Mentioned in another thread, my basement flooded last month, forcing me to go through the boxes of CDs and ephemera buried in the back of my basement, during which I stumbled into the box of shitty late 90s/early 00s albums I bought in university, including all of my OCS albums. On a whim, i decided to run through their entire discography. Which I will now providing running commentary on, because if I must suffer, so must you all.
1. Moseley shoals (fuck you, i'm not listening to that first album)
I mean...it's still pretty goddamn great, and i'd put it up against just about anyone else's album from that time. It wouldn't win, mind you, but it'd be a conversation at least. 8.5/10
2. Marchin' already
The first half of this album is almost on par with moseley shoals, but the 2nd half is entirely unmemorable. And so begins the downward descent. 7.5/10 3. B-sides, seasides and free rides.
Putting out an entire album of b-sides from one album is certainly a flex, especially when your name isn't Gallagher. Further, there's...what, 5 songs on here worth putting on a full album? You'd think Weller would have told them to cool their jets a bit. Robin Hood is stll great, though. 6/10
Mentioned in another thread, my basement flooded last month, forcing me to go through the boxes of CDs and ephemera buried in the back of my basement, during which I stumbled into the box of shitty late 90s/early 00s albums I bought in university, including all of my OCS albums. On a whim, i decided to run through their entire discography. Which I will now providing running commentary on, because if I must suffer, so must you all.
Continuing the trend of 3-4 great songs and a bunch of filler. This was...fine? 6/10
5. Mechancial wonder
This has a special place in my heart as their first new album after I discovered them in the late 90s. I remember getting it and thinking..."that's it?" Finishing it up as I type this, and I can confidently say I haven't listened to this in at least 15 years....and i still remember all the songs. (although none of them are particularly memorable.)
The funny thing about finding the CD version is that there were two discs in it, and I couldn't any info on what the 2nd one might be. I put it into itunes...and realized one was the north american release with 10 songs and the other one was the british version I picked up (along with their live album) for a pound in Fopp on one of my trips to england in 2003-2004. Ah, memories. 6/10
Still really enjoy Moseley & Marchin'. Agreed there is some fluff on that B-sides comp but personally I'd say it's mostly good.
One from the Modern.. the production is HORRIBLE. Compare July & I am the News to the double A-side single... they sound so flat. It possibly could have been a good record (TBH I've not heard it in years) but I can't think of a britpop record from that era that sounds so poor. In an era where everything sounded bigger than it should One from the Modern just sounded flat as shit.
Mechanical Wonder I bought with my dole money & was disappointed though it does have a couple of good tunes. I bought North Atlantic Drift the day it came out as they did a free signing at HMV (Steve Cradock almost killed cult forum member Balldog) before we went to see forgotten ponce rockers HAVEN at the Scala as The Stands were supporting. I think I played it maybe 3 times, I've never heard another OCS record since that. Still, my signed copy of North Atlantic Drift would probably sell for about £150 on ebay so it's probably time to let that go. Along with my signed BDI record, JP has informed me of its ridiculous value too.
« Last Edit: Jul 30, 2021 16:27:41 GMT by mahoney »
I hope you have the Simon & Oscar Live on the Riverboat CD with the horrible liquid cover that dried up after many years & looks like afterbirth or I shall LAUGH at your pathetic fandom!
Not to get ahead of myself, but i remember north atlantic drift and on the leyline both being decent, but I don't even remember the names of any of the albums after that*** so I'm curious to relisten to them, since I probably listened to them once when they came out. (Particularly since i didn't even bother to put them into itunes.)
I do recall the one with 'this day should last forever' and the harrison cover being the single worst album I've ever heard that wasn't the virginmarys.
Just listened to 'crazy lowdown ways' from the best of and jesus fucking christ, how did Noel not get a songwriting credit for that, I almost starting singing "sssshhhhe's electric, she's in a...." What a joke.
North Atlantic Drift - I feel like these are going to start getting repetitive. There's 3 decent songs on here and the rest is entirely unmemorable. As in, I just listened to and I already forgot it. 5.5/10
A hyperactive workout for the flying squad - It's already behind the 8-ball for the atrocious title, but the songs...my god, they're so....so bad. "Free my name" was a single?!?!? It sounds like something Emma Bunton heard and said "yeah...no." The cover of 'wah wah' (topical!) is the worst beatles-related cover I've ever heard, and I've heard noel sing 'all you need is love'. 'This day should last forever' is alright, but this is by a comfortable margin, the worst album I've ever heard by anyone, and they should all be shot into the sun for releasing it. I *hated* every second of the last 45 minutes. 0.5/10
7. On the leyline - you know...this isn't that bad! At least compared to the last few. I still get a kick out of the "we co-wrote a song with weller and it's great!" stuff, only for weller to take it and re-write the entire thing himself and put it out as a b-side for a non-album single. Like, leave it to the grown-ups, fellas. Still, this is probably their best album since marchin' already. And sporty was the most talented spice girl. 7/10
I hope you have the Simon & Oscar Live on the Riverboat CD with the horrible liquid cover that dried up after many years & looks like afterbirth or I shall LAUGH at your pathetic fandom!
