too. Back in 1995, I thought it was the end of the road for OASIS, indeed, it's the morning after the glory have arrived!

Just to leave doubts that behind, Noel Gallagher unfolds the lovely acoustic ballad Cast No Shadow, a close cousin to Wonderwall dedicated to THE VERVE's Richard Ashcroft. It makes justice to the honored, even a little bit too formulaic, and not short spellbinding ethereal melodies. Roughish charm unflicks from the twin-brothers vocal harmonies (with Noel Gallagher exceeding in wonderful backings, shamelessly borrowed by Brazilian SKANK since then).

She's Electric is a spirited, but failed rewrite of Digsy's Dinner akin to what Some Might Say did to Cigarettes & Alcohol. OASIS came perilously close to self-parody by this point.

Fortunately the band had plenty of remaining tricks. They offered a dry run for their forthcoming record Be Here Now with the busy, sweaty and swaggering title track. Surpassing the somehow cheesy chorus, a minor triumph to close the triumphant record...

We have another 30-second vignette, this time sounding like like muddy waters (no puns intended). It would receive a proper name for odds n'sods collection The Masterplan - Swamp Song. I don't care. What comes next surpasses all my remaining expectations by the end of this rollercoasting record.

If there was redemption back in 1995, you'll hardly seek it in the quintessential snotty arrogant English brats. Surprise of surprises, OASIS tears all expectations apart with supreme confidence to ressurect our hearts, among sedated, fascinating distress, like there were no tomorrow. Even with a song named Champagne Supernova.

Slowly built around gentle, then stormy, melodies, they pick it where NEIL YOUNG had left decades before with Like a Hurricane, inviting British legend PAUL WELLER from THE STYLE COUNCIL/THE JAM to play a hurting marvelous opening slide guitar. Still, it is the twin team of Noel and Liam Gallagher that shine through and through. With impassionate delivery, like good and old U2, OASIS drives minimalist psychedelic lyrics into the realm of the transcendent, bursting with fire from solo to solo until the voice sinks in the poor-man's JIMMY PAGE wall-of-sound, Liam on the verge of fadeout. Those were hard times, as this thunderous track shows - but there were still a hope to live for. "In a champagne supernova/In the sky".

This song was the humblest of singles from this blockbuster release by OASIS. Wonderwall was the non-official British anthem of the decade and a huge hit in US; BEATLESque Don't Look Back In Anger made savage inroads in the charts and Roll With It was chosen to challenge their arch-rivals BLUR in that legendary media battle. Maybe because it is by far the longest track the band had released prior to 1997's All Around The World. But nonetheless, the best of the batch and a great psychedelic video as well!

So?

OASIS had only shades of gray, black and brown in their pallette, and they aimed at the best picture ever. They got as damn close to it as they could. What's The Story, Morning Glory?

See ya.

Tracklist:

* * * * Hello
* * * * Roll With It
* * * * * Wonderwall
* * * * * Don't Look Back in Anger
* * * 1/2 Hey Now!
* * * *
* * * 1/2 Some Might Say
* * * * 1/2 Cast No Shadow
* * * 1/2 She's Electric
* * * * 1/2 Morning Glory
* * * 1/2
* * * * * Champagne Supernova

File under: World Hegemony

Related reviews:

http://www.epinions.com/content_110055624324
Definitely Maybe
http://www.epinions.com/content_218279349892
Standing On The Shoulder of Giants

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out