Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to admit OASIS' career was one hell of a saga. Sibling rivalry, a meteoric rise, splits and re-unions, enormous generation-defining gigs, the sudden departure of Bonehead...everything was done on a grand scale and it all made for the sort of reading matter the tabloids wet themselves over.
It all came to a head last summer when a disgruntled Noel finally said goodbye after a drunken Liam smashed one guitar too many. Some might say it should have ended years before, but now the dust's finally settled and there are ominous rumblings of new music from the rival brothers, this is as good a time as any to examine the legacy of Burnage's finest once and for all.
'Time Flies...' is, in effect, all 26 (no, sorry, 27) of Oasis' singles across 2 CDS. The running order seems weird at first glance. It opens with 'Supersonic' and ends with 'Falling Down', but it's not arranged chronologically outside of that. According to Gallagher Snr. this is because it's meant to run like a gig, admittedly “a fookin' long one.” More candidly, Noel himself admits that “all the iconic stuff” would be bunched together at the beginning if they'd taken the chronological route.
He's always been a harsh self-critic has our Noel, but there's a lot of truth in that. Indeed, it's fitting that 'Time Flies...' is housed in a sleeve based around Jill Furmanovsky's images of Oasis' genre-defining shows at Knebworth '96 because Noel's long been on record as saying he should have ended Oasis after that ultimate high. The music from their first two albums 'Definitely Maybe' and '(What's The Story) Morning Glory' has already exhausted most critics' superlatives, but there is a delicious bliss in re-discovering songs of the calibre of 'Supersonic', 'Cigarettes & Alcohol', 'Don't Look Back In Anger' and 'Live Forever' all over again. Whether it was the Pistols'-style wall of sound of the debut or 'Morning Glory”s depth and ambition, it was difficult not to get swept up in some of the most irresistible Rock'n'Roll ever committed to tape at the time.
Post-Knebworth, Oasis seemed to be left with two options: either eat America for breakfast or implode. Both looked equally possible, but Noel eventually decided on a different option altogether. With Britpop heading for its' death throes, Oasis released their third album 'Be Here Now'. It sold in colossal numbers, but backfired spectacularly. Fuelled by cocaine and rampant egos, 'D'You Know What I Mean?', 'Stand By Me' and 'All Around the World' were stodgy, constipated epics. As a clearer-headed Noel now wryly admits, “there are tunes in there somewhere”. Yeah, but we're still struggling to locate 'em over a decade on.
Recorded in a state of flux (stalwart foot-soldiers Bonehead and Guigsy left during the making of it), its' successor 'Standing on the Shoulder of Giants' (sic) is often treated with similar derision, but the trippy, George Harrison moves of 'Who Feels Love?' and the Beck-style beats and heroically snaky bassline bending around 'Go Let It Out' sound damn fine to me. Poor old 'Sunday Morning Call' meanwhile, is reduced to the status of 'secret' track after 'Falling Down' has faded out, but I don't see why. It's got a cautionary grace, a fine Noel vocal and is hardly the runt of the litter to these ears.
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Oasis Mk.2 had been established by the time of the band's 'Heathen Chemistry' LP (2002) with seasoned indie pros Gem Archer and Andy Bell replacing Guigsy and the inimitable Bonehead. Received wisdom has it the album was something of a return to form and I can go along with that. 'The Hindu Times' re-connected the band with their dense, twin-can guitar brilliance, 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' provided them with a teary-eyed stadium ballad par excellence and 'Songbird' proved that Liam could (cough) actually write songs after all.
Most of the stuff from the band's final two LPS, 'Don't Believe The Truth' (2005) and 2008's 'Dig Out Your Soul' suggested the created sponge still hadn't been totally squeezed when Oasis threw the towel in. 'Lyla' remains as infuriatingly catchy as ever. 'The Shock of The Lightning' rocked with muscularity to spare and 'The Importance of Being Idle' was one of Noel's finest set-pieces, even if it did owe a large debt to both The La's and Ray Davies. In a way, the two closing tracks are the most interesting. While 'I'm Outta Time' even went so far as to include a brief John Lennon sample, it showed Liam in an unexpectedly poignant light and Noel's dramatic 'Falling Down' spoke of both a vulnerability and musical complexity only previously hinted at. It remains arguably Oasis' most enigmatic tune and one we should bear in mind in terms of his future musical direction.
So that's yer lot. 2 generously-appointed CDS. 27 singles. The iconic, the genuinely inspiring, the heart-melters, the chancers and a few duds. A vast, sky-scraping Rock'n'Roll career you can hold in your hand and a retrospective to piss all over the dodgy 'Stop The Clocks'. RIP Oasis. What a fookin' ball it was while it lasted.
Oasis online
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