What’s the Story (Morning Glory) – Oasis
Oasis are the biggest thing to come out of the UK in the 90s. Their first album Definitely Maybe won massive critical praise as well as selling by the truckload. Within the space of a year they went from playing in clubs the size of your living room to filling 10,000 capacity arenas. They have been compared to The Beatles and the Sex Pistols amongst others and their current single went straight in at number one in the UK.
With their second album What’s the Story (Morning Glory), Oasis have produced the best UK Rock album in years and have broken through in America. Their single Wonderwall currently stands at number 8 in the Billboard charts. OasisÕsuccess is based on a very simple formula they play loud raucous rock and roll containing melodies that wouldnÕt sound out of place on Sgt. Pepper.
On the first album lead singer Liam Gallagher sounded strained and unconfident but success seems to have improved his vocal abilities as on this album his vocals are far more assured.
Songwriting is handled by LiamÕs brother Noel Gallagher who is responsible for their distinct guitar wall of sound. The secret of their success is that you can lose yourself in their world. Unlike a lot of the current US bands Oasis feel no need to use their music as a therapy session, instead they write songs about wanting to live forever or be a rock and roll star. Sentiments that a lot of people can share.
Current US single Wonderwall is a sublime slice of Oasis attitude. Your can almost hear the sneer in Liam’s voice as he sings over Noel’s funky acoustic riffs. Don’t Look back in Anger their last UK No 1 is stadium psychedelia, they may wear their influences (The Beatles, T Rex, Simon and Garfunkel) unashamedly on their sleeves but when you writing songs as good as they are no one is going to complain. Oasis are young, arrogant, obnoxious and they are writing songs that people will still be listening to in 20 years time.