Oasis A to Z

Agree, its start is cool and surprising (for Oasis) but then it plods along so much that it loses all interest. The first line is SO BIG, but they could have made a better song out of that initial idea.

It's a 10/10 for me, I love it.

Underneath the Sky

Bizarre little b-side that I first encountered through the The Masterplan collection, this bouncy but sinister sounding (music-wise) DLBIA flip features some nice imagery from Noel in the lyrics and a more than solid vocal from Liam.

The opening couplet strikes a more poetic note than almost anything from Noel at this point - "underneath a sky of red there's a storyteller sleeping alone". Of course that's immediately followed by the clunky "whereabouts are sort of unknown".

Borrowing the opening from some Blondie song apparently (never heard it), there are actually two verses so it's not as weak as a lot of the other Noel lyrics to this point, and the song "sort of" soars during the "All he needs"/"all we need" bits but it's still just a 7/10.

(This is the 10th-last song.)

Up in the Sky

DM album track, it's one of the debut's weaker moments - like Going Nowhere there's a homoerotic touch that doesn't really work ("how does it feel when you're inside me?"). Liam's youthful vocal keeps it all poppy, though the Noel-sung acoustic version isn't really a step down at all. Noel has mentioned that the song was political in that it was aimed at the elites or royals - the upper class, what with the "you'll need assistance with the things that you have never ever seen" - they're out of touch! 6/10

never dug the album version....I've actually edited in the live acoustic version from I think Paris in on any defiantly maybe playlists, that's much better (as is noels acoustic version). never bothered me the lyrics tho..and I personally think of them as more trippy/psychedelic than homoerotic

Waiting for the Rapture

Doors aping DOYS album track, Noel written, Noel sung - it's a stompy, groovy love song presumably about Sarah. Noel resorts to the apple of my eye cliche as in These swollen hand blues, but it's even worse here - "she put an apple in my eye".

The end of it trails off into a loose "You can leave your hat on" bit, annoyingly.

The alternate version from the bonus disc is far better (and strangely one of my most listened to tracks on Last.FM). 6/10

such a shit record doys, the more you think about it. whatever and wonderwall next?

waiting 4
whatever 8
wonderwall 9

8.5 rapture

Whatever

This would have to be the first Oasis song I ever heard, while watching "Video Hits" on a Saturday morning. While it was generally a chart countdown, they'd pepper the playlist with classics and "hit predictions" - this was one of the latter.

My younger sister and I laughed at Liam's eyebrows (are they at their worst here?) and his mugging for the camera. Noel was sued for this one, which seems unfair compared to some of the other swipes he got away with (in this it's a few bars from the opening of Neil Innes' How sweet to be an idiot, which aren't a recurring motif in that song anyway - a far cry from Cigarettes and Alcohol's wholesale ripping).

This is certainly the most obvious Beatle-y song of theirs to date, despite not sounding like any track in particular. An ode to being free, it's all pretty literal with a bus the only solid piece of imagery deployed. The middle-eight makes sense for the song (and utilises the "us and them" approach as in Live Forever), which ends in boorish carrying on a la Cum on feel the noize, Bonehead's Bank Holiday and It's good to be free - I think it detracts from the tune and would a love a "clean" ending version - is there one?

Vocals in top form, the guitar lines sound great, quite cool video despite Noel's terrible haircut - this is a classic. 8/10

Where Did It All Go Wrong?

One of two Noel-sung tracks from SOTSOG, it's downbeat per most of the album and era's tunes, but still a pretty good song.

Not as sludgy as Sunday Morning Call, melody-wise, with some kind of organ serving as the backbone instrument (even more so in the demo and some of the live versions - and this was played live a lot, including on TV), the lyrics are mostly okay bar the "you ain't exactly sure if you've been away a while".

Decent guitar solo, I recall recurring criticism that the chorus ripped-off Weller's Sunflower, but a bit like the Neil Innes/Whatever thing, it's only a few notes and not really worth getting upset over. It's of a piece with SMC, Roll it over, Cigs in hell, Just getting older and Let's all make believe. Disenchantment with the celeb lifestyle abounds - 7/10

good song, loses a mark for rhyming buy with by and the autotune on the chorus. 6.

Always felt the opening verse sounded a bit tame, my only gripe with it, but once it gets going it's a corker. The verse straight after the first chorus in comparison, for example, sounds mega with those guitar fills. It's a tune. I do wish LAMB followed it though as Sunday Morning Call has a similar rousing chorus and it could have done with Liam between the two tracks. What's this? I'm criticising SOTSOG. Press the record button, barny.

Who Feels Love?

Psych-lite second single from 4th album SOTSOG, this is a bit Dear Prudence meets The inner light - it's not more of the "Poor me, I hate being with these drugged out celebrities" Noel, but rather "reborn spiritually" Noel.

The video saw the band aping Fools Gold; I remember the Oasis site (I think) back when the single was released hosting the AVI for download; it took me about a week of evenings over dial-up using a Download Manager to get it.

Inappropriately punctuated, it's not a great song, and a pretty weak single all told (play it at 1.25 speed and it sounds much better). 6/10

big favourite of mine this 9/10

given the ratings i see from lino, i highly doubt that he ever was MAD FER IT!

Well said, MOUTH.

How dare you.

I listen to Oasis practically every day, and have done so since first buying their CDs. I've spent thousands on Pretty Green attire. I bought the Familiar to Millions CD, DVD and VHS. I incorporate Oasis or Oasis related terms into all of my system passwords (wife is offended). I've kept this thread going, even posting prepared "reviews" while on holiday down the coast. I genuinely look forward to hearing what others here have to say about each and every track. Oasis is probably one of the three main things even near-strangers know about me, and the minute Liam or Noel die or are revealed to be sex offenders, I'll be the first person they think of.

My ratings are incredibly fanboy-ish - an average of 6.57 despite two quite poor albums, and most of the B-sides post SOTSOG being dire. Sure, I'm no fan of Columbia, and don't consider DM their best (it's BHN), but out of the 133 songs on the list, the lowest I've scored is a 2, and only 2 tracks received that. 12 songs get a perfect 10/10, spanning from DM to DBTT.

How very dare you.

Who Put the Weight of the World on My Shoulders?

Oasis in name only, this is a Noel penned, Noel sung track made available on a non-Oasis album (the soundtrack to a largely forgotten football film "Goal!") - it's downbeat, acoustic, string-laden; the lyrics are serviceable, but nothing extraordinary. It's played well, and sung well, but quite forgettable.

Might have been improved to lose the swear (we get it Noel, you're a hard man).

No Beatles reference, but it features one of a few mentions of "doldrums" from throughout Noel's Oasis and solo work, which he surely picked up from the La's.

Famously abbreviated to WP22MS. 6/10

Nearing the end and while a few of the tracks have only had one rating/opinion from one of y'all, that's still enough to provide a "Soapy" score - these songs however? No opinions.

Title----------Lino's score
Step Out---------------------9
Street Fighting Man----------6
Supersonic-------------------8
Take Me Away-----------------6
Talk Tonight-----------------7
The Cage---------------------5
The Girl in the Dirty Shirt--7
The Turning------------------6
Underneath the Sky-----------7