Oasis
Be Here Now

THE REVIEW

August 21, 1997...

The Oasis are at the peak of success, they are the undisputed idols of teens and beyond, they have released 2 cornerstone albums of the '90s musical history... but from that day on something breaks forever...

Let me start by saying I am a fan of Oasis, ready to extol the Gallagher's qualities, but also to criticize the crafting of some of their albums that are certainly not outstanding. After a day of travel, I find myself at home with a great desire to listen to music... so I rummage through my CDs... I’ve listened to the Stones too many times as well as Bob Dylan, the Doors don’t excite me, so I find myself with this "Be Here Now," third album from an English group of which I had only listened to the first 2 LPs. I set off to listen with maximum enthusiasm and here we go. The first song is "D'You Know What I Mean?", a good song, with a vaguely psychedelic feel. Liam's voice perfectly matches the song even if no one felt the need to extend the song beyond the fourth minute. Then comes "My Big Mouth", a rock'n'roll piece that acts as a filler in an album unfortunately often devoid of ideas and conviction. "Magic Pie" sung by Liam is slightly better than the previous one, although for me, they could have done without the chorus and stopped at the bridge. So we arrive between highs and lows (more lows) at the first half-masterpiece of the record, "Stand by me", sung with great sensuality by Liam. The pace is slow but driving and in this case, the verse is much more interesting than the chorus.

"I hope, I think, I know" is a good piece, but nothing more. The sixth track, however, appears more interesting even if the cut-and-paste effect is at times unbearable... We pass to "Fade-in-Out"... a mediocre piece and perhaps one of the absolute worst of Oasis... here's a track that wants to be psychedelic but isn't... and that terribly bores with an unbearable succession of noises... "Don't go away" is an excellent ballad, but it still doesn't manage to excite and doesn't hit deeply. Oasis seem to be a copy of themselves and seem unable to get up from the abyss into which they have fallen. "Be Here Now" does nothing but confirm my sad thesis... Fortunately, when I had lost hope, here comes the second track, after "Stand By Me", that manages to warm my heart... "All around the world" is the masterpiece of the album, with a driving rhythm and an almost worthy finale of "Champagne Supernova". So after about 9 minutes of "All around the world" I stop the disc to avoid bad surprises and to try to keep a good memory of this record... The eleventh track and the reprise of "All around the world" are still unknown to me....

Moral of the story: album to discard except for 3-4 songs that make it only partially worthy of purchase... the times of "Definitely maybe" are far away as well as those of "(What's the story) Morning Glory"... but even "Heathen Chemistry" appears qualitatively much superior... Not recommended for those approaching Oasis, but recommended for those familiar with the group to better understand where the decline of one of the best bands of the '90s begins. Oasis since then will know how to get back up and will release good albums, like the latest "Don't believe the truth"... If I can risk a comparison, although I absolutely hate to make them, I have compared this album to "Goats Head Soup" by the Stones... from then on nothing was ever the same again....

P.S.: This review reflects only my opinion, which of course is debatable. I believe that being a music connoisseur does not mean comparing all groups from the '90s and '00s to the milestones of the sixties and seventies and finding them lacking. Music, just like art and literature, is a child of the time we live in (imagine "Le rouge et le noir" by Stendhal set in the '900s). Finally, as Andy Warhol said, against those who wanted to appear nonconformist, to not conform to the masses...

With this, I bid you farewell and ask for your forgiveness for my wordiness, unfortunately, this is my first review...