(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Limited Edition Japanese pressing of their sophomore album, originally released in 1995, comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. 12 tracks including 'Roll With It', 'Wonderwall', 'Some Might Say' and 'Cast No Shadow'. Sony. 2006.
2008-07-08 -- 5/5:: One of the 90's top albums
Music, like movies, tends to go into a lot of phases with many people latching onto a certain genre or artist deeming them the saviors that will rid the taste left in our mouth of the predecessors. With the drugs and excess and party-with-every-and-any-girl lyrics of the 80's metal bands, in comes the so-called "grunge" movement which was more introverted and coming from a place of hurt and angst. In comes Oasis during the so-called "Brit rock" movement which dealt with more uplifting matters like the love of rock and roll music. Sure it's derivative but who gives a you-know-what when it's a top record from top to bottom.
Hello: Fading in with the Wonderwall chord progression, the song then transforms into a big rousing rock track with loud guitar chords, Liam's trademark vocals and while it's not really single material, it gets the album to a big start. 8/10
Roll With It: One of the catchiest tracks on the album and one of my favorites. What makes it standout is just that it's one of the more upbeat and livelier tracks to listen to and one can imagine doing a road trip with this blasting. 9/10
Wonderwall: Let's face it: you're bound to have heard this at some point. From its memorable chord progression to its tasteful use of piano at the end and cello during the verses, this is definately one of the 90's best songs. Small but irrevelant complaint: it does that typical Oasis outro of repeating the chorus then repeating it again then again but without lyrics. But again, no harm done. 9.5/10
Don't Look Back in Anger: Well they always said they were just as good as them and so we have an "Imagine"-esque piano intro before the song starts. Sung this time by Noel, he showcases his more range-y vocals which are different than Liam's more emotive ones. All in all another great song and the chorus soars. 9.5/10
Hey Now!: Not really a big fan of this one, it just sort of plods along and even though it's loud, it doesn't have the fun qualities of Roll With It or even rock-with-your-****-out quality of Rock N' Roll Star from Definately Maybe. But I guess every classic has a dud now and then. 6/10
Untitled Track(The Swamp Song): It's basically a really quick (44 seconds) ditty of a distorted riff over a solo. An alright piece on its own but in the context of the album, it's kind of useless so I can't really rate something this short. n/a
Some Might Say: A big loud rock song and another one that's uplifting and sing-along ready and even though the lyrics are kind of wtf? ("sink's full of dirty fishes, she's got dirty dishes on the brain") it's still a great tune. But then again that repetitive outro curse happens again which lasts well over a minute. 8/10
Cast No Shadow: It's strange to say a song's by Oasis is "beautiful" but it's a great ballad with some wonderful use of background vocals, Liam's vocals and I don't think it was a single but radio would've killed it anyway so it worked out in a weird way. 8.5/10
She's Electric: A weird country rock feel with a more stomping beat and it's one of those weird cases where a song sounds fun to listen to only it doesn't really stay in your head. It's another Hey Now!-type song so meh. 6/10
Morning Glory: One of the most underrated songs on the album. While I don't like the rather noisy mix, it's hard not to get swept up in the energy and dare you not to belt out that chorus along with Liam. That siren sounding guitar line kind of ruins it halfway though. 9/10
(Untitled Track): Another rather useless track with sounds of running water and faint rock riffs and solos in the background. Meh. N/A
Champagne Supernova: I think I can safely say this song is simply one, if not their absolute best and while other tracks might hold your attention for awhile, it doesn't have the staying power this one has. Sure lyrically it's kind of nonsensical but musically and vocally this is an absolute classic for sure. 10/10
Couple of duds and iffy tracks but what's surprising is that the hits just seem to keep coming and arrogance aside and criticisms (some of them warranted mind you), can't deny they are a good band and this album proves it.
2008-04-18 -- 5/5:: The Classic Album of the 90's
Very few bands are able to create an album that defines a moment (the Britpop era) in the way that Oasis did with this 1995 near-masterpiece. While it may not be one of the greatest albums of the Rock era, it's hard to imagine how it could not be counted in the top 50!
2008-04-11 -- 5/5:: The last truly great rock album
Morning Glory is Oasis's best album, and one of my favorites. All the tracks are great, from Hello to Champagne Supernova. Every song is perfect Britpop, with Liam's bratty voice going perfectly with the rest of the band's instruments. The hits Wonderwall, Don't Look Back In Anger, and Champagne Supernova are all beautiful songs, and the seven other songs sound very similar to them. All the songs have great lyrics sung suberbly by Liam and Noel, and great guitar parts by the band. Every song has a beautiful chorus' like Wonderwall, Don't Look Back In Anger, Some Might Say, She's Electric, Morning Glory, and Champagne Supernova. This album is a must-have for all ruck n' rull fans, old-school fans, and even pop and punk fans.
2008-02-12 -- 3/5:: some rip offs, some unmemorable moments... some good moments too
Back in the day, Oasis wanted to be the next Beatles by attempting to write catchy, memorable songs. Sometimes it worked, but other times it clearly didn't. They certainly don't "sound" like the Beatles most of the time.
"Hello"- that chorus is totally ripped off from the chorus of an old Slade song called "Far Far Away". The verse melody is alright, but the lyrics are bad. Not a great way to open a supposed classic album.
"Roll With It"- annoying verse melody, good chorus. Nothing more needs to be said.
"Wonderwall"- Not hooky enough to be a Beatles tribute. Yes, mentioning the words "winding" and "roads" reminds us of a certain Beatles song, but that alone doesn't make it a quality tribute song. Nah, they can do better than that.
"Don't Look Back in Anger"- Is the piano part in the beginning stolen directly from John Lennon's "Imagine"? It certainly sounds like it. Nice attempt to cover that up with some guitar playing over it. Can't fool me, though. I like this song anyway. The vocal melodies are beautiful, but the guitar solo isn't anything special. Because of the somewhat sappy nature of the chorus, it's not a song I feel like playing very often.
"Some Might Say"- feels like a filler track to me. Average verse melody, uninteresting chorus. I guess some of the guitar work is decent enough. I won't be playing this song anymore. I can't imagine the Beatles ever writing something as uninteresting as this. Repeating that underwhelming chorus over and over at the end was a bad idea too.
"Cast No Shadow"- maybe another filler track? It's not anything special, that's for sure. A verse melody that passes by harmlessly with absolutely nothing about it to help us remember the melody. This album can't be the bands masterpiece with songs like this filling up time. The way the verse melody is written reminds me of another song that escapes my mind at the moment.
She's Electric- bouncy pop song. I like it a lot. I was afraid after hearing the first few seconds that the melody was going to be a Byrds rip-off, but luckily the sound and melody changed direction in a hurry. What we have here is a great taste of melodic songwriting. The song almost has a sad atmosphere to it. The chorus is a bit weak, but the verse melody totally makes up for that.
Morning Glory- the guitar playing in the beginning sounds a lot like Led Zeppelin's "Nobody's Fault but Mine". The song transforms into a messy attempt at light grunge with unsatisfactory results. Really bad singing makes it the obvious low point of the album.
Champagne Supervova- the intro has a very beautiful mellow sound that I wish would have continued longer. I think this is a pretty good song in the beginning, with some quiet vocals and a nice atmosphere. The song later becomes just another generic rock song with a loud bombastic sound that is totally unnecessary.
2008-02-10 -- 4/5:: Better than I thought it was at first
I'm well aware of the fact that I wrote a one-star review of this album at one time. I'm also aware that said review was a piece of crap, which explains why I deleted it. And while I will maintain that the title is pretty stupid, after giving it another listen I think it's a pretty good album.
First, though, the bad news. I still can't stand Liam Gallagher's sneering voice at all. To be honest, I'm not even sure why they keep him around. I know he wrote a few songs on the group's more recent albums, but I've only heard two Oasis discs in my life (go ahead, guess which two!), so it's not like I'd know any of them are any good. And here's another problem: this band doesn't have one iota of originality. Everything they do is copied from the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Cream, The Who, and other far superior acts. Seriously, they don't have their own style. Or, at minimum, they do but it's stolen from other acts. "Don't Look Back in Anger" is a good example. I like the song. It's a good power ballad. But John Lennon just about wrote it for them. Not only did Noel Gallagher admit that most the lyrics were swiped from John's diaries, but the piano intro is the same thing as "Imagine". There's something wrong with that.
Now, with all that crap out of the way, I'd like to focus on the good stuff. As I said, I like "Don't Look Back in Anger", a major hit single, but there's more. "Wonderwall" is an amazing acoustic pop tune with some subtly clever orchestration, even if the Fab Four did considerably better with a similar backdrop on "We Can Work it Out". "Champagne Supernova" is a fantastic, surprisingly tuneful drug power ballad with guitar heroics from both Noel himself and ex-Jam frontman Paul Weller, and it's my favorite song on the album too. And there are a ton of loud, foot-stomping, thundering, slightly overlong rockers: "Hey Now!", "Hello", "Roll with It", "Some May Say" and the title track. A couple weaknesses, though: the straight-up ballad "Cast No Shadow" is awkward and completely out-of-character, while the fusion of punk and music hall on "She's Electric" is as forced as it may sound. Plus, you know, what I said before.
This is a fun album. Not original at all, but fun. The Gallagher brothers do strike me as morons, but who cares? It's all about the music. And the music is good. But I will insist this is an overrated album, and that you could do far better with '90s rock.