The stories of Oasis’ Gallagher brothers are now as endless as they are infamous.
There has been smashing of guitars over one another’s craniums moments before shows. One Gallagher heckling the other from the rafters, while his brother/bandmate is trying to perform Oasis’ legendary songs at acoustic shows. And, of course, multiple break-ups, cancellations and reunions — only to find a return to the same destructive patterns of little brother not gyrating so well with big brother and vise versa.
All of this, along with who knows what else kept classified from the code of the road, eventually led to the ultimate demise of one of the most profound bands to come out of the ’90s. Through all blistering words, booze and blood, Oasis was still able to accomplish a feat not even their elder idols from Liverpool could ever manage: an unprecedented run of 22 Top 10 hits on the UK charts, the longest such chart run ever.
Both brothers have moved on now with new projects: Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye, which consists of the remaining members of Oasis minus little brother – whose solo gig is called Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. But nothing they do separately seems to able to capture the magic of those seven studio Oasis albums. The most memorable and arguably most prolific was the second, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, a follow up to the band’s widely hailed freshman success Definitely Maybe.
Morning Glory catapulted Oasis to quadruple-platinum success with tunes like “Wonderwall,” “Some Might Say,” “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Champagne Supernova.”
As rumor has it, while on tour in Germany in 1994 promoting Definitely Maybe, Noel performed all the songs he envisioned on the next album on his acoustic guitar. Guitarist Paul Arthurs was so touched by the performance and songs that he wept. And how could you blame Arthurs? Imagine being one of the first people to hear the melodic entrancement of “Champagne Supernova.” Arthurs knew these collection of songs written by Noel would be the game changer Oasis was waiting for.
At times, the melodies and draw of Liam’s scratchy voice almost pegs the melancholy of a rainy day in their homeland, yet simultaneously portrays the illumination of the rock and roll energy that made mother England’s music so recognizable as it bleeds through Noel’s bending strings. The influences are evident in nearly every tune on the 12 track album: The Beatles, T-Rex, the Who, Velvet Underground. It was all streaming through the wires in Noel’s brain when he dreamed up this project.
With the cold rains and winds beginning to set in across the most of the states, Morning Glory is the perfect album to get yourself in tune with (to paraphrase Roger Waters) the looming season’s “quiet desperation.” At times, of course, it isn’t very quiet on Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, but it certainly is the English way.
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