Oasis - Be Here Now

F

Feliciaaa. :D

New member
Oasis, you either love them or hate them.(or only like the first few albums) Many people here hate them but never recognize the fact that their first two albums are near perfect. They were on a roll in the mid 90s. 'Definitely Maybe' help reintroduce rock music to a quickly stagnating music scene. One year later they became the biggest band in the world with '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?' This album produced the huge hits 'Wonderwall,' 'Don't Look Back In Anger' and 'Morning Glory.' It also contained the hits 'Some Might Say,' 'Roll With It,' and 'Champagne Supernova.' With the newfound massive popularity, how would they follow up their best selling second album? Well let's find out...

BE HERE NOW
1997​
beherenow300.jpg

D'You Know What I Mean is the opener. The first things you hear are an airplane takeoff and some birRAB. How lovely. After a minute or so, the actual song starts. It then goes on for about another 6 minutes. Despite its length, this is actually a great song. Probably the best Oasis opener on any album. (Even better than "F***in' In The Bushes") The song also has a very nice build up and flows nicely into the chorus of "All my people right here, right now, d'you know what I mean, yeah yeah."

After the opener, Oasis shows us just how loud they can get with My Big Mouth. The guitar layering here is just overdone, but it must not have sounded so to a cocaine fueled Noel Gallagher. The main guitar riff is repeated throughout the song. The song is a drop in quality compared to the first track, leading as a bit of a disappointment. It's appeal wears quickly.

Usually, Oasis best song is the third track right? We had "Live Forever" and we had "Wonderwall" and now we have Magic Pie. Just saying it makes you sound kind of silly doesn't it? This accoustic song is an okay song, and would be better if it wasn't 7+ minutes long. I still can't figure out exactly what it is about though. Not a highlight of the album.

After "Magic Pie" we get the big ballad of the album Stand By Me. A really nice poppy love song. One of the best songs Oasis ever put out. Another song with a nice build up and a nice chorus. Definitely one of the standouts. I think it's 6 minute length is a bit much though.

I Hope, I Think, I Know is the next song. Its the feel good, happy go lucky song on the album. It is basically a song about hope and restrained success. This song is just average, but it is one of the few songs on the album with a rather short length.

The Girl In The Dirty Shirt is a song I really like, but I'm not quite sure how to explain it. Either way, it's catchy, fun, and not too long. I believe Noel wrote it about his girlfriend. I believe the song title stems from the fact that his girlfriend wore the same shirt for long perioRAB of time when Oasis was on tour.

After that we get Fade In Out. This is the most dreadfully boring song Oasis has ever produced. It's long, boring, never goes anywhere, and overall is complete garbage. Johnny Depp makes an appearance on slide guitar, but who really cares? This is the exact definition of a song that everybody skips.

After that borefest we get Don't Go Away. It's a lot like "Stand By Me" in that it is another poppy catchy love song. I don't think it is quite as good, but still a great track.

Now we get the title track, Be Here Now. It certainly isn't worthy of the title track though, because it is a below average song. It's another song that never really goes anywhere, (like Fade In Out) but at the same time it holRAB your interest because its a little bit different than everything else. Noel decided to never name an album after a song after "Be Here Now" though.

Now it is time for the longest song on the album All Around The World. This song had been in the works since before 'Definitely Maybe' I believe. The song builRAB and builRAB until it explodes near the end. The main problem with it though is its length. Alot of it could have been trimmed down to make an even better and more radio friendly song. It is still a great song in my eyes though.

Time for the mindless rock song It's Gettin' Better (Man!!). This song is way too long, and was screaming it near the end when Liam shouted over and over about 30 times, "It's Gettin' Better Man!" This would be the worst song on the album if it weren't for "Fade In Out." If you want to know what this song is without listening to the whole 7 minutes of it, just picture Liam yelling "It's gettin better man!" for 7 minutes. Pretty much the same thing, except your mind will probably make it more appealing.

The album finally closes with All Around The World (Reprise), a little instrumental version of "All Around The World." This really was unnecessary though because we already have a near ten minute song with the regular song, why do we need to hear 2 minutes more of it in instrumental form?. One thing I always kind of liked about this song was the door slamming shut at the end, because to me, it represented two things. One, the end of Oasis producing great albums, and two, the end of britpop.

CONCLUSION: When Oasis are good on this album, they're great, when they're bad, they're unlistenable. If you're an Oasis fan, get it. If you're a britpop fan, this is a very important album in the history of britpop, so get it. If you just want an all around brilliant album that never gets old, don't get this. If you want to get into Oasis, get 'Definitely Maybe' or 'Morning Glory' instead.

SCORE
6.2/10​
 
Overinflated self indulgent mess.

When I was an Oasis fan I loved it, but it really is a train wreck. 6.2/10 seems fair enough. Some of the songs on this album are actually pretty decent, they just needed to be trimmed down and mixed better.
 
Well, for the most part, everything they put out after 2000 was mediocre, so I can't blame you for not loving them anymore. I actually have a soft spot for 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants.' It has some of my favorite Oasis songs like "Go Let It Out," "Sunday Morning Call," and "Gas Panic." Songs like "Little James" and "Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is" keep the album from greatness.

How old were you when you were big into the band?



I already said that when I talked about the last song on the album.

EDIT: I didn't say it like that exactly, but that is what I meant. :)
 
I was 13 or 14 the first time I heard WTSMG an Definitely Maybe, and it's not that their other stuff was mediocre, that's not what turned me off them. I was their biggest fan boy, I thought everything Noel had written was genius. Except for Standing on the Shoulders, despite my musical immaturity I could tell that was shit. I just grew up and found more entertaining music, and I listened to their first 2 albums and they were just boring lad rock. I guess they're decent recorRAB, despite them being so simple. But I don't think I'll ever get the urge to listen to them any time soon.
 
You don't like anything on 'Standing?'

Personally, I think their worst album was 'Dig Out Your Soul.' I can't stand that album or 'Heathen Chemistry' for that matter.

I have to disagree when you say Oasis first 2 albums are boring. Some stuff on WTSMG? is a little bit, but overall, the album is great. 'Definitely Maybe' is one of the greatest albums of the 90s.
 
Impressive enough, considering they're all B-sides. I'm really indifferent to them these days, even though WTSMG and Definitely Maybe are really simple 1 dimensional albums I feel they do get a lot of harsh stick. They aren't terrible albums, but they aren't brilliant either.
 
Not really, I guess Go Let It Out is decent. Oasis are just a boring band for me these days. I always used to prefer them to Blur, but now I care for Blur a hell of a lot more.

Dig Out Your Soul is their second worst, behind Standing.

Well, it's basically 12 songs with 3 chorRAB. All fine and well, but after you've heard them so much they just become boring. Both albums would probably make my top 100 list just because of how important they are to me, they shaped the music I listen to. But they'd be really low down on the list.
 
For me, the first 3 minutes of All Around the World are basically the best thing Oasis ever did. Plus, everytime I feel like battering my ear drums, can't go far wrong with a dose of My Big Mouth. Otherwise, I never listen to this album. Too long, pointlessly noisy, laughably bad production.

Good review though.
 
I agree with a lot of things said in this thread whereas others I could not disagree with more.

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was a bit of a risk. It was as close as Oasis ever came to doing something different rather than recycle heavily. It marks a maturity, at least in Noel Gallagher and for me definitely shows a man learning from the mistakes that came before it. That mistake was of course Be Here Now as he says himself it was a bit of a swindle, given that it was the follow up to one of the most successful British albums of all time and was obviously going to be a make or break album and yet their attitude to writing and recording it was shocking. He says himself he can't remember a single thing about it at any stage of its conception or production. I think that helps to explain the lack of direction the album has and i agree it is a little self indulgent as well as completely cocaine and alcohol fuelled.

However Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was the result of Noel Gallagher being hospitalised, sobering up as a result and determined to take the process of writing and recording a new album seriously. He forced the rest of the band to remain sober throughout this process too and i completely agree that it is only Little James and Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is that stops me from loving that album.

However I completely disagree with your opinion of Fade In Out and the title track. It's so clear to see the attempt to mix things up a little in tracks like Magic Pie but ultimately it was a failed attempt in my opinion. However those two tracks we're done well i feel and those two alongwith Don't Go Away, Stand By Me and The Girl in the Dirty Shirt are the highlights of this record in my opinion.

Be Here Now wasn't a bad album I dont think but it was bloated, it lacked direction and it was just unprofessional and even a little irresponsible for a band of their size in 1997 to follow up their first two recorRAB with a record like this. But it had certain tracks and certain moments that helped to somewhat redeem it. At least enough for me to still give it a whirl every now and then.

Also i personally really like Dig Out Your Soul. Yes, it had a couple of stinkers on it but it felt it was their first album in a number of years that had any real energy and any real balls to it.

Definitely Maybe > Whats the Story > Dig Out Your Soul > Be Here Now > Standing on the Shoulder of Giants > Don't Believe The Truth > Heathen Chemistry.

Although Be Here Now and SOTSOG are interchangeable, those two could change places depending on what side of bed i woke up on that day.
 
Heh, you know what they say, you snooze you lose!

Funny thing with this, I had tried to do this review before, but right as I nearly finished, my computer crashed, and I lost everything I wrote. Basically an hour of my time wasted, but I did end up deciding I would do it again.(As you can clearly see)



I could agree with you on that if Oasis hadn't made "The Masterplan" and "Don't Look Back In Anger." "All Around The World" is a great song though and I really enjoy the build of it.



I don't think 'Dig' was recycle heavy either.

Yeah, "Put Yer Money" and "Little James" do suck and are the major faults with the album, but "I Can See A Liar" is also weak, just not on the level of those two. The lyrics to "Little James" are completely ridiculous. Well, at least some of the lyrics in "Little James" actually make me laugh, "Put Yer Money" has no redeeming factor though.

"live for your toys
even though they make noise
have you ever played with plasticine
even tried a trampoline"

Well, I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree, because "Fade In Out" and the title track were subpar, even by Oasis standarRAB. I like "The Girl In The Dirty Shirt" though.

Yeah, I don't think 'Be Here Now' deserves all the flak it gets from critics. It has a few truly great moments on there.

I actually prefer 'DBTT' to 'DOYS.'

Definitely Maybe > WTSMG > BHN > SOTSOG > DBTT > HC > DOYS

Sometimes my list switches, but DM almost always stays in first.
 
Back
Top