Oasis

When we hear the termiology "Too Much Too Soon", we thank of the perfect and prophetic album
title of the second New York Dolls album......I have always thought it applied somewhat appropriately to Oasis as well, at the beginning of their run in the early-90's, they could rock the joint with anyone, releasing two classic albums and also developing a reputation for hard-living, hard-partying lifestyle which would eventually be the doom of the band.....the original lineup on the debut "Definitely Maybe" in 1994 was vocalist Liam Gallagher, guitarist Noel Gallagher, guitarist Paul Arthurs, bassist Paul McGuigan, and drummer Tony McCarroll (who would soon be replaced by Alan White)....they crushed out a sound that was familiar yet original, a mix of Beatle-esque melodies with some crushing hard, Smashing Pumpkins style noise, the best I could perhaps compare their sound to might be that of a UK Cheap Trick.

"Definitely Maybe" is a classic, 4.5 stars and a joy from start to end....pure rock n roll energy "Cigarettes and Alcohol", "Supersonic", "Shakermaker" and pretty much everything on the album is worthwhile, it is one of the essential rock albums of the mid-90's......even better though, a true 5-star classic, is "(What's the Story) Morning Glory", a slice of perfection that remains a joy to listen to today.......the singles "Champagne Supernova", "Wonderwall", and "Don't Look Back In Anger", while all great, hardly begin to tell the whole story.....the frantic title track, "Hey Now!", "Cast No Shadows", one album truly without a weakness......and, I didn't even know THIS was available, just found it on the Bay today: a 3-disc "Deluxe Edition", fleshed out with a ton of demos/live stuff and the conveniently collected great group of the band's B-Sides......I was thrilled to see it and of course will pass it along.

And, after "Morning Glory", it was OVER. Some might disagree, but for me it was over. The next
release "Be Here Now" is negligible, I have one but I'm not going to post it, if you want one it's easy to locate, I have a lot of live and rare I wish to post along side the two "classic albums".....they had lost "it"......"it" being, well, the ability to be an "important" rock band.....and where did "it" go? I'll never forget Liam Gallagher's answer to that inquiry: "Right in the drug dealer's fucking pocket, that's where it fucking went".....Liam was such an ass, you had to love it.....once when the band changed its US tour plans and he was asked about it, he said something about he had no need to explain the band's plans "to a bunch of fucking Yanks"........gotta love a guy who works so hard at being a jerkoff.

Anyway, the two classics, including the expanded "Morning Glory" are here.....well, what else do we have? "1994 Paris and Demos" is a fairly rare one that captures the band RIGHT before hitting their stride, a fine double disc "25000 Oasis Fans Can't Be Wrong", a smoking good show at Knebworth Park England, showcasing the band right at thier peak...and a live set from Glastonbury, 1995, also quite a fine effort......and, don't know if you'll want to hear these or not, I found a few interviews with the band online, normally I wouldn't post stuff like that (haven't listened to them yet), but knowing it's the Gallaghers, they could say some pretty outrageous stuff, so I'm going to take a chance with it.
I have a bunch of singles and stuff, but the expanded "Morning Glory" renders that fairly obsolete, so I think what I'm presenting is the band at the apex of their short creative moment (and, for sure, they HAD a 'moment"), concentrating the live stuff to that era as well (I have a live disc also here from 2001 that I'm not posting either).....this is about Oasis 1994-96........after that the Gallaghers tried it several more times with various lineups, they released several more albums under the oasis name, while I have not listened extensively, everything I've heard from them pretty much eats the five dollar footlong. Further investigation, if you are interested, is fairly easy to conduct, I think ALL of the more recent albums are on the Bay, I prefer to remember them in this light, as one of the best bands in the world for a VERY short minute.

DEFINITLEY MAYBE-01 Rock N Roll Star/02 Shakermaker/03 Live Forever/04 Up in the Sky/05
Columbia/06 Supersonic/07 Bring It On Down/08 Cigarettes and Alcohol/09 Digsy's Diner/10 Slide Away/11 Married With Children

(WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY (DISC 1)-01 Hello/02 Roll With It/03 Wonderwall/04 Don't Look Back In Anger/05 Hey Now!/06 Untitled/07 Some Might Say/08 Cast No Shadaow/09 She's Electric/10 Morning Glory/11 Hello (Demo)/12 Wonderwall (Live Knebworth park)

(WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY (DISC 2)-01 Talk Tonight/02 Acquiesce/03 Headshrinker/04 It's Better People/05 Rockin Chair/06 Step Out/07 Underneath The Sky/08 Cum On Feel the Noize/09 Round Are Way/10 The Swamp Song/11 The Masterplan/12 Bonehead's Bank Holiday/13 Champagne Supernova (Brendan Lynch Mix)/14 You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

(WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY (DISC 3)-01 Acquiesce (Live)/02 Some Might Say (Demo)/03 Some Might Say (Live)/04 She's Electric (Demo)/05 Talk Tonight (Live)/06 Rockin Chair (demo)/07 Hello (Live)/08 Roll With It (Live)/09 Morning Glory (Live)/10 Hey Now (Demo)/11 Bonehead's Band Holiday (Demo)/12 Round Are Way (MTV Unplugged)/13 Cast No Shadow (Live)/14 The Masterplan (Live)

PARIS '94 AND DEMOS-01 Rock N Roll Star/02 Shakermaker/03 Live Forever/04 Fade Away/05 Cigarettes and Alcohol/06 Supersonic/07 I Am the Walrus (TRACKS 1-7 LIVE AT "TOP LIVE" PARIS 11/2/94)/08 Digsy's Diner (TRACK 8 LIVE AT LA SAGALE, PARIS, 11/4/94/)/09 Live Forever (Acoustic)/10 Shakermaker (Acousitc)/11 Sad Song (Acoustic) (TRACKS 9-11 LIVE BBC RADIO 6/7/94)/12 Supersonic (Acoustic) (TRACK 12 LIVE BBC RADIO 5/3/94)/13 Cigarettes and Alcohol (Demo)/14 Fade Away (Demo)/15 Whatever/16 I Am the Walrus (TRACKS 15-16 LIVE BBC TV 12/6/94

250000 OASIS FANS CAN'T BE WRONG-KNEBWORTH PARK ENGLAND 8/11/96 DISC 1-01
Intro/02 Columbia/03 Acquiesce/04 Supersonic/05 Hello/06 Some Might Say/07 Roll With It/08 Slide Away/09 Morning Glory/10 Round Are Way/Up In the Sky/11 Cigarettes and Alcohol/12 Whatever/Octopus' Garden/13 Cast No Shadow/14 Wonderwall/15 The Masterplan

250000 OASIS FANS CAN'T BE WRONG-KNEBWORTH PARK ENGLAND 8/11/96 DISC 2-01 Don't Look Back In Anger/02 Live Forever/03 Champagne Supernova/04 I Am the Walrus/05 Morning Glory/06 Supersonic/07 Live forever/08 Wonderwall (Acoustic)/09 Don't Look Back IN Anger/10 Champagne Supernova/11 My Big Mouth/12 It's Getting Better Man
(TRACKS 1-4 KNEEBWORTH PARK, 8/11/96, TRACKS 5-10 BERKELEY CA 12/12/95, TRACKS 11-12 KNEBWORTH PARK ENGLAND 8/10/96

GLASTONBURY-01 The Swamp Song/02 Acquiesce/03 Supersonic/04 Hello/05 Some Might Say/06 Roll With It/07 Slide Away/08 (It's Good) To Be Free/09 (What's the Story) Morning Glory/10 Cigarettese and Alcohol/11 Don't Look Back In Anger/12 Live Forever/13 Rock N Roll Star

INTERVIEW DISC-01 Interview 1/02 Interview 2/03 Noel/Liam

Again, a joy to do this one, hope nobody has an issue with the manner in which I opted to do it, I just think the post-"Morning Glory" stuff really sucks.....just my opinion......the live sets are REALLY good here, and I highly recommend the expanded "Morning Glory" as well as Oasis was one of those bands that would produce some really high quality B-sides