In the beginning, there was the band. And they were - well, they were competent. Adequate. Perfectly good at the job they did, though not particularly groundbreaking. The nucleus of the band was songwriter Noel Gallagher, who penned works vaguely reminiscent of late-era Beatles works. He recruited gobby younger brother Liam to handle the vocals, and various line-ups of session musicians to, like, play the instruments and bang the sticks.
After forming in 1993, the group were signed to Creation Records. At the time, Alan McGee's label was facing bankruptcy after a hugely expensive string of album recordings had translated into mediocre sales. Oasis burst onto the public consciousness during the spring and summer of 1994, ripping off a cola commercial here, dropping an aspirational ballad there. Their debut album kept the Three Tenors off the top of the lists when it first came out, only to be toppled by the heavyweight trio the following week.
Oasis had their own hype machine, and five singles between christmas 94 and February 96 all went top three. This included their signature tune Wonderwall
, and their entry to the Big Britpop Battle, a thinly disguised Status Quo cover called Roll With It
. Sell-out concerts and clever repackaging of old material made 96 the group's biggest year.
It could only be downhill from there. 97's Be Here Now
album was largely devoid of the anthems and simple tunes that had propelled the band to ultra-mega-stardom, and they had been eclipsed for cheap publicity by the Spice Girls. 2000's Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
was even worse, and the band self-destructed in a blaze of publicity following its release.
However, nothing will keep big brother Gallagher down, and he just recruited some new session musicians, sat down and wrote some half-way decent songs, and got on with it. This is the best track from the group's fifth studio set, and it's the first to stand comparison with their polyplatinum 95 work Morning Glory
. For starters, there's a clear tune to be discerned. The discord between vocalist and melody is notable by its absence. This is, of course, because Noel is singing the track, rather than his tone-deaf brother.
It's also the first Oasis track in donkey's years to be written from the heart, rather than from the brain. This gives it an emotional impact that has been sadly lacking in the group's output for too long. The guitar riffs and singalong chorus are another throwback to the days when Oasis was a competent band, writing adequate songs.
It's good to have them back. Hope they stay a bit longer.
The album Heathen Chemistry
has been out for some months now.