Oasis

Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

Written by: PP on 29/05/2009 06:52:49

More criminally underrated old albums heading your way? You bet. This time around we're dealing with a slightly more controversial act, namely the Gallagher brothers show, Oasis. Everyone knows them, and everyone has an opinion about them, especially when it comes to stuff post-"Wonderwall" and "All Around The World" eras, because this is a band that changed radically from easily accessible pop rock into a semi-psychedelic, experimental brand of mainstream rock almost overnight with the release of "Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants" in 2000.

This record is also the last Oasis album to feature a truckload of the trademarked extended vocal performances ("Because maybeeeeeee" etc) that made so many people fall in love with this band in the first place. Sure, there are the Lylas and Let There Be Loves on following albums, but just one listen will tell you that it's a whole different band from the 90s sensation. Songs like "Gas Panic" and especially the megahits "Go Let It Out" and "Who Feels Love" all represent good ol' Oasis as we knew the band: incredible choruses where Gallagher's pipes teach a lesson or three to the Nickelbacks of the world. Although I doubt that anyone would've complained if the whole record was full of these, there was a slight risk of the formula running stale, and so the band decided to give a fuck about what its fans wanted and progressed to a whole new dimension. This is evident already in the album opener "Fuckin' In The Bushes" which features mild rock 'n' roll psychedelia, but later on when the band reaches magnificent tracks like the loud ballad "Roll It Over" or the experimental groove track "Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is" does the transformation of Oasis become a reality. These songs are much darker, bleaker and grimmer than what we're used to from the band, which might have caught some by surprise. But enough listens will prove that the new Oasis is capable of delivering as well, even if it doesn't necessarily mean massive crowd-pleasing anthems.

What's special about "Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants" is therefore how well it balances the two different Oasis' that we know. On one hand you've still got a number of retardedly catchy songs, but even these have been made somewhat darker, or perhaps less pleasant is the phrase that I'm looking for, and for some strange reason it actually works. The songs sound much more like pieces of art than stuff straight out of the hit-factory, and that's why this may even be my favorite Oasis album of all time.

8

Download: Who Feels Love, Roll It Over, Go Let It Out, Gas Panic
For the fans of: The Verve, The Stone Roses, Travis, Blur, Stereophonics
Listen: Myspace

Release date 28.02.2000
Big Brother/Epic Records

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