Named after the debut single by Teenage Fanclub.
This blog is all about being a music lover in Glasgow; reviews, interviews, memories, old faves, new discoveries (past and present), playlists and more. Thanks for visiting - I hope you discover something amazing you have never heard before, or that you rediscover an old favourite.
Regular features/playlists; Never Ending Mixtape / Cover Version of the Month/ Trust Me.
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If YouTube could produce a top 10 list of videos I've watched over the years, then I dare say that The Charlatans blistering appearance on Channel 4's The White Room, broadcast on 16th August 1996, would be up at the top. Just behind the last few minutes of Manchester United's dramatic Champions League win back in 1999!
I can't believe this footage (full video at the end of the blog) is thirty years old! The Charlatans performance is pure raw energy and emotion. Super charged from the grief of losing Rob Collins. Elated from playing Knebworth. Energised by the outpouring of support and encouragement to keep going - including the offer from Primal Scream's Martin Duffy to help them out, and knowing they had One To Another (among other songs) up their sleeve.
Tim at Knebworth
Photo by Tom Sheenan
The Charlatans were absolutely flying going into the summer of 96. They had already released 4 albums and 13 singles. They were prolific, always recording, releasing and on tour. Then ... utter tragedy, trauma, shock, sadness, grief and disbelief.
Somehow, within a remarkably short period of time, aided by the opportunity of playing in front of 125,000 people at Knebworth, The Charlatans regrouped. There was an outpouring of love and support. Followed by an immense display of strength, courage and defiance. The Charlatans somehow, against all odds, turned disbelief into belief.
There have been many times where I have wondered if footage of The Charlatans performance at Knebworth is lying in storage. The whole event was filmed, yet nothing has been released to date. I was there and I was super proud of the band. They were incredible, totally and utterly in the zone.
However, footage of their White Room performance shortly afterwards is available
Read on ... and watch.
July and August 1996
22nd July - Rob Collins tragically dies after crashing his BMW while driving round the country roads near Rockfield Studios in Monmouthshire. Collins was a genius on the Hammond organ, integral to The Charlatans sound.
The Charlatans were scheduled to play Knebworth with Oasis on Sunday 11th August . Family, friends and management encouraged them to play the show. Martin Duffy from Primal Scream called with an offer to help them out.
Duffy stepped forward and said he wanted to help us out. And from that moment, probably just 24 hours after Rob died, people were just offering help for us to continue as a band, and I think that's one of the things that kept us going. Tim Burgess
We had to make a statement. It was a bit weird, all of it, and hard to believe. We didn't know what to do. Tim Burgess
Band statement - We've lost our mate. There will be no change. We are Fuckin' Rock!
11th August - The band play an emotionally charged set at Knebworth. They are on fire. I hope that the footage of this is released one day. See my blog from 2016 on the 20th anniversary of me and my great friend Elliott travelling down to Knebworth. I was so proud of The Charlatans that day.
Tim taking to the stage
Photo by Tom Sheehan
16th August - The Charlatans performance on Channel 4's The White Room is broadcast. They play One To Another and Crashin' In - more below.
26th August - The Charlatans release One To Another which reaches number 3 in the UK Charts.
One To Another and Crashin' In on The White Room
One To Another is my favourite Charlatans song. No question. The power of this song still astonishes me all these years down the line. The first single following the death of Rob Collins, this was a big statement. It meant something, more than any previous single I had previously anticipated and bought. Upon release, The Charlatans meant even more to me. They were powerful. Soulful. Defiant.
On to Channel 4's The White Room. The Charlatans are lined up and ready to go, Tim's hair is looking incredible, he's wearing a super cool sweatshirt, patrolling the stage, egging on his band and the crowd.
The One To Another intro is immensely powerful, beginning with a loop from Tom Rowlands from Chemical Brothers, then exploding into life with a heavy riff from piano, guitar, drums and bass leading to Tim coming in;
One to another
A sister and a brother
And a-changing the way that you feel
Mark Collins is on fire through the first guitar break, Jon Brookes is all over his kit. The band are up for it. Totally on it. Second verse in and one of my all-time favourite lyrics is be my spider woman, I'll be your spider man, so much so that a poster with those words used to be on display at the top of our stairs. I might need to dig it out from the loft!
Then the band pick up the pace, flying forwards, soaring upwards.
Trust is for believers and love can keep the faith
I don't need you, I can't buy you, I can't hurt you
The next guitar break is even more ferocious. Burgess cries out and I'll do it the best that I can. There is the briefest of pauses for breath. Then drums crash, Tim yells something to the crowd and gazes lovingly at his band as they build things up to go at it harder than ever. The Charlatans are in full flight. The riff is supersonic and Burgess is flowing...
Stand by my accusations
I'll come clean, I don't need no vice
What a sound. What a sight. What a band.
Love is hard to leave and it's hard to never have
Burgess is into a couple of Sympathy for the Devil style woo-hoo's as the band play it out in style. One To Another never fails to lift and inspire me. I can never only watch this performance once.
There is a brief thanks a lot from Tim as Mark fires up the opening riff of Crashin' In and Tim shouts out the song title. The energy leaps out immediately from Mark Collins guitar, there is an urgency to Tim's voice and the rest of the band drive things along.
I can go for miles and miles and miles
The band are on fire. I love the change in pace after 90-seconds with Tim just shouting oh yeah, and the band just get lost in a jam. They do it again later in the song. I love the looseness and the energetic vibe.
At one point Tim is singing Mark's guitar parts, smiling, winking, watching Mark on guitar and Duffy on keys. The band build and then burst into a new groove. See me, I can feel it coming around
Duffy is off on one on the Hammond, Mark is ringing his guitar for all its worth and Jon Brookes is doing indescribable things on drums with Tim grinning and looking on in amazement. Martin Blunt is somehow anchoring all of this. What a jam! What a performance.
As a kid, I totally fell for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I think it was my Mum who recommended it to me. Possibly because of Robert Redford and Paul Newman, but more likely because she knew I liked cowboys. I don't know what age I would have been when I first saw it, but I was captivated by the characters, their charm, bravado, the sunshine, the dust, the colours, the freedom, the robberies, chases and shoot outs ... I still love watching the film to this day.
When my wife Lynn and I went travelling around the world, we stopped off in the tiny town of Tupiza in Bolivia, a small dusty town where Butch and Sundance hung out and hung low, robbed a bank and ultimately met their demise. We booked on a tour to do the Butch and Sundance trail. I think I enjoyed this more than Lynn!
Anyway, back to the film, which benefits from the songwriting genius of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. South American Getaway is absolutely perfect for the film, glorious cinematic melodies, sublime.
However, I'm going to focus on a song that Robert Redford initially thought didn't fit with the theme of the film, Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head. After all, there is no rain in the desert!
The song is used to soundtrack a scene where Butch (Paul Newman) is larking around on a bike to impress his girlfriend, Etta Place (Katharine Ross) and it works beautifully thanks to its easygoing melody, the brass, the piano ... it's so warm and familiar. I can't remember, but I imagine it felt like that from the very first time I heard it.
B.J. Thomas’s voice is unhurried, gliding over Bacharach’s playful, bouncing arrangement. There’s something magical about the way it flows—casual, carefree, yet completely assured. A song about rain and misfortune that somehow feels more like sunshine breaking through clouds.
I just did me some talking to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Whenever I hear the song I think of a little rain shower on the evening of Sunday 11th August 1996 at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire. I was there for Oasis (as blogged on here) and my friend Elliott and I managed to blag and bribe our way into Pit 1 just before the Manic Street Preachers came on.
The Manics played a blinding set and midway through they played their cover of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. My memory is a little hazy, it either was raining, or it had just stopped raining. Either way, it was perfect, super chilled. James Dean Bradfield's voice was crystal clear and the song had a real festival and community vibe. It was a real moment. There must be a film of it somewhere.
Manic Street Preachers had recorded the song for Warchild's legendary Help album the previous year in 1995. I've previously written blogs on The Charlatans super cool cover of Sly's Time for Livin' and Radiohead's remarkable Lucky - both taken from this album. This was quite a landmark for the band as it was their first return to recording following the disappearance of Richey Edwards in February 1995. The Help album was recorded on 4th September and released on 9th September.
As a band known for their intensity, anger, and heart-on-sleeve passion, whose previous release had been the ferocious and intense album The Holy Bible in 1994, Raindrops ..... was quite a change. The Manics strip it back and I love James voice as he sings;
But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me
Won't defeat me, it won' be long
'til happiness steps up to greet me
The Manics version isn't as jaunty as the original. It's more melancholic but as the song approaches conclusion Bradfield's voice soars;
Because I'm free
Nothing's bothering me
I love the Manics cover of this wonderful song. James Dean Bradfield's voice shines and reflects melancholy, hope and resilience.
The B.J. Thomas original and Manic St Preachers cover of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Headare added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
I was very saddened to hear of the death of Martin Duffy from Primal Scream.
Duffy (as he was affectionately known) had lived a life for sure, but he was only 55. Too young.
As a teenager Duffy joined Felt and contributed massively to the bands sound, also being given the freedom by the bands enigmatic leader Lawrence to write instrumentals for the band.
Simultaneously, Duffy played on the first two Primal Scream albums, joining the band permanently in time for the move into electronic music and the seminal Screamadelica album.
"I remember Duffy when we were doing Inner Flight. He was tripping on acid. I remember him jumping on the mixing desk going 'Bob, Bob, I'm pissing in the sky!' It was beautiful." Bobby Gillespie
Of course, to be in the Scream you had to be able to keep up with them and it sounds like Duffy had no problem in doing that! He nearly died while partying with the band during a hedonistic session in 1993, unsure if he had been stabbed or fallen on to glass. I remember reading about this in the NME at the time.
Primal Scream were the perfect band for a long time; Bobby Gillespie as a front man, the dual guitars of Andrew Innes & Robert 'Throb' Young, Gary 'Mani' Mountfield on bass, Duffy on keyboards ... joined, on occasions, by Kevin Shields on guitar.
To see the band on their Vanishing Point and XTRMNTR tours at the Barrowland was simply incredible. They could play beautiful soulful blues ballads, high energy rock n roll, psychedelic futuristic electronica, punk rock or dub based grooves. It was a sonic arsenal.
Duffy could either lead (just listen to his playing on the Give Out/The Original Memphis Recordings, or underpin everything (that organ groove on Come Together is a real favourite).
Appreciated throughout the 'indie' music community, Duffy played a big role in keeping The Charlatans going following the tragic death of Rob Collins, stepping in to play Knebworth. The band then played Channel 4's The White Room shortly afterwards and it might just be my favourite live TV performance of all time. Look at the way Tim Burgess looks on at his band jamming away on One To Another and a particularly ferocious Crashin' In.
For the latest in my semi-regular feature on 10 of my favourite songs by my favourite bands / artists, I've chose Oasis, a band I have blogged on and reminisced about quite a bit through the years.
There is a reason I keep going back to them. Oasis arrived at precisely the right time for me. I turned 18 in January 1994 and Oasis arrived shortly afterwards. Having been slightly too young to get into the Roses or The Charlatans when they were breaking, I'd been waiting for a band like this; the looks, the attitude, the songs, the work ethic, the humour, the honesty ...
As a religious reader of both the NME and Melody Maker I was on to Oasis from early reviews, so between 1994 and 1996 I went on a rollercoaster ride skywards to Knebworth via The Tramway, The Cathouse, a tent at T in the Park, the Barrowlands (twice), Sheffield Arena and Ingliston (Edinburgh).
8 incredible nights filled with an electric atmosphere that you were part of something important. 8-nights filled with songs, anthems, adrenaline, excitement and the pure rush of youth, culture and music combining.
Oasis were incredibly prolific, especially in the early days when a regular debate among fans would be on b-sides that should have been considered as either the a-side or for albums. Can you imagine Definitely Maybe with Fade Away in place of Digsy's Dinner and Listen Up instead of Shaker Maker? What about Morning Glory with Round Are Way instead of Hey Now? Not to mention The Masterplan!
Being an Oasis fan was wild and wonderful for those magical years mentioned above, it was never quite the same after that.
Where were you while we were getting high? sang Liam. Maybe they got too high, they had to come down and at times they came crashing down; musically and with their behaviour, Liam started to become a bit of a caricature of himself for a while. So did some of the fans.
Be Here Nowwas a major disappointment for me, starting with D'You Know What I Mean as the lead single. Yeah, Liam looked and sounded sensational, but it was (and is) a bit of a plod along, certainly in comparison to the skyscraping summer anthem Stay Young that was the b-side.
Media or the vast majority of the British public couldn't care, it was Oasis, they had barely been away, but they were back. Tills were ringing. Radio 1 played the song back-to-back.
Be Here Now had some moments, Don't Go Away is a gem for a start, but they were few and far between. I revisited the album for a blog back in 2016 and barely made it through. I haven't listened to it since.
Things got worse with the turgid Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants which should have been an EP. I still shudder at the thought of Put Yer Money Where Your Mouth Is, I Can See A Liar, Roll It Over ... By this stage the media needed Oasis more than Oasis needed the media - interviews with Liam and Noel added tens of thousands on to sales of newspapers or magazines.
Thankfully things picked up, the addition of Andy Bell and Gem Archer lifted the band massively for Heathen Chemistry in 2002, delivering a strong album with standout singles. Don't Believe The Truth in 2005 wasn't as good but there was still enough quality and fire in the belly. I caught the band at Benicassim in that year and they were outstanding.
By 2008's Dig Out Your Soul, although there were some gems like Liam's I'm Outta Time, it was clear Oasis were going through the motions and seeing them on tour that year was a little heartbreaking, it looked like Liam was the only person who wanted to be in Oasis. I blogged on their SECC show HERE.
So I wasn't hugely disappointed when Oasis broke up. It had been coming, it was time.
Post Oasis, I've been hugely disappointed by Liam's musical output, first with Beady Eye and then his solo material, backed by an army of songwriters. I'd love to see him pick up the phone to the likes of Gerry Cinnamon, John Power, Andy Bell (on a roll with Ride and his solo material), Johnny Marr and Paul Weller who might write something that challenges him and has a little bit of soul.
Noel still interests me. The eponymous High Flying Birds album was an incredibly strong collection of songs, Chasing Yesterday was the sound of someone enjoying stretching songs and playing in a way Oasis rarely achieved, while 2017's Who Built The Moon? was a very fluid album and Dead In The Water is as good a song as he has written. Noel has assembled a cracking band, he's pushing himself by working with the likes of David Holmes and he seems really happy with what he's doing.
I've thoroughly enjoyed delving back through the extensive Oasis back catalogue for this blog, there are so many wonderful songs from 1994 all the way through to 2008. I could easily have written a top 20 / 30 blog. Sad Song, Some Might Say, You've Got The Heart Of A Star, Cast No Shadow, Morning Glory, Rock n Roll Star, Cigarettes & Alcohol, Rockin' Chair, Don't Go Away or Half The World Away might well have been included on another day.
Here, at the time of writing, are what I consider to be my 10 favourite Oasis songs.
Slide Away
All these years down the line, my spine still tingles when I listen to Slide Away. Noel's guitar is mesmerising, set for stun, playing a guitar given to him by Johnny Marr that had previously belonged to Pete Townsend, Noel has said that the song practically wrote itself when he picked the guitar up.
Written by Noel following the break up of a long term relationship, Slide Away is a heartfelt soul song of love, dreams, regret and just sliding away from it all.
Liam, at the age of only 21, delivers an impeccable gut wrenching rock n roll vocal, packed and wracked with emotion. Noel is lyrically at his most open and romantic, Liam takes his brothers words and makes everyone feel it.
Flying through two chorus to a bridge where Liam sings the superb line together we'll fly, we're then straight into a double chorus that is truly skyscraping in its power.
Now that you're mine, we'll find a way of chasing the sun
Let me be the one, who shines with you
In the morning, we don't know what to do
We'll do what we can, we'll find a way of chasing the sun
Let me be the one, who shines with you
And we can slide away
Noel's guitar solo is as soulful as Liam's vocal, the rhythm section of Bonehead, Guigsy and Tony McCarroll crash beautifully together, allowing the brothers to work their magic.
Oasis would later become guilty of stretching songs out for far too long, but in the case of Slide Away every single second of the six minutes 31 seconds is absolutely vital.
Live Forever was an early indication of how good Oasis could be. This was a song mentioned regularly in early interviews an live reviews. Held back until their third single, it was the song that began to smash down doors on the back of the slightly throwaway Shaker Maker.
Suddenly you could hear The Beatles instead of the Pistols or the Mondays. Noel Gallagher was a proper songwriter, this wasn't done it with a doctor, on a helicopter or Mr Clean and Mr Ben are living in my loft.
This was 'cause I just wanna fly, this was feeling the pain in the morning rain and being soaked to the bone, this was about being in love and seeing things the same way, different from everyone else, this was about feeling like you were in love and you were gonna live forever.
I think you're the same as me, we see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever
This is classic Noel; romantic, melodic, euphoric, dreamy, egging himself on now's the time to find out why, the guitar solo is stunning, Gallagher has talked of how he sat for days working it out and by the time Liam repeatedly sings gonna live forever at the end, you believe him 100%.
The first of many hug your mates and punch the sky feel good anthems in the Oasis story.
Oasis were on such a roll going into 1995 that they were confident enough to release this rip roaring anthem as a b-side to their first number 1 single - Some Might Say.
Liam flies through the verses and his brother Noel sings the chorus that was just absolutely perfect for the band, their media images as (sometimes) warring brothers and for their fans to sing. A stadium anthem, a chorus built for Knebworth.
Cause we need each other, we believe in on another
I know we're gonna uncover
What's sleeping in our soul
I remember Oasis performing this on Channel 4's The White Room and I was just blown away. Liam in in sensational form, his voice is so strong from a year of solid gigging in 1994.
Fade Away (demo) was one of the first Oasis songs I heard, a demo version was given away in the spring of 1994 on a Select Magazine cassette. A burst of acoustic guitar leads into the song, Liam's voice is good, Noel harmonises with him beautifully on the chorus. But Liam's voice just hasn't quite got the punch that it has on the version released as a b-side to Cigarettes & Alcohol.
In this version everything seems louder, pacier and more urgent. The band are making a right punk racket, drums and cymbals are crashing, the guitars are relentless and Liam's totally on it.
While we're living, the dreams we have as children fade away
Fade Away is one of Noel's early songs where he just captures something; a realisation, an honesty ... soul. The band tear through it and could easily have stopped at 3-minutes, but they keep going and deliver one of my favourite Oasis outro's as Noel picks a riff for a full 40-seconds to close.
Oasis/Noel would revisit the song for the Help / Warchild album and Noel delivered a beautiful version at his Royal Albert Hall show, later released under The Dreams We Have As Children album.
Two years ago my brother managed to bag us tickets 4 rows from the front to see Noel Gallagher play Edinburgh Playhouse with his High Flying Birds band. It was the first time I had seen Noel in a decade and I absolutely loved it. His band were excellent, Noel was in top form and included a number of Oasis songs in the set.
One that took me slightly by surprise was Little By Little. It was utterly euphoric. Maybe I had kind of forgotten about it, but it was possibly my song of the night, the chorus nearly took the roof off the place! Since then it's become one of my most listened to Oasis songs.
Noel's melodic bridge beginning you know I didn't mean, what I just said lifts the song beautifully and quite dramatically from a short verse into the skyscraping chorus;
Little by little, we have you everything you ever dreamed of
Little by little, the wheels of your life have slowly fallen off
Little by little, you have to give it all in all your life
And all the time I just ask myself why you're really here?
After the second verse there is one of my favourite Oasis guitar breaks that builds into another euphoric chorus and a lovely psychedelic tinged outro.
When Noel wrote Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger he knew that he wanted to sing one of them. He may have guessed (or probably known) they would become Oasis anthems, but I don't think anyone (not even Noel) could have predicted or even dreamed of just how anthemic they would become.
Once my mates and I were out for a night out in neighbouring Wishaw and we couldn't get a taxi home, so we started walking. All of a sudden there was a group of lads running for us ... until they spotted my Oasis t-shirt ... after a brief tense but friendly exchange (thank god I didn't have a Blur t-shirt!) we were singing Wonderwall - mental!
I love Wonderwall, I love how the song has been transformed thanks to Ryan Adams covering it and Noel adding his own spin to that. But Don't Look Back In Anger is my favourite of the two, indeed, Wonderwall almost became a victim of its own success.
Meanwhile Don't Look Back In Anger has developed to become a real anthem with added poignancy after it was adopted by the people of Manchester after the 2017 bombing in the city.
Check the live version from Buenos Aires in Argentina to see how this song means something to people across the world. Listen to the huge crowd singing it so passionately. Noel looks genuinely taken aback at the end.
Why does it mean so much? Maybe it sounded instantly familiar to people, the borrowed Imagine chords at the start helped. Maybe it's Noel singing another line from his childhood that would resonate with others of his age - stand up beside the fireplace, take that look from off your face or maybe it's the soaring you ain't ever gonna burn my heart out that leads to the chorus.
Champagne Supernova is utterly majestic. As psychedelic as Oasis got without trying too hard; some of the lyrics are nonsense yet they came to make sense; slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball, others asked questions - where were you while we were getting high? , others made statements that likely stemmed from Noel's working class roots - cause people believe that they're gonna get away for the summer, a line that Liam really seemed to relish and attack when singing it live.
Elsewhere a dreamer dreams, she never dies is one of of my favourite Noe lyrics, swiftly followed by a line I'm sure a lot of people will have heard when they were kids wipe that tear away now from your eye.
What was a champagne supernova? Who cared? It sounded amazing, Liam's voice still sounds amazing, Noel's guitar sounds amazing and his mate Paul Weller guests on the track, John Squire would join the band on stage at Knebworth to play on it.
Listening back now, Champagne Supernova beautifully balances moments that blast towards the stars with moments of tender, melodic, melancholy. The way the song ebbs to conclusion with Liam repeatedly singing we were getting high, before the outro is lazily and beautifully allowed to drift to conclusion is stunning.
A triumphant celebration of youth, optimism and sunshine. Oasis blast through this, sounding like they are having fun, loving life, as carefree as the lyrics suggest.
Round are way the birds are singing
Round are way the sun shines bright
Round are way the birds sing for ya
Cause they already know ya
The song features in the 1997 film A Life Less Ordinary starring Ewan McGregor and Cameron Diaz. McGregor is walking in glorious sunshine singing the song, it is exactly that type of song! It's a feel-good, punch the sky romp, reminiscing about the simple pleasures of life - being a paperboy, lying to your teacher and my own favourite, playing football at the park until dark.
The game is kicking off around the park
It's 25-a-side and before it's dark
There's gonna be a loser and you know the next goal wins
Alongside She's Electric, Round Are Way perfectly captures the kind of council estate vibe that Oasis brought into the mainstream with their looks, attitude, humour and complete honesty. Straight from the off, Noel would talk lovingly of his Mum, of his abusive Dad. You didn't get anything like that in the NME or Melody Maker before Oasis! He felt real, he was real, he came from a scheme with a head full of dreams (great lyric for someone).
Coming in at only 2-minutes 8 seconds, Songbird is incredibly short for an Oasis song. And it's a Liam Gallagher penned song! Taken from 2002's Heathen Chemistry, this is a real gem of a song, Liam was head over heels in love with his fiance (at the time) Nicole Appleton and he pours his heart out in the song.
Talk of better days that are yet to come
I've never felt this love from anyone
She's not anyone
The harmonium, played by Gem Archer, adds a lot to the song, he plays it beautifully. The demo version of the song was released, it's more brashy and upbeat, complete with harmonica. I really like it, but the single version really captures the beauty of the song and Liam's voice is stunning.
Two of the b-sides to Wonderwall (Round Are Way being the other) are in my top 10 favourite Oasis songs. Indeed, with Fade Away and Acquiesce, 4 out of my 10 are b-sides.
With a heavy use of strings, it really felt like Oasis (or at least Noel) had grown up. Noel had certainly developed massively as a songwriter. If the aforementioned Live Forever set a bar, then the older Gallagher was regularly meeting it and at times he was setting new heights.
Noel had a masterplan with Oasis. He spoke of it in interviews. They would hammer it and release singles every few months like his heroes The Jam. 10 singles and 2 albums from April 1994 - February 1996 is astonishing, with the quality of b-sides highlighted in the compilation album - The Masterplan.
Noel is unrushed, the intro is extended, strings are at the heart of everything, there is that classic little Gallagher bridge that lifts into a chorus tumbles and flows.
Dance if you wanna dance, please brother take a chance
You know they're gonna go, which way they wanna go
All we know is that we don't, know how it's gonna be, please brother let it be
Life on the other hand, won't make us understand
We're all part of the masterplan
It's Noel at his best; meloic and beautifully mixing melancholic with euphoric.
Oasis are re-releasing 1997's Be Here Now album, remastered, b-sides and unreleased demos from Noel Gallagher's Mustique Holiday.
I've written about Oasis a number of times and it is safe to say I fell head over heels in love with the band when they arrived on the scene in April 1994, 3-months after I turned 18. They had sky scraping anthems like Live Forever and Slide Away , they turned out b-sides like Acquiesce and The Masterplan;Some Might Say soared and Wonderwall wooed a nation.
I have to say that the Be Here Now era of Oasis was a disappointment for me. Don't get me started on Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants! I fell out of love and that heady rush of love I had with the band from 1994 all the way through to Knebworth in 1996 was never recaptured. It was only with Heathen Chemistry that I really got back into them, but it was never the same.
Why was Be Here Now a disappointment?
The simple answer for me was that I just didn't get the feeling from the songs that I got from those released before. I'd been spoiled with two cracking albums and loads of b-sides. I wanted more of the same. I didn't get it.
Looking back, the Mustique demos situation offers a clue. Noel wrote the first two albums and all the incredible b-sides while he was dreaming of escape, when he was falling in and out of love. Now he was on holiday with the Stones, Kate Moss and Johnny Depp. Not quite the same vibe regardless of how much cocaine he could get up his nose.
If you were Meg Mathews then you'd be thrilled to have Wonderwall written about you, but I bet she doesn't mention The Girl In The Dirty Shirt when she is reminiscing about the heady days of Britpop.
Reflecting more, Oasis went from wanting to be the best to being the biggest band. It was all 'size matters' when we all know it's what you do with it that counts.....isn't it :-)
Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger sent Oasis stratospheric. Knebworth was insane. It was brilliant, what a ride.
From that point on there was a period of time when you couldn't criticise Oasis. You were shot down in flames if you did. I remember when D'You Know What I Mean came out and I was at a party where it was being played on repeat. I asked for Stay Young (one of the b-sides) to be played and said that it should have been the single as it was a total summer anthem. It was like I had walked into the party from the moon!
Stay Young - live in Manchester
The NME and music publications knew Oasis features and interviews would massively boost sales, so they couldn't criticise. They needed Noel and Liam.
Some people had walked into the Oasis party a little late, they wanted Be Here Now to be as good as the songs and albums it was following. It wasn't anywhere close to it, but they didn't care, they believed the hype, or wanted to believe it. Or, many truly did fall for it; people who had been too young or too out of tune to miss the glory years from Supersonic through to Knebworth wanted a slice of the action, they wanted to be part of the band for a generation....and Oasis were.
In that sense, and I know from speaking to fellow Oasis fans, Be Here Now is an incredibly important album. It would have been the first album that many teenagers bought, the first band they fell in love with and the first shows they went to; in the same way Definitely Maybe had been so important to me - right band, right time.
The hype around the 'comeback' single and the album was outrageous. Radio 1 played the single back to back, occasionally 3 times in a row! The country went daft, everyone was out to buy the album. No-one said a bad word about it.
There was a BBC documentary Right Here, Right Now that showcased the Gallagher's attitude, belief and humour alongside songs from the album; ranging from a studio romp through It's Getting' Better Man, to a poolside Don't Go Away.
The hype worked; 424,000 copies were sold on the first day!
By 1999 it was the album that was most sold to second hand shops in the UK.
I have rarely listened to the album as a complete work of art. Selective songs - yes, but I have had absolutely no desire to listen to Magic Pie over the last 19-years!
Ahead of a deluxe boxset re-release, I thought I would listen to Be Here Now again, 19-years down the line.
BE HERE NOW - THE REAPPRAISAL
D'You Know What I Mean was a strong comeback single. I just preferred (and still do) the b-side summer sing-along of positivity Stay Young. However I totally understand why they went with the 7-minute and 42 second epic instead.
They looked great; on the sleeve, promo shots and the crazy promo video that must have costs hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Noel's guitars sounded great, Liam (of course) sounded amazing, there were backwards vocals, psychedelic sounds, it was like the band were moving forwards in terms of trying some new sounds. D'You Know What I Mean? was a line/question that Noel often used during his 100 mph interviews.
The first of many Beatles song titles/references comes early and features 2 in one line!
The fool on the hill and I feel fine
In the heady days of July 1997, this was all over the radio and all over the country. Oasis were continuing to soundtrack the nation but the chorus was lazy and uninspiring, completely at opposites from the verses and bridge that hinted that the band might just be moving forwards.
Liam Gallagher, D'You Know What I Mean video shoot
My Big Mouth was one of two Be Here Now songs to be played at Knebworth. It's got a ferocious feel to it, the multi(multi) tracked guitars are played with pace and aggression and Liam matches that with a fantastic vocal delivery.
I enjoyed listening back to this initially, but delving into it, it feels like Noel was getting somewhere with some lyrics and then he filled in the blanks with whatever came to mind. Could have been better if some more time was spent on it...and not in terms of song length!
Beatles reference - The Long And Winding Road in the 1st verse.
Magic Pie.....must I listen to it again? OK here goes.......
It is a struggle to get through this song. It takes an age to get to the chorus and then Noel sings about having a magic pie. Somehow this song is dragged out to 7 minutes and 19 seconds. I would be lying if I said I made it to the end. Congratulations if you can. Where was the quality control? Did anyone dare criticise Noel in 1997? Why this was on the album ahead of b-sides Stay Young or the Noel sung Going Nowhere remains a mystery to me.
Stand By Me is like music to your ears after the torture of Magic Pie. There is a brilliant positive flowing upsurge for the bridge to the chorus;
The cold and wind and rain don't know
They only seem to come and go away
Stand by me, nobody knows the way it's gonna be
Stand By Me catches your attention, Liam's voice is great, still only 25 at the time of release, Liam was the coolest front man around with a sensational voice. The melody is strong, one of the best moments on the album, if not an Oasis classic. Like all of Be Here Now, the song is stretched out a little long though.
Liam live circa 1997
Stand By Me live at Wembley 2000
I remember liking I Hope, I Think, I Know when it came out. Great song title, powerful, pacey and Liam sounding in good voice, spitting out the bridge to the chorus. It flows well and teases by almost going into the chorus of Wonderwall.
The aforementioned The Girl In The Dirty Shirt is a plodder. No wonder Noel and Meg split up if this was the best he could come up with for her after Wonderwall!
Fade In-Out sounded great in 1997 and it sounds great in 2016. I haven't listened to Be Here Now for a long, long time. Probably not in this century! There is a menacing feel to the intro and guitars and Liam's voice strains with the energy and soul he is pouring into it. There is a great bit when Liam and Noel's voices join together to sing;
Today is just a daydream
Tomorrow we'll be cast away
This time the length of the song has a purpose with Liam screaming Cold Turkey Lennon style before everything goes mental, leading us back into the chorus.
Don't Go Away is a song that I have listened to this side of 2000! Liam's yearning vocal and the fact he hits the bridge and chorus so quickly give the song much more feeling to it. It sounds like Noel has actually given it some tender, loving, care.
The bridge flows into the chorus and it's uplifting and soulful. It's hug your mate, punch the sky and sing your heart out like the best Oasis songs.
In the time of my life
'cause I need more time
Yes I need more time
Just to make things right
So don't go away
Noel also comes up with a beautiful and tender acoustic outro. It's one of only 2-songs (not counting the All Around The World reprise) under 5-minutes long.
The title track is..... well the lyrics don't really mean anything but at least they are fun and the song has a bit of a groove to it. But it is lazy, Liam turns it into Columbia off of Definitely Maybe at the end . If you were choosing an epic Oasis comeback setlist then this would be nowhere near it. And to be honest I don't much (if anything) of Be Here Now would be.
Beatles reference - Let It Be
And then we arrive at the 9-minute and 20 second All Around The World. In early interviews Noel talked of this song and said he was saving it for his third album and that he wanted to enter it in Eurovision. I remember reading a review where it was described as something like Hey Jude made by kids from a council estate in Burgage. The recent Supersonic documentary had incredible footage of a pre-signed Oasis rehearsing this song in Manchester.
I like it. It has that sense of dreaming and escapism that Noel's best songs tend to have.
Take me away
Cause I just don't want to stay These are crazy days but they make me sssshhhiiiiiinnnneeee
Pretty simple, pretty effective. And then it goes on......and on.......and on.....and on.
Guitars are layered upon guitars, there is a hell of a lot of na na na na na's and then the chorus is rammed down your throat enough times to make you vomit. Seriously, there is another 5-minutes of it. It gets pretty sickly. There is no valid reason for this song to be over 9-minutes long. Blame cocaine.
I made it to 7 minutes 48 seconds and then skipped forwards.
It's Getting' Better Man was my personal favourite from the album back in 1997. Loud and squalling guitars, a flowing bridge and chorus and a sense of Pistols punk energy. They played it at Knebworth and I had it on bootleg before it appeared on Be Here Now.
Maybe the songs that we sing are wrong
Maybe the dreams that we dream are gone
It's stretched out but at least the band sound like they are enjoying it, rather than some of the other tracks that sound like they are being dragged out. The production doesn't help, this is a song that should have soared like those on Definitely Maybe.
Oh FFS I forgot about the All Around The World reprise!!! And do you know what, in 2016 this is one of my favourite songs on the album. Horns, strings, great beats, crashing symbols.....I enjoyed listening to it.
Be Here Now hasn't aged well for me. In fact it dated incredibly quickly.
In 1997 Radiohead brought out the incredible OK Computer, The Verve had Urban Hymns, Primal Scream gave us the glorious melting pot Vanishing Point, Spiritualized released the sensational Ladies And Gentleman We Are Floating In Space and earlier in the year Blur had released a brilliantly eclectic eponymous album. Oasis sounded bloated and uninspired in comparison to their competitors, but also against the skyscraping anthems they produced with ease between 1994-1996.
Noel had set the bar high, he has talked of being Champions League winners from 1994-1996 and then struggling to get top 4 in 1997. Not a bad assessment. Continuing that theme; Standing On The Shoulder... was relegation form!
The Masterplan, a b-sides album (featuring only 2 from the Be Here Now era) was released in 1998, the year after Be Here Now and it is head and shoulders above. That golden period from 1994-1996 for Oasis produced so many good songs.
Oasis then had the cheek to release something even worse than Be Here Now - Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants featuring the likes of Little James and the god awful I Can See A Liar, I'm not looking forward to listening to that again for the 20th anniversary! In fact, I won't!
I think the band only recaptured some of their magic in 2002 with the release of Heathen Chemistry when Andy Bell and Gem Archer had joined the band and been involved in writing and recording. But they could never recapture the magic of 1994-1996.
I'll always have time for Noel and Liam as they meant so much to me during an important time of my life. They soundtracked nights out, I made lifelong friends through a shared love of the band....but Be Here Now kind of felt like the band were cheating on me - they were better than that.
Listening back has been interesting. There are some good songs, but for me Be Here Now doesn't light a spark and for me that is what Noel and Liam are all about - making your spine tingle, causing you to punch the air and sing from the bottom of your heart. Too many of the songs are 'alright', almost all are too long and I just don't hear any soul in the vast majority of the album.
