138. Little by Little (Heathen Chemistry): Far and
away the worst Oasis single, “Little by Little” is the sound of a songwriter
who lost his steam. Noel Gallagher entered the yacht stratosphere of wealth on
the back of crowd-pleasing anthems, but “Little by Little” is a lethargic, dull,
lazy attempt to recreate the greatest Oasis hits that winds up sounding more
like the theme song of a CW teen drama. “Heathen Chemistry” is my least
favorite Oasis album and it’s largely because of this clunker.
137. Merry Christmas Everybody (NME in Association with
War Child Presents 1 Love): Oasis covered Slade’s perfectly fun “Merry Xmas
Everybody” for this compilation album and have never sounded less interested in
what they were doing. An easy fix would’ve been to have Liam Gallagher, who had
previously covered Slade for the band, sing lead vocals, but instead we were
subjected to Noel taking on a silly Christmas song with unusual earnestness.
136. If We Shadows (Be Here Now re-issue): This song
was demoed before being scratched from “Be Here Now”, and while I understand
why it sounds so half-baked, I can’t excuse it since this is the only version
of the song that exists. And while the finished product does have the elements
of a decently catchy chorus, listening to the song itself is more an exercise
in Oasis completism than actually enjoying the song. That said, this version is
just under five minutes and a “Be Here Now” studio version would’ve surely been
at least seven and a half minutes long.
135. Heroes (“D’You Know What I Mean?” B-side): How do
you go wrong covering David Bowie? By falling into all the traps and clichés of
the “Be Here Now” sessions (except, shockingly, length—this version is nearly
two minutes shorter than Bowie’s original). The guitars are distractingly loud
in the mix, and while it’s perhaps not fair to blame Oasis for the fact that
the Wallflowers version from less than a year later would become the definitive
modern rock cover of “Heroes”, what little reason this song had to exist in the
first place disappeared. Also, this is one of many Oasis B-sides that should’ve
been sung by Liam but instead went to Noel, a fine singer with a nevertheless brief
list of songs at which he is the superior Gallagher vocal option.
134. Magic Pie (Be Here Now): Allegedly, this was
meant to be the light-hearted song on “Be Here Now”, so it says a lot about how
self-serious that album got that the novelty tune was seven minutes and
nineteen seconds long. The song isn’t without interesting guitar bits, but it’s
also impossible to listen to the song in its entirety without groaning a few
times (even if you’ve never heard this song before, the fact that its title is
“Magic Pie”, a phrase which is used in the chorus, should give you some hint).
“Be Here Now” is, by and large, a much better album that it’s given credit
for—most of the songs are too long, but are generally pleasant tunes if those
making the album had any self-control. “Magic Pie”, however, is irredeemable.
133. The Quiet Ones (“The Importance of Being Idle” B-side):
No, I wasn’t just going to rank all of the Noel-sung songs in the basement
of the list. This song is mercifully short—just 2:01—but it is very much a B-side
for a reason. There is some moderately cool guitar wah-wah-ing briefly in this
mostly acoustic number, but while Gem Archer offered a pretty high success rate
when he wrote songs for Oasis, this one was his weakest effort.
132. Helter Skelter (“Who Feels Love?” B-side): It is
inexplicable that this oft-covered Beatles classic has inspired such uninspired
renditions. This (once again, Noel-sung) version isn’t bad but considering it
is arguably the highest-energy Beatles song, being covered by one of the
highest-energy bands of its era, it should be so much better. The psychedelic
guitar outro is nice but the entire song up to that point is pointless.
131. Carry Us All (“Sunday Morning Call” B-side): Noel
Gallagher has written more songs about lapsed Catholicism that one might
expect, and while one might hope a song about religion (or non-religion) would
have a certain anthemic feel to it, this one is strictly middle of the road. I
don’t think Liam singing it makes it a great song, but I think it would likely
elevate it somewhat. It’s not a bad song, but it is very much a B-side.
130. Roll It Over (Standing on the Shoulder of Giants): “Standing
on the Shoulder of Giants” is the band’s darkest album, yet it concludes with
the big, anthemic choruses of “Roll It Over”. The lyrics are a bit of a bleaker
affair, and this keeps the song from really gaining steam. Bonus points for the
guitar solo. Loss of bonus points for being over six minutes long despite
lacking any semblance of a hook.
129. Idler’s Dream (“The Hindu Times” B-side): It
doesn’t sound like an Oasis song at all—it is a true Noel Gallagher solo song
(he sings and plays piano and there are no other instruments) and while this
could have been a recipe for self-indulgence, it is a shockingly effective
ballad. It would’ve been a disaster on an album (though still better than “Little
by Little”), but it’s pleasant as a B-side curiosity.
128. Sad Song (Definitely Maybe vinyl edition): Inexplicably
placed between the much harder rocking “Columbia” and “Supersonic” in its
original incarnation, this song is exactly what you think it is based on the
title. It has a pleasant enough verse melody, but nothing really stands out
about it compared to the countless other acoustic numbers of its era.
127. Those Swollen Hand Blues (“Falling Down” B-side): Despite
constant comparison to them, I never thought Oasis sounded particularly like
the Beatles, by and large. Oasis, particularly at their best, were closer to T.
Rex or The Who or The Kinks, but if somebody is going to compare you to the
biggest band in the history of the world, you aren’t going to decline it. But
on this song, technically the final Oasis song (it being the B-side on the
final Oasis release), Noel Gallagher couldn’t be trying to sound like
“Strawberry Fields Forever” more if he just did a cover of it. Bonus points for
him not doing this.
126. Who Put the Weight of the World on My Shoulders?
(“Goal!” soundtrack): You’d think putting an Oasis song on a soccer movie
called “Goal!” would mean an uplifting anthem, but instead, Oasis went with
(say it with me) a mostly acoustic Noel-sung number. My preferred Oasis tends
to be harder-rocking, so I’m as surprised as anybody that my favorite part of
this song is the presence of violins.
125. The Masterplan (“Wonderwall” B-side): This song
is such a fan favorite that it was the name of a collection of the band’s most
popular B-sides, and I get why people enjoy it—it’s a big crowd singalong. But
while I have a soft spot for some Oasis ballads, I prefer to keep my ballads a
little smaller. There are plenty of elements here of a song I rank much higher,
but there are too many things I find grating (rhyming “doors” with “corridor”,
the sped-up interpolation of “Octopus’s Garden”, the presence of an orchestra)
for me to give it a full endorsement.
124. The Swamp Song (“Wonderwall” B-side): I’m not
counting the excerpts from “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”, but rather the
full song that appears as a B-side (and later as part of “The Masterplan”). And
the good news is that this song has a really cool, unsurprisingly “swamp”-y
guitar riff. It forms the basis of a 4:19 instrumental which, unfortunately,
never really diverts from the formula. It’s a bit of a forerunner to the “Be
Here Now” excesses and it should be about three minutes shorter than it is.
123. (You’ve Got) The Heart of a Star (“Songbird” B-side):
Sometimes, particularly on B-sides he sung himself, Noel Gallagher tried to
sound like Burt Bacharach. A lot of times, it works terribly, and while this
particular song ventures a little too close to corny territory, it’s one of Noel’s
stronger vocal performances, and while I think Liam could’ve handled it just
fine, I don’t know that he could’ve handled it better.
122. Hey Hey My My (Familiar to Millions): The
instrumentation on this Neil Young cover is terrific—the guitars properly loud
and the drums properly thunderous. But the vocals are passable at best (hey,
Noel, you have one of the greatest rock and roll voices alive right there on
stage with you) and the cover is so straightforward that it’s fair to wonder
what purposes it serves to record it when listeners at home could just as
easily play the original. That said, Oasis never recorded it in studio, so they
get a minor pass, and also, if I were at Wembley Stadium, I’m positive I
would’ve thought it rocked.
121. Sittin’ Here in Silence (On My Own) (“Let There Be
Love” B-side): It feels a bit like an incomplete song (again, it’s a B-side),
but there are points in it where Noel Gallagher sounds like he’s channeling
solo John Lennon, which is a good direction to be heading on a song you don’t
deem good enough for your album.
120. One Way Road (“Who Feels Love?” B-side): I’ll
admit that I know some Oasis songs better than others and this was the song I
most frequently had to consult to remember how it goes when ranking this list,
which probably isn’t a great sign for its memorability. The chorus is actually
shockingly catchy for a “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants”-era B-side but the
verses are easily replaceable. There is a neat abbreviated guitar solo, which
stands out compared to the acoustic tunes that comprise the majority of
latter-day Oasis B-sides.
119. Come On Feel the Noise (“Don’t Look Back in Anger” B-side):
The better Slade cover in the Oasis discography (though most Americans
probably better know the Quiet Riot cover), this is superior because Liam
Gallagher sings it, but the production is a bit overdone, and objectively, I’d
take both the Slade and Quiet Riot versions over this one.
118. Take Me Away (“Supersonic” B-side): Had this
song been anything more than a B-side, it could’ve been bad. There are eras
where “Take Me Away” becomes a bloated, instrumental mess. But this simple
acoustic ballad from the first Oasis single set the template of peak-era Oasis
singles: excellent A-sides but B-sides which can hold their own.
117. The Cage (Heathen Chemistry): That it follows
nearly 29 minutes of silence on the final track of a relatively neglected Oasis
album maybe shows how much the band cared about this instrumental. There’s
nothing wrong with “The Cage”, but I can’t pretend I often find myself
compelled to fast forward to the correct point of “Better Man” to get to it.
116. Thank You for the Good Times (“Stop Crying Your
Heart Out” B-side): I have an unfounded theory on the writing of this song.
It was recorded during the “Heathen Chemsitry” sessions, an album which was a
markedly more optimistic one than the preceding “Standing on the Shoulder of
Giants”. Andy Bell, who had never written an Oasis song to that point, decided
to try to fit that mood as obviously as possible. But the song turned out to be
a forgettable, middle-of-the-road ode, seemingly, to Oasis itself, so it was
relegated to B-side status. It was worth a shot.
115. Shout It Out Loud (“Stop Crying Your Heart Out”
B-side): Imagine “Little By Little” but with a pretty cool guitar solo and
without everything excruciatingly patronizing about it. It’s not an amazing
Oasis song, granted, but it’s perfectly acceptable as a B-side.
114. Angel Child (“D’You Know What I mean?” B-side): I
can’t pretend that the idea that a song called “Angel Child” exists doesn’t
kind of bother me on principle but considering this was the same year Noel
wrote and sang a song called “Magic Pie”, this is a minor grievance. Vocally,
Noel’s dynamics are quite strong (I think Liam could’ve done well, perhaps
better than Noel, but it would have necessarily been different) and while there
is nothing instrumentally that merits much further discussion, it serves the
singing fairly well.
113. The Fame (“All Around the World” B-side): A song
that absolutely should have been sung by Liam, but by all accounts, he wasn’t
exactly at his most energetic circa 1997, so maybe a Noel vocal was necessary.
It would’ve been served by better production, but it’s unsurprising that a
B-side in 1997 would be a bit undercooked since only the hardcore fans would
ever hear it. At some point, though, I’m just happy to hear a Noel-sung B-side
with some life in it.
112. Stay Young (“D’You Know What I Mean?” B-side): “Be
Here Now” was maligned for constantly shooting the moon and trying to be an
album entirely of enormous songs, and while it often fell short, the ideas were
there. They shouldn’t have been seven-minute songs but there would be a germ of
something there. “Stay Young” was the most popular B-side from the sessions,
evidenced by its presence on “Be Here Now”, but it is so middle of the road
that it was never going to truly stand out. It’s not a bad song, by any means,
but it’s a song that sounds a fair bit like many of the songs written,
recorded, and ultimately better executed on “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”
111. (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady (Dig Out Your Soul): A
fair amount of the final Oasis album has a curiously western-themed tinge to
it, on top of apocalyptic themes (this sounds kind of stupid, but it might be
my second-favorite Oasis album). But the one song that never really gets off
the ground is this one. The first two verses are slow and plodding—not bad, but
they feel like they’re building to something bigger. And then they just…don’t.
It just kind of continues along the path it was going.
110. Part of the Queue (Don’t Believe the Truth): On
the band’s penultimate album, it becomes obvious that there’s a splinter
between Noel and the rest of the band—Liam only sings 1 ½ of the songs Noel
wrote, while all but two total songs on the band’s first three albums fit that
description. This tune—Noel sung and written—is a perfectly pleasant bit of
British pop-rock, but it is easily the album’s most forgettable track and it
suggests that Noel was running low on ideas.
109. Boy with the Blues (Dig Out Your Soul deluxe
edition): Inexplicably, this afterthought from the final Oasis album wound
up on the soundtrack of one of the most popular American TV shows of the
millennium, “NCIS”. It is sung by Liam and sounds so distinctly written by Liam
that the song could’ve passed for a Beady Eye song. I say this as somebody who
liked Beady Eye.
108. Stop Crying Your Heart Out (Heathen Chemistry): One
of Oasis’s most enduring singles in the UK (it peaked at #2, and a Leona Lewis
cover peaked at #29 seven years later), it doesn’t quite reek of “Little by
Little” desperation to have a huge anthem on the band’s fifth album, but it is
certainly a lesser version of the band’s biggest hits. But hey, the band’s
biggest hits are really good. I haven’t even talked about those yet.
107. I Hope, I Think, I Know (Be Here Now): Approximately
one and a half minutes longer than it needs to be, which is restrained by “Be
Here Now” standards. While this positions “I Hope, I Think, I Know” as a fairly
uncontroversial entry on the band’s most controversial album, it never really
strives for more than acceptability. Good Liam vocal, but I don’t think I’ve
ever voluntarily listened to the song except when listening to “Be Here Now” as
a whole. I don’t mind it, but this is a band that has a hundred songs I’ve
convinced myself at some point or another was the greatest song ever written,
so it falls a bit short.
106. Where Did It All Go Wrong? (Standing on the Shoulder
of Giants): The second of Noel’s unofficial cocaine trilogy, between
“Sunday Morning Call” and the already-mentioned “Roll It Over”, the song (like
the others) offers an appropriately bleak look at drug abuse and is a poignant
soundtrack to the misery of the Britpop comedown. Musically, it doesn’t offer
much interesting, but it’s a worthy album cut and it comes with a surprisingly
fierce Noel vocal performance (Noel has said Liam attempted and couldn’t quite
pull this song off, and this is a rare occasion where I believe him).
105. A Quick Peep (Heathen Chemistry): A
seventy-seven second instrumental that is too brief to be a classic but also
too brief to be loathed. It has a solid groove and if you’re listening to songs
off “Heathen Chemistry” anyway, it’s a satisfying excursion.
104. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (“Some Might Say”
B-side): Like their “Heroes” cover, a relatively faithful cover that was
eventually usurped as the modern rock staple cover (Eddie Vedder). I do wonder
where Liam was for this one. Was it really that hard to convince Liam Gallagher
to do a John Lennon impression for a couple minutes?
103. (Probably) All in the Mind (Heathen Chemistry): “Heathen
Chemistry” was a format-changing album for Oasis in that only three songs
followed the familiar “written by Noel, sung by Liam” format. Only one song
reaches the top 102, so as you can probably guess, I’m okay with this. This
song is a perfectly fine tune, but it doesn’t seem to know what it is. It’s
mildly psychedelic and it’s mildly anthemic and it’s mildly straight-ahead
pop-rock, but it’s none of these things nearly enough to be a classic in any
regard.
102. Can Y’See It Now? (I Can See It Now!!) (Don’t
Believe the Truth Japanese edition): This is such a ludicrous title to give
a mostly instrumental track, and honestly, I respect that. It doesn’t quite
live up to its early potential, which hearkens to the Pixies’ “Where Is My
Mind?”, but if you can have a legally-clear Pixies knockoff that you feel free
to waste on an album relatively few people around the world heard, that’s a
sign you’re doing all right.
101. Just Getting Older (“The Hindu Times” B-side): Hearkening
to the previous album cycle’s “Sunday Morning Call”, Noel sings a more direct elegy
to his own self-destruction and while it’s a little too monotonous to be an
elite Oasis song, it’s a freakin’ gut-punch, man. And it’s not even one of the
top hundred songs by the band. They’re really great.
100. Alive (“Shakermaker” B-side): This is a good
song. It’s solidly written, well-performed, and the vocals are…it’s not that
they’re bad. They aren’t! But it’s very clear hearing it that it was not
well-refined. It’s a demo. It would rank higher if Oasis cared more about it,
but they didn’t, so I don’t.
99. Stand by Me (Be Here Now): While it was only kept
from being a #1 single by “Candle in the Wind 1997”, this is more a reflection
on how popular Oasis was in 1997 than the song being a great song. Like much of
the album from which it came, it has distinct strengths (a lovely chorus and
bridge) and distinct weaknesses (the profoundly stupid opening lyric “Made a
meal and threw it up on Sunday…”, that it’s nearly six minutes long for some
reason), but overall, it’s a solid track, even though I ranked all three of its
B-sides ahead of it on this list.
98. Whatever (stand-alone single): Neil Innes
(rightfully) sued Noel Gallagher for this song and now stands as a co-writer.
The song is a bit long, coming before the band routinely had overly long songs,
but unlike some of the band’s more pretentious divergences into string
sections, this was an indispensable part of “Whatever”. For better or worse.
97. Full On (“Sunday Morning Call” B-side): Have you
ever heard the “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants” song “Put Yer Money Where
Yer Mouth Is”? Well, if you have, you’ve basically heard “Full On”, a glorified
demo of that song. But I like that song enough that it’s at least in my top 96
so “Full On” is relegated to also-ran status.
96. (As Long as They’ve Got) Cigarettes in Hell (“Go Let
It Out” B-side): Given the title, a shockingly tender Noel ballad. I don’t
smoke, so the presence of cigarettes in my eternal damnation is not exactly an
enticement, but if Noel feels that way, I can’t help but respect his opinion.
95. Going Nowhere (“Stand By Me” B-side): Noel at his
Bacharach-iest, this served as a preview of the kind of thing he would release
with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds—soft ballads but with a largeness in
their arrangement. It’s a bit strange that this aspirational tune didn’t wind
up as a “Definitely Maybe” B-side and instead was recorded when Noel was a
multi-millionaire, but it’s for the best that it came around eventually.
94. My Sister Lover (“Stand By Me” B-side): One of
the better choruses of the “Be Here Now”-era, with Liam at his appropriate helm
as lead vocalist but with Noel admirably singing backup. But one question will
always remain about “My Sister Lover”—why is it nearly six minutes long? There
is a really amazing 50-minute album sitting somewhere in the “Be Here Now”
sessions, I promise you.
93. All Around the World (Be Here Now): Good intro.
Good verses. Great chorus. And at the 2:43 mark, Liam is singing “nah nah nah
nahs” and in another 45 seconds or so, Oasis is going to wrap up a stone cold
classic. *Looks at time* There’s six minutes and thirty-six seconds left on
this song? Of all of the Be Here Now songs hurt by the band’s
self-indulgence, without question the song which was hurt the most was “All
Around the World”.
92. All Around the World (Reprise) (Be Here Now): I’m
not going to pretend this is a great song, but seeing that a song is 2:07 on
this album is one of the happiest moments a music fan can experience. In the
context of the 9:19 original song, it almost feels like a winking nod that the
reprise exists, but it’s fine as a standalone song and it maintains (mostly)
the riff that makes “All Around the World” a good idea in the first place.
91. Digsy’s Dinner (Definitely Maybe): Widely
dismissed as a joke (because it is), you could easily make a case that it
should’ve been replaced on the band’s otherwise unimpeachable debut album by
one of the many classic B-sides the album produced. But at the same time, I
don’t know that I want to risk it. And besides, despite the silly lyrics about
lasagna, the pseudo-chorus “these could be the best day of our lives” is a band
that, when trying to sound ridiculous, still managed to sound pretty good.
90. Let There Be Love (Don’t Believe the Truth): The
final song on a mostly-great album, it is weighed down by one awful verse—the
one Noel sings. It’s one of two Oasis songs the Gallagher brothers truly
co-sing, and there’s something poignant about those, but the Noel verse is
“Jay-Z on ‘Monster’” level egregious to my ears. But even though he’s singing a
fairly typical song, Liam can sing this song with absolute conviction.
89. Mucky Fingers (Don’t Believe the Truth): For
reasons I can’t quite understand, Noel apparently wanted this to be the lead
single off the band’s sixth album (it wasn’t released as a single at all). But
it’s a somewhat unique one in the Oasis catalogue—it’s easily the band’s most
specific reference to the Velvet Underground (“I’m Waiting for the Man”), it’s
arguably them at their most Bob Dylan-esque (there’s a lot of harmonica here),
and it’s one of only a handful of Oasis songs to have really specific,
obviously audible bass parts. I can see why somebody might hate this song and I
can also see why somebody might like it way more than I do. The point is that
this song is capable of making people feel something.
88. Fade In-Out (Be Here Now): You know how every
time Ryan Fitzpatrick has started an NFL game at quarterback in the last decade
and a half, the first thing announcers mention is that he went to Harvard? Or
how Antonio Gates played basketball and not football in college? The Oasis
equivalent is that, by law, when “Fade In-Out” comes up, you have to mention
that Johnny Depp played slide guitar on it. Also, like most “Be Here Now”
songs, it has really cool elements, such as the opening riff and the “I don’t
see no shine” vocal riff in the chorus, but also is about two minutes too long.
87. Hello (What’s the Story Morning Glory): On
principle, it’s really cool that an album, particularly an album that so
clearly had its sights set on world domination, opened with a song called
“Hello”, and even included the “it’s good to be back” refrain (even if that
meant giving co-writing credit to the extraordinarily canceled Gary Glitter). I
don’t think the song works particularly well outside the context of the album—I
don’t know that I’ve ever really desired to listen to it independently—but as a
declarative statement, it’s hard to top. As an aside, this is my lowest-ranked
Oasis opening track, while I’ve already listed four of the seven album closers.
This was a band that tended to come out of the gate going for it.
86. Pass Me Down the Wine (“The Importance of Being Idle”
B-side): In an era of filler Oasis B-sides, “Pass Me Down the Wine” is a
rare one which sounds like it might have belonged on “Don’t Believe the Truth”.
Musically, there’s something a bit prototypically Liam about the songwriting:
it is at once relaxed musically but with an anthemic feel to the lyrics.
Certainly the kind of song that paved the way for Beady Eye.
85. Songbird (Heathen Chemistry): The first Oasis
single written by somebody other than Noel Gallagher, the simple, two-minute
Liam Gallagher love song is straightforward and charming, and compared to the
overwrought ballads of “Heathen Chemistry”, it is a welcome change of pace. It
was truly remarkable that Liam, with as rambunctious as his public persona was,
proved to be so capable of sentimental songwriting.
84. Some Might Say (What’s the Story Morning Glory?): The
first single off the band’s most popular album, “Some Might Say” is weighed
down by the fact that it’s more or less a retread of “Cigarettes and Alcohol”.
If the distinctly T. Rex vibes aren’t enough of a commonality, the song’s music
video is just a rearrangement of “Cigarettes and Alcohol”. Noel has admitted to
preferring the demo version, and I tend to agree—it’s one of the stronger
lyrical songs on a mostly bad lyrical album. Not a bad song but I feel like I
have to choose a side for T. Rex pastiches, and I’m siding against “Some Might
Say”.
83. Street Fighting Man (“All Around the World” B-side): Sometimes,
Oasis would do a cover that didn’t really make a whole lot of sense. And
sometimes, they would cover the exact perfect song. And this time, Noel even
let Liam sing his own take on the Rolling Stones classic. It’s predictably
overlayered as a “Be Here Now”-era song, but that doesn’t make it any less
endearing.
82. I Can See a Liar (Standing On the Shoulder of
Giants): A straightforward rock and roll song from an era where Oasis
didn’t have as many straightforward rock and roll songs as they should have.
Although there is nothing particularly transcendent about this song, the vocals
are solid and the guitar playing serves Liam’s energy. Had this song closed out
“Standing On the Shoulder of Giants” rather than “Roll It Over”, I suspect it
would’ve left a much better taste the mouths of most fans.
81. Little James (Standing On the Shoulder of Giants): Liam
Gallagher was 27 when “Little James”, the first song he wrote for Oasis, was
released, which is the same age Noel was when his first Oasis songs were
released. While young Liam was dismissed as boorish and unintellectual compared
to his older brother, he kept the songwriting pace. And while “Little James”
may not hold a candle to some of Noel’s better age-27 compositions, it is a
lovely little Beatlesque tribute to his stepson that is occasionally dismissed
out of convenience for preconceived notions about the band’s songwriting, but
is a solid Oasis track.
80. Flashbax (“All Around the World” B-side): It’s an
anthem, but it’s not a “Be Here Now” anthem. The nostalgia trip is earnest
throughout and its construction isn’t quite sparse, but also is far from
overwrought. It also has, dare I say, the greatest whistle solo in Oasis
history.
79. Waiting for the Rapture (Dig Out Your Soul): Noel’s
true last run at utter plagiarism, this third track from the band’s final album
has a transparent recreation of the opening riff from “Five to One” by The
Doors. But it is a cool riff, and it sets the stage for a fierce,
confident, swaggering burst of hard rock that was often missing from Noel-sung
songs. “Dig Out Your Soul” has some of the most consistently aggressive guitar
playing the band had in years and this song was a terrific demonstration of
that.
78. Strange Thing (Definitely Maybe re-issue): The
biggest weakness with “Strange Thing” is that it was a demo that toiled in
obscurity for twenty years and thus didn’t get the production that the band’s
other early songs got. But it includes some of Noel Gallagher’s most
interesting guitar work—it bares a strong resemblance to that of noted Oasis
influence John Squire on the Stone Roses album “Second Coming”, except that
that album came out a year after “Strange Thing” was recorded. But I guess
after years of ripping off others, Noel had to let that one slide.
77. I Believe in All (Dig Out Your Soul Japanese
edition): There’s something heartwarming to my sensibilities about a Liam
Gallagher-penned song that you can snap along to that cannot be easily ignored.
It’s hard to describe it—they’re songs that aren’t especially modern but also
they sound like 2008. Or maybe I just listened to a lot of Oasis in 2008, I
don’t know.
76. To Be Where There’s Life (Dig Out Your Soul): Considering
the force with which Noel Gallagher led Oasis throughout most of their
existence, it’s a bit strange that on the final Oasis album, the final four
songs are written by people other than Noel. The first of these four is the Gem
Archer-penned “To Be Where There’s Life”, a slightly funky number with the most
prominent bass intro in Oasis history. It always seemed like a weird waste to
me that Andy Bell, a talented and established guitarist, joined a band that
threw its bassist far into the background and forced him into a new instrument,
so I enjoy that he got a chance to shine.
75. Born on a Different Cloud (Heathen Chemistry): While
“Little James” and “Songbird” were nice little Liam Gallagher-written songs,
and if you prefer them I won’t argue against you, “Born on a Different Cloud”
was the first one that suggested Liam wasn’t just going to pen cute little love
songs. “Born on a Different Cloud” is a swirling, psychedelic semi-epic with
various different movements. While the “lonely soul, busy working overtime…”
part gets a little uninspired, most of the song is rather interesting.
74. Hey Now! (What’s the Story Morning Glory?): It’s
nearly six minutes long and it doesn’t need to be. The intro and verses don’t
move me in any particular way—they aren’t bad but they’re firmly in album track
territory. But when the guitar sound completely changes on its head and Liam
Gallagher says, “I thought that I heard someone say now, there’s no time for
running away now, hey now, hey now”, I am, for a few seconds, convinced I’m
listening to the best Oasis song ever. I can’t stress enough how “a few
seconds” this is, which is why it’s still in the bottom half of Oasis songs for
me, but those few seconds are amazing.
73. Step Out (“Don’t Look Back in Anger” B-side): There
is a lot about this song I like, but instead, I’m going to choose to focus on
the two negatives about it, because they’re very big negatives. First, if Noel
Gallagher was going to wholesale steal songs during his prime, couldn’t he
maybe go with a long-forgotten hit or an album track, rather than a song
everybody in the world knows? Well, he didn’t, and thus Stevie Wonder is a
credited songwriter because of how much the chorus of “Step Out” resembles
“Uptight “Everything’s Alright)”. Also, Noel, you’re a fine singer. You’re a
better singer than I am. But you ain’t Liam, and Liam would’ve knocked this one
out of the park.
72. I Will Believe (“Supersonic” B-side): Truthfully,
I’m not a huge fan of live recordings—live music has an energy that can only be
felt in person that helps to compensate for the lack of objective quality in
the music. But this is what we have for this song, and it turns out pretty
solid. The production doesn’t service Liam’s vocals as well as it could, but
the vocals are hardly bad. This recording predates the other songs on this
list, and it is a lovely hint of things to come.
71. Falling Down (Dig Out Your Soul): Noel Gallagher
likes to “borrow” from the Beatles, and no song is more frequently borrowed
than “Tomorrow Never Knows”. “Falling Down” is an obvious case of this, with
the drums not being quite as frantic as Ringo’s legendary performance but
encapsulating that sound. This song is a strong sign of what was to come with
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, with Noel’s vocals bordering on soothing in
the verses and with the songwriting being undeniably tight. Noel once observed
that this being the final Oasis single was a good way to go out, and I can’t
argue there.
70. Ain’t Got Nothin’ (Dig Out Your Soul): There are
two types of Liam songs—the sensitive ones and the aggressive ones that lend to
his reputation as a rock brawler. This is the latter. It’s just two minutes and
fourteen seconds and thus there isn’t a wasted moment. The vocals, considering
Liam wrote it, aren’t especially notable, but the drums/vocals alignment is
tremendous.
69. Won’t Let You Down (“Lyla” B-side): “Don’t
Believe the Truth” might have the most distinct sound of any Oasis album—it was
the most overtly pop-oriented album the band ever recorded. And while “Won’t
Let You Down” ultimately missed the cut for the album, it fits the mold. It is
lyrically very simple and doesn’t have much substantial there, but the star of
the song is, of course, singer/songwriter Liam, who gives one of his strongest
vocal performances of the 2004-2005 sessions here.
68. Rockin’ Chair (“Roll With It” B-side): Although
the standard choice for best cover version of an Oasis song is Ryan Adams’s
rendition of “Wonderwall” (Noel Gallagher has said he prefers it to the
original, an opinion I consider blasphemous), my choice is actually a version
of “Rockin’ Chair”, an oft-overlooked B-side (though it did make it onto “The
Masterplan”). It is easy to see why somebody would want to cover the song, a
straightforward enough pop song characterized by some of Noel’s prettiest
guitar playing. That a B-side could be covered just a few years later by Rod
Stewart speaks to how enormous Oasis were at the peak of their powers.
67. It’s Better People (“Roll With It” B-side): A
classic Liam written/sung song from the mid-2000s, except that it was written
and sung by Noel in 1995. Just straightforward acoustic rock that sounds
immediately classic. I’ve spent years trying to figure out what 1970s Harry
Nilsson song this is ripping off but I’m still looking. And inexplicably, this
was a B-side! And not even a “Masterplan” one!
66. Better Man (Heathen Chemistry): Two times in the
run of three albums, Oasis titled the penultimate track on their album
something ending in “Better Man” and then follow up that perfectly good song
with a relatively brief, largely forgettable instrumental. But this is the one
that borrows heavily from “Love Spreads” by the Stone Roses. This influence
gives a sense of majesty to the track that, at the time, Oasis was reserving
primarily for its ballads, not harder rocking songs such as this one.
65. Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is (Standing on the
Shoulder of Giants): The litmus test song for “Standing on the Shoulder of
Giants”—if you hate this song and its layers of pianos and guitars collapsing
on top of each other, you probably hate the album. As such, the song largely
mirrors my opinion of the album as a whole: the songwriting leaves a fair
amount to be desired, but there is something about the vocals and the riffs
that seem unlike what we’d heard from Oasis before or after. Some days, you
just want to listen to “Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is”.
64. Don’t Look Back in Anger (What’s the Story Morning
Glory?): Before you send me angry letters, I should remind you that I do
have it in my top half of songs by my favorite band, which is really high
praise! And there was once a time I wouldn’t have put it this high—while I’ve
learned to accept Oasis’s more plagiaristic tendencies, the obviousness of the
“Imagine” rip-off here makes it feel like I’m being challenged to call them
out. Also, how do you evaluate a song whose best versions are the ones where
entire audiences sing it instead of Noel Gallagher? But there’s also something
inherently fun about singing along to the chorus, even if the lyrics are utter
nonsense.
63. The Girl in the Dirty Shirt (Be Here Now): When
you listen to as much Oasis as I do, you pick up on tendencies that most don’t
(to quote a different Oasis song, you’ll see things they never see). And here
is one: Oasis has quite a few songs with background ragtime-style piano. “The
Girl in the Dirty Shirt” is mostly a guitar track, but I have a soft spot for
the piano you can hear in the background throughout most of the song, and more
prominently near the end (during the “now I can see” part). If you’re keeping
track of how much longer the Be Here Now songs are than they should be, the
answer for this song is precisely one minute.
62. Keep the Dream Alive (Don’t Believe the Truth): It
goes a bit too long (a rarity for “Don’t Believe the Truth”) but Andy Bell’s
optimistic (there is no other kind of Andy Bell) song fits perfectly in the
album’s rollicking vibe. Liam Gallagher supplies terrific vocals, though given
how well-constructed this song is, I think just about anybody could’ve pulled
it off.
61. Cast No Shadow (What’s the Story Morning Glory): Something
of a mix between two of the album’s better-known songs, “Wonderwall” and “Don’t
Look Back in Anger”, “Cast No Shadow” combines the former’s acoustic pop
sensibilities and deceptively great drumming with the latter’s sweeping chorus.
While I’ve often criticized Noel Gallagher as a lead vocalist, at least
relative to his brother, he is a rather exceptional backing vocalist, and his
harmonies with Liam on “Cast No Shadow” are among the duo’s best.
60. Roll with It (What’s the Story Morning Glory): It
has an outsized role in Oasis mythology because it was the song which competed
with Blur’s “Country House” in a much-publicized chart battle in the U.K. (Noel
has admitted the irony that both are lesser singles from the band and that “if
this was ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ and ‘Girls & Boys’, fair enough”). While
it may not quite enter stone cold classic Oasis territory, it was the most
overtly poppy Oasis single to that point and as a pure earworm, the four
minutes of repetitive guitar pop isn’t something I’m ever demanding anyone turn
off.
59. Turn Up the Sun (Don’t Believe the Truth): The
opening track on “Don’t Believe the Truth”, “Turn Up the Sun” screams stadium
rock anthem like no Oasis song since “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?”. There
is something truly magnetic when the guitars truly kick in at the 36-second
mark. My only real grievance with the song is that it should have had another
verse—since I want to cut some time from Andy Bell’s other song from the album,
“Keep the Dream Alive”, I would like to donate that time to “Turn Up the Sun.”
58. My Big Mouth (Be Here Now): “Be Here Now” was at
times excruciatingly self-unaware but at other times, Oasis seemed fully aware
of everything. “My Big Mouth”, although arguably too dense in its guitar
mixing, is a sheer rock and roll attack, easily heavier than anything from the
band’s previous album and more hearkening to the sound of “Definitely Maybe”.
Also, Noel Gallagher needed to write a song called “My Big Mouth” at the
height of Oasis’s peak, during a time when, to quote the song itself, “you
could fly a plane” through his big mouth. And, in a stunning upset, “My Big
Mouth” is exactly the proper length.
57. Bonehead’s Bank Holiday (What’s the Story Morning
Glory vinyl edition): If you were buying a vinyl edition of an album in
1995, you were a huge fan, and thus you were precisely the kind of person who
would cherish “Bonehead’s Bank Holiday”. It is, admittedly, a fan’s only
track—the most endearing element of the song is that a considerable portion of
the track is the guys, notably the titular Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, shouting in
the background. But once you get past the silliness of a song that the band
never attempted to get off the ground, you have a well-executed pop track, with
Noel Gallagher’s “You know I need a little break to get away” melody showing a
germ of an actual song idea. It speaks to how on fire Oasis was at this time
that they had that kind of start on a song that was easily album-quality,
possibly single-quality, and they just kind of let it be the song where they
spend the last month screaming randomly at each other. Bless them.
56. Half the World Away (“Whatever” B-side): A
life-of-its-own B-side thanks to its inclusion as the theme song for the
popular British sitcom “The Royle Family, “Half the World Away” was a near-true
solo effort by Noel, with the only two other musicians on the track being
rhythm guitarist Paul Arthurs (keyboards) and producer Owen Morris (bass).
Drawing influence from 1960s orchestral pop, Noel went so far as to perform the
song at a Burt Bacharach tribute concert with Bacharach himself performing on
the live rendition.
55. Who Feels Love? (Standing on the Shoulder of Giants):
Oasis went relatively conventional with the selection of their first single
of the 21st century, “Go Let It Out”, but with the second one, the
band opted for the raga rock of “Who Feels Love?” If “Falling Down” was Noel’s
attempt at channeling “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “Who Feels Love?” was his attempt
to channel the George Harrison-penned “Within You Without You”. But this time,
he at least had the courtesy to invite Liam to the party.
54. Soldier On (Dig Out Your Soul): For the final
song on the final Oasis album, rather than going the obvious route of a
triumphant Noel anthem, the band went with the relatively plodding Liam-penned
“Soldier On”. While the best and worst songs lyrically tend to be Noel’s,
Liam’s tunes tend to have a lower standard deviation from the mean, but when
you have his lead vocals on top of his backing vocals, even a relatively
ordinary lyric like “Who’s to say that you were right and I was wrong?” can
feel profound.
53. It’s Gettin’ Better (Man!!) (Be Here Now): There
was a lot of potential for awfulness here. After three years of nonstop
name-checking Beatles songs in their lyrics, they straight up used one as a
song title. There are not one but two exclamation points. It’s the final proper
song on an album where almost every song is too long. And yet it works. It’s a
true rocker in a world of ballads and it has arguably the strongest chorus on
the album.
52. The Nature of Reality (Dig Out Your Soul): Andy
Bell’s songs were generally pleasant and upbeat and, despite Noel Gallagher
remaining very much in the band, the most Noel-esque songs latter-day Oasis
were producing. And “The Nature of Reality” was very much not this. Musically,
it is one of the more brash songs on the band’s most brash album in nearly a
decade and a half, with the guitar riff owing more to Pantera than to their
typical Britpop influences. I’m not even sure that this was a good song, or
even an adequate song, but I listen to it a lot more than even its relatively
lofty placement on this list might suggest.
51. Married With Children (Definitely Maybe): The
obvious move would have been concluding “Definitely Maybe” with “Slide Away”, a
more epic manifestation of the optimistic modern rock that the album was
attempting. But in a brilliant subversion of expectations, Oasis instead opted
for “Married With Children”, a semi-acoustic breakup song that Noel Gallagher
has ably handled in live performances but which correctly was performed on the
album by Liam. That a band, on its debut album, would have the confidence to
pull such a sharp 180 was emblematic of the brashness of the band. It was the
album’s least punk-rock song musically but the album’s most punk-rock moment
spiritually.
50. Slide Away (Definitely Maybe): Oasis had their
share of confident boasts and they had their share of love songs, and on “Slide
Away”, they combine the two . When, in the chorus, Liam asserts that “Now that
you’re mine, we’ll find a way”, he is confident because he has to be. While
Oasis had much prettier love songs, they never had one that could
simultaneously be a righteous dose of hard rock quite like “Slide Away” could.
49. The Importance of Being Idle (Don’t Believe the
Truth): One of the stranger choices for being an Oasis single, Noel’s
Kinks-inspired pop song is neither the band’s blistering hard rock nor gallant
balladry, and its lyrics, an ode to laziness, are some of the band’s more
humorous. If I were Oasis’s A&R man, I’d have surely suggested it was a
great album cut and nothing more, but it hit #1 in the U.K., so it’s for the
best that nobody heed my advice on such matters.
48. She’s Electric (What’s the Story Morning Glory?): Easily
the best of the band’s novelty song-per-album run in the 1990s (following
“Digsy’s Dinner” and preceding “Magic Pie”), I’ve heard this song described as
sounding like it should be on the soundtrack of “Toy Story” and that it should
be on the soundtrack of a Hugh Grant romcom. I agree with both assessments. How
could anyone not be deliriously happy listening to this goofy little number?
47. Up in the Sky (Definitely Maybe): Of the first
eight songs on “Definitely Maybe”, this is the one I like the least. It is…a
really good album. Vaguely anti-authoritarian and vaguely similar melodically
to “Rain” by the Beatles, the chorus is a little bit of a letdown compared to
the almost punk-y verses, but that speaks more to the power of the latter than
any shortcomings of the former.
46. Be Here Now (Be Here Now): After years of
throwaway Beatles references (including a super obvious one in this song), “Be
Here Now” seemingly takes on a new level of self-awareness by making reference
to…Oasis. There’s a reference to, of all Oasis tunes, “Digsy’s Dinner”, and the
“Come on, come on, come on, yeah, yeah yeah”-ing of the outro was used
similarly on the song “Columbia”. “Be Here Now” doesn’t waste a second of its
5:12 run time, and although it is fundamentally a song about nothing in
particular, Oasis were never about deeper meaning—they were about simply
enjoying the time you’re listening to the song more than if you weren’t
listening to the song.
45. She Is Love (Heathen Chemistry): As I’ve said in
reference to previous entries, Liam Gallagher succeeds on tender songs by being
direct and to the point. On “She Is Love”, Noel follows the Liam formula, and
it works. Noel’s mostly acoustic guitar playing is the perfect complement to
his direct vocals, while the post-chorus electric guitar bit adds necessary
life to the mix. While “She Is Love” was a single, Oasis seemed to neglect
it—they never released a music video for it and it was merely a split A-side
with “Little By Little”, which is literally the worst Oasis song. I suspect
that, given how much the songs were played live, Noel preferred “Little By
Little”, a suspicion I will subsequently deny.
44. Don’t Go Away (Be Here Now): “Don’t Go Away” is
the ballad on “Be Here Now” that really, truly works. At a relatively brisk
4:49, the song gets to the point fairly quickly, it’s perhaps Oasis’s most
effective use of strings, the Noel-penned lyrics avoid the clumsiness that
often consumes them on these types of songs, and Liam’s vocals are absolutely
fantastic. It is heartbreaking while ambiguous enough that it can work in
multiple contexts.
43. Love Like a Bomb (Don’t Believe the Truth): The
quintessential “Don’t Believe the Truth” song, it is the only Oasis song
co-written by multiple Oasis members (Liam Gallagher and Gem Archer). It has
the requisite Liam tenderness and while the song never builds to that extreme
of lengths, it’s hard not to get a little excited when the electric guitar
truly kicks in in the final verse (played by Gem—Noel is allegedly absent from
this particular track).
42. Lyla (Don’t Believe the Truth): The lead single
from “Don’t Believe the Truth”, and inexplicably the first Oasis song I ever
remember hearing and knowing was Oasis (it not only appeared on the soundtrack
to FIFA 06, it debuted on it), Noel Gallagher (who wrote it, while Liam sang
it) apparently didn’t care much for the song. He did, however, concede he may
have undersold it upon performing it live, in which the positive qualities of
the song really start to emanate—Zak Starkey’s drumming keeps the song in such
order that once the chorus, simple as it is, kicks in, it’s hard not to want to
scream along.
41. Lord Don’t Slow Me Down (stand-alone single): A
joyful, swaggering number released between “Don’t Believe the Truth” and “Dig
Out Your Soul” and combining the best qualities of each album, and it even has
multiple Zak Starkey drum mini-solos! The description of this song makes it
feel like it has to be a top ten Oasis song, hands down, except for one major
issue: Noel. Noel’s vocals aren’t bad, but there is no question that Liam’s
version, which has emerged on the internet, is superior. Of all of the songs
that Noel kept for himself, there may not be a more egregious example of the
inferior vocal choice getting it.
40. Shakermaker (Definitely Maybe): Given the
alternatives, it is a bit puzzling in retrospect that “Shakermaker”, the “I’d
Like to Teach the World to Sing” meets psychedelic hard rock track, became the
second Oasis single. But while it was arguably not the optimal choice, most
bands would kill to have a song as good as “Shakermaker”. More than Noel’s
terrific guitar intro and more than the way Liam says “Shake along with me”,
however, the real star of this song is the production. This is Oasis Loudness
Wars production at its peak, and it made what could have been a forgettable,
goofy track into powerful hard rock.
39. D’Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman? (“Shakermaker” B-side): A
lighthearted ode to childhood innocence, Noel’s “D’Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?”
didn’t have the intensity to fit on “Definitely Maybe”, but its pop
sensibilities were a precursor for the songs (and particularly the B-sides) of
“(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?” And as goofy as a lyric like “If you wanna
be a spaceman, it’s still not too late” may seem in comparison to some of the
band’s heavier, working-class anger of the time, it is every bit as engrossing.
38. The Meaning of Soul (Don’t Believe the Truth): Although
he never became an official member of Oasis, drummer Zak Starkey helped to
elevate “Don’t Believe the Truth” to its status as the band’s big comeback
album (both Oasis and the other band with which he was associated at the time,
The Who, offered him a full-time role; he declined each). Although famously the
son of Ringo Starr, Starkey’s drumming more resembled that of his mentor Keith
Moon, and his persistence gives this simple, Liam-penned, one hundred and three
second album cut, giving it a thunder that made it arguably the best live song
of the album.
37. Fuckin’ in the Bushes (Standing on the Shoulder of
Giants): It rose to international fame for its role on the soundtrack to
the 2000 film “Snatch” and served as entrance music for Oasis at the time
(though the band never actually performed the song live), and the
mostly-instrumental “Fuckin’ in the Bushes” was a dramatic 180 degree turn for
Oasis. As the first song on the album which followed the anthem-heavy “Be Here
Now”, the song was noticeably funkier than their reputation, while the guitar
riffs were the most Led Zeppelin-y in the band’s entire catalogue.
36. Round Are Way (“Wonderwall” B-side): Somehow
omitted from “The Masterplan”, the ultra-happy “Round Are Way” doesn’t sound
like Oasis, with its trumpets maintained throughout the delightfully sing-along
verses and chorus and throughout the instrumental passages which comprise a
near-majority of the song. But it sounds like fun and its light, slice of life
lyrics reinforce this.
35. I’m Outta Time (Dig Out Your Soul): Considering
how often Liam Gallagher is perceived as lesser of a songwriter, and even as an
intellectual, to Noel, you would think that Liam would be accused of plagiarism
at least as often as his brother, but he never really was. And “I’m Outta Time”
manages to sound like a John Lennon song (besides the actual John Lennon vocal
sample, an aspect I never particularly liked but didn’t consider a
deal-breaker) without sounding like a specific John Lennon song. Somber
without being melodramatic, the song is also a highlight of Liam’s ability to
hit high notes.
34. Hung in a Bad Place (Heathen Chemistry): It
eventually ventured off into some frankly mediocre territory, but the first
three songs off “Heathen Chemistry” are unimpeachable, and the final of these
tracks, “Hung in a Bad Place”, is straight rock and roll from a band that had
so often eschewed straight rock and roll at the time. The first Oasis song
written by Gem Archer, “Hung in a Bad Place” is simply a well-oiled machine
doing its thing—the guitar solo is loose and fun, the drums are pounding, the
greatest rock frontman of his generation is doing his thing, and there’s even
noticeable basslines (this sounds like nothing, but bass often got lost in the
shuffle for Oasis).
33. Talk Tonight (“Some Might Say” B-side): As
notorious as Oasis were for rock and roll debauchery, they were ultimately an
introspective lot, and Noel Gallagher’s near-truly solo song, a heartbreaking
ode to a fan/friend, is a love song in a true, aromantic sense (a scanning of
the lyrics might imply that Noel was suicidal; the true story is that he was
just considering quitting Oasis, and the friend who “saved (his) life” talked
him out of it). It also has the honor of being perhaps the most American song
by the very famously British band—the band fight happened in Los Angeles, the
fan/friend encounter happened in San Francisco, and it was recorded in Austin.
32. Sunday Morning Call (Standing on the Shoulder of
Giants): It’s probably Noel’s least favorite Oasis single—it was buried as
a bonus track on the band’s “Time Flies” compilation of all of the band’s
singles (ironically, Liam has spoken highly of the track, on which he does not
perform). But the song, despite the decided weakness of a fairly
inconsequential, uninteresting chorus, “Sunday Morning Call” has, I would
argue, two Oasis “bests”. It is the best Oasis “story” music video, an
extensive homage to “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”. More significantly, for
the purposes of this list, “Sunday Morning Call” has the best guitar solo of
Noel Gallagher’s career, one which justifies the methodical buildup of the song
at large.
31. Champagne Supernova (What’s the Story Morning
Glory?): Now for the song with the best overall guitar solo (though this
one was played by Paul Weller). “Champagne Supernova” soars throughout,
clocking in at least seven-and-a-half completely unwasted minutes. It may not
be the best song on the band’s most popular album (though it might be!), but it
is certainly the most “Morning Glory” song—it is big and bold and was seemingly
written for the band’s 1996 Knebworth shows in front of half a million people.
The lyrics are, of course, complete nonsense, but you won’t notice it the first
time you listen, and once you’ve let “slowly walking down the hall, faster than
a cannonball” enter your life more as a catchphrase than any kind of profound
statement, you won’t mind it.
30. Cloudburst (“Live Forever” B-side): “Cloudburst”
wasn’t the first great Oasis B-side, but it was the first one that hinted at a
band that could write, perform, and professionally refine great songs and have
such an abundance that they could throw one onto the back end of a physical
single in 1994, by the time physical singles were nearing obsolescence. A hard
rock song with shades of the dance-oriented Madchester sound, this is a song
that would’ve felt right at home on “Definitely Maybe”.
29. Morning Glory (What’s the Story Morning Glory?): Simultaneously
a throwback to the raw rock edge of “Definitely Maybe” and a precursor to the
guitar-dense stew of “Be Here Now”, the pseudo-title track includes the album’s
best lyric (“all your dreams are made when you’re chained to the mirror and a
razorblade”) and is a burst of energy that the album desperately needs. Without
“Morning Glory”, the album just wouldn’t feel the same.
28. (I Got) The Fever (“Stand By Me” B-side): Oasis had
some good “Be Here Now” B-sides, but by comparison to the first two albums, it
was an inconsistent crop (mirroring consensus about the finished albums
themselves). The one major exception was “(I Got) The Fever”, swirling with
tons of guitar tracks and Alan White’s pounding drums. While “My Big Mouth” was
an above-average “Be Here Now” track, the album would’ve been better off with
“(I Got) The Fever”, which is basically the same song but with more vocally
interesting verses.
27. My Generation (“Little By Little”/”She Is Love”
B-side): It seems silly to rank such a faithful cover so highly on this
list, but at the same time, does any artist/song make more sense than Oasis
taking on The Who’s classic ode to youth and hoping you die before you get old?
For all of the attention paid to Oasis’s songwriting, this rendition reiterates
the simple truth that Oasis’s greatest asset as a band was being a truly
captivating, charismatic group of performers? Oh, and they let Andy Bell do the
bass solo!
26. The Turning (Dig Out Your Soul): Of all things,
the second track from the band’s final album borrows from Cliff Richard, with
an intro borrowing liberally from the drum beat in Richard’s “Devil Woman”. But
the chorus, in which the guitar kicks into overdrive and Liam commandeers the
track with lyrics about nothing short of a dang apocalypse. While the last
minute-and-a-half or so doesn’t have quite the heaviness of the song’s
beginning, this is merely time to catch your breath.
