Oasis - "Be Here Now" (1997)

Since my Oasis compilation last week went down like a storm, I thought take another stab at 'em. This time by defending their oft maligned third album Be Here Now.

The reason for the album being underrated are many and not always easy to keep track of. The main one seem to be how their 1994 debut Definitely Maybe was hailed as a the best things since things were invented, and the follow up (What's The Story) Morning Glory? got a significantly more lukewarm reception upon its release in 1995. It soon went on to become one of the best sellers of all time with a string of hit singles.

The theory then being that critics starting regretting their criticism of Morning Glory and decided that whatever album Oasis release next would praised beyond reason, before even hearing it. Which is also pretty much what happened to Be Here Now. When the dust settled most realised it wasn't really the second coming, salvation in musical form. It was, in fact, just a rock record. The backlash was inevitable. Noel's visit to 10 Downing Street to visit new prime minister Tony Blair also contributed to soiling their image as working class lads who didn't give a shit about anything but booze, drugs and raising hell.

As the years have gone by it's become increasingly clear that this is no masterpiece, nor is it a turkey. It's unsurprisingly right in the middle - it's a good album, unworthy of either extreme opinion.

"All the songs are really long and all the lyrics are shit", said Noel Gallagher in the excellent Britpop documentary Live Forever. Some songs, like D'Know What I Mean? and certainly All Around The World are too long for their own good, but the rest are fine and I disagree about the lyrics being any worse than anything else Noel's written. Other than the occasional early track like Live Forever and Rock 'n Roll Star, have they ever had memorable lyrics that weren't just a mess of random phrases that mean absolutely nothing?

It's also one of the earliest examples of what would later be known as "the loudness war". If you put your music player on shuffle you're sure to jump out of your chair and shit yourself every time a track off it comes on. It's a very compressed and brickwalled record, definitely one of the loudest mixes I've ever heard.

And with this backlash nonsense, which in a way is still going on 13 years later, the sometimes painful production, and Noel's own hatred for the album can easy cloud the fact that there are songs on Be Here Now that rank among some of the best the band ever recorded.

The three tracks below should be sufficient proof of this. But turn the volume down, or they might crack your speakers.

(mp3) Oasis - My big mouth
(mp3) Oasis - I hope, I think, I know
(mp3) Oasis - Don't go away

Buy it @ Amazon.com.