Oasis To Release New Material This Year, Tour Documentry And New Track Set For October.

Oasis are releasing their long-awaited tour film Lord Don't Slow Me Down in two months time.

Although the band aren't planning a new album until 2008, fans will be able to get hold of some new material when the DVD of the on-the-road documentary is released on October 29.

The film follows the band through 26 countries on their last world tour and features a brand new Noel Gallagher song - the title track, 'Lord Don't Slow Me Down' - on the film's credits.

"It's quite rocking, it's just 12-bar blues really, but it's a good song." Noel told NME "It got left off the last album because it was the same verse all the way until the end, but it's kind of locked into that now because it appears at the end of the film."

The black and white documentary, shot by Ballie Walsh, mixes live footage with exclusive backstage access that sees the band hanging out with Kasabian in New York, Liam Gallagher meeting his self-proclaimed "spiritual heir" Charlotte Church and Noel going guitar shopping and winding-up interviewers in Japan.

Any good? Liam Gallagher thinks so...

"I buzzed off myself," he declared after a screening. "I played a blinder."

An edited version of the documentary appeared on British TV last year, but the two-disc DVD features a series of extras.

The band's triumphant homecoming show at the City Of Manchester Stadium from July 2, 2005 is featured in HD, along with a Q&A between fans and Noel.

However, Oasis have saved the best to last, as the DVD will feature the band themselves providing providing an alternative 'director's commentary' to the film.

We're thinking 'Wibbling Rivalry' (the epic NME interview released as a single on Fierce Panda back in 1995) over two hours.

"I'm doing the DVD commentary, yes" Noel declared enthusiastically when NME asked him about the project. "I begged them to let me do it. I'm going to have some fun with that."

Source: NME Magazine

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Inside This Weeks NME

Oasis to release new material this year, tour documentry and new track set for October.

Source: www.nme.com

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Noel Gallagher's Artwork Used In New Book

Noel Gallagher is taking part in a book of pictures made by indie musicians.

Those musicians were asked to make a picture about a place which had a lasting influence on them.

Noels smiley is about Ibiza because everybody on Ibiza is happy and the smiley stands for the acid-house-culture of the eighties which is inevitably connected to Ibiza.

Click here to view the pictures, other musicians taking part include Paul Smith (Maximo Park), Nicholas Hammer (Death Cab for Cutie), Chris Dangerous (The Hives), Kelly Jones (Stereophonics) and many more.

Source: www.ard.de

Many thanks to Dercheef for the translation.

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Rare Shots From The NME Archive

To celebrate the news of their first movie we delve into our cupboards to find the world's WEIRDEST Oasis pics...

Click here to view the gallery.

Source: www.nme.com

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On This Day In Oasis History...

"Roll With It" is a song by British rock band Oasis written by their lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. It was released 14 August 1995 as the second single from their second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory, reaching #2 in the UK Singles Chart (see 1995 in British music).

"Roll With It" received a great deal of attention when Food Records, the label of chief Britpop rivals Blur, moved the original release date of single "Country House" to clash with it, sparking what came to be known as "The Battle of Britpop". The British media had already reported an intense rivalry between the two bands and this clash of releases was seen as a battle for the number one spot. The media sensation was spurred on by verbal attacks from the respective camps (in particular Noel and Liam Gallagher, Damon Albarn and Alex James), that extended beyond the music industry to the point where the two bands were regularly mentioned on the evening news. In particular, public imagination was sparked by the contrast between the gritty, working class Oasis and the artsy, middle class Blur. In the end, Blur's "Country House" single sold 274,000 copies to Oasis' 216,000 copies of "Roll with It". The singles charted at number 1 and number 2 respectively however many believe Blur won tactically selling their single for £1.99 compared to Oasis £3.99 single price.

In the week of its release, Damon Albarn was asked what he thought of the song. He dubbed the band as "Quoasis" and sang "Down, down, deeper and down" in reference of the song's likeness to Status Quo's 1975 hit Down Down [1]. At this time in their careers Oasis were often criticised for 'borrowing' samples from 60s and 70s bands; this was one such song containing 'borrowed' music.

The song is like several other songs, such as "Supersonic", in that preaches the importance of being yourself. Due to its combination of a catchy tune and positive lyrics, the song ranks amongst Oasis' most popular songs and is a standard at their live performances. Noel Gallagher does not like the song at all however, and described it in a 2005 interview as "appalling".

Trivia

The song was featured on All-Star Family Fortunes aired 23rd December 2006.

In the live performance on the Familiar to Millions DVD, Liam Gallagher changes the lyrics from "don't let anybody get in your way" to "don't let any fucker get in your way".

The cover photograph was taken at the beach in Weston-super-Mare. The five television sets the band members are looking at are shown on the inner sleeve, and feature Ian Botham (watched by Guigsy), Noel Gallagher from the "Cigarettes & Alcohol" music video, snooker player Alex Higgins (after winning the World Snooker Championship in 1981), Peter Sellers in a scene from The Party, and the Who's Keith Moon.

Click here to watch the music video, or here for a live performance.

Source: Wikipedia

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Oasis To Release 'Lord Don't Slow Me Down' On DVD

Find out details and special extras for road movie

Oasis have announced they are to release new material this year -tour documentary 'Lord Don't Slow Me Down'.

The band are bringing out the on-the-road film on DVD on October 29.

The movie follows Oasis on their last world tour, taking in 26 countries and two million fans, and features unique backstage access and interviews with the whole band.

The release also features new Noel Gallagher-fronted title track, 'Lord Don't Slow Me Down', over the film's credits.

The film was shot in black and white by director Baillie Walsh who has also worked with Massive Attack, Spiritualized, New Order and Kylie Minogue.

The DVD release will feature the full-length film - and edited version was shown on British TV last year - along with a host of extras.

Footage of a Noel Gallagher fan Q&A is also included, while the whole band have provided an alternative 'directors commentary' to the film.

Additionally, the release will feature a second disc with footage from the band's homecoming show at Manchester City's Eastlands Stadium on July 2, 2005.

The concert, shot in high definition colour, includes 16 tracks, along with a montage of pictures sent in by fans. To whet you appetite you can read NME.COM's review of Oasis' City of Manchester Stadium shows online now.

Meanwhile Oasis have confirmed that they "are currently preparing a brand new album for release in 2008".

For more on Oasis and 'Lord Don't Slow Me Down', make sure you pick up this week's issue of NME - on UK newsstands from August 15 - for an exclusive look at the documentary and more details about its release.

Plus come back to NME.COM midday tomorrow for our special online Oasis picture gallery (August 14).

Source: www.nme.com

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Oasis In World Record Attempt

Oasis are being asked to join in with a world record breaking, family reunion plea.

Noel and Liam Gallagher have been asked to attend potentially the largest family reunion ever.

The organisers of 'The Gallagher Clan Global Gathering' are inviting every Gallagher in the world to the Guiness World Record attempt of the The Largest Same Name Gathering.

The event will unite Gallaghers from all over the world and take place in the original Gallagher homeland of Co Donegal.

The clan can trace its roots back to the legendary Irish kind Niall Of The Nine Hostages.

Meanwhile, Oasis are set to release their concert film 'Lord Don't Slow Me Down' on DVD on October 29. The two-disc format is also set to feature the band's homecoming show at Manchester City's Eastlands Stadium on July 2, 2005, reports The Irish Independent.

Source: www.nme.com

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'Lord Don't Slow Me Down'

On 29th October Oasis release a brand new DVD film.

What happens when a film maker follows one of the world’s biggest bands on a year long world tour? What happens when the film maker is granted unique access to that band, is present for the ups and downs, the moments of greatness and the periods of the same interview in 10 different languages in as many days? What happens when that band is Oasis, travelling across 26 countries on their biggest world tour to date playing to a total of over 2 million people?

The answer is ‘Lord Don’t Slow Me Down’, a double DVD set that not only gives you the definitive feature length documentary seen in selected cinemas last year, but also the option of voice over commentaries from the band, a Noel Gallagher Q & A session with fans from New York City, out takes from the film, and a second 90 minute bonus disc capturing the band’s homecoming show at Manchester City’s Eastlands Stadium together with footage sent in by fans from around the world who attended that show. If you wanted to know what the members of Oasis make of their lives on tour and their audience, then the answers are on these two discs.

Directed by Baillie Walsh who has previously worked with Massive Attack (he made ‘Safe From Harm’), Spiritualised, New Order and Kylie’s Slow, and is now working on a film with Daniel Craig, this DVD set is a compendium of Oasis entertainment par excellence.

‘Lord Don’t Slow Me Down’ contents:

Disc One:
• Feature length documentary tour film ‘Lord Don’t Slow Me Down’ in stereo and surround sound.
• Bonus audio commentary – Noel, Liam, Andy and Gem guide you through the film with their recollections of the tour.
• A Noel Gallagher Q&A session with fans runs alongside out-takes from the film.

Bonus Disc:
• Oasis live at City of Manchester Stadium on 2nd July 2005 – sixteen classic tracks shot in HD with stereo and surround sound.
• Disc 2 also features unique footage and pictures sent in by fans who attended the concert.

'Lord Don’t Slow Me Down’ is released on 29th October 2007. Oasis are currently preparing a brand new album for release in 2008.

Source:www.oasisinet.com

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Recreate Classic Album Covers

In a moment of madness, Andrew and Jon decided to have a bash at recreating some classic album covers, just for the hell of it. These are, evidently, very poor attempts, but a good laugh to do (see especially, Andrew wearing a blonde wig in the Simon & Garfunkel cover, like a hat).

Click here for the gallery that include (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis, Never Mind The Bollocks - Sex Pistols, Nevermind - Nirvana, Animals - Pink Floyd, Andy Warhol - The Velvet Underground and many more.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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Noel Gallagher At Upton Park Yesterday

Noel Gallagher got mobbed by fans at yesterday's premiership opener between West Ham United and Manchester City.

Noel witnessed Rolando Bianchi and Geovanni score on their debuts as Sven-Goran Eriksson's new-look Manchester City side got off to a winning start at West Ham winning 2-0.

Click here to watch the video

Thanks to tw25rw for the video.

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How Tony Wilson Changed Music

Tony Wilson, the music mogul who has died at 57, leaves behind an enormous musical legacy.

Tony Wilson had been suffering from cancer before his death. He played an integral role in establishing Manchester as a cultural centre, signing bands such as New Order, whose distinctive sound turned them into a global success.

The Factory label and the Hacienda nightclub were two of his best-known projects.

However, he was also recognised for his talent-spotting ability and his foresight in predicting the popularity of downloaded music.

Here are five ways that Wilson changed the music industry.

BRINGING PUNK TO THE MAINSTREAM

Wilson, who had been working as a reporter at Granada TV, gave the Sex Pistols their television debut in 1976.

He had seen the punk pioneers' legendary gig at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall that June.

And he booked them for the second series of his Granada music programme So It Goes.

The audience also included future stars such as Morrissey, Mark E Smith and Mick Hucknall, who were inspired by the event to form their own bands.

Only about 40 people were in the crowd, according to author David Nolan, who wrote a book hailing the concert The Gig that Changed the World.

"What those Mancunians did was astonishing," he told the BBC last year.

"They sent club culture around the world; they sent the independent record scene around the world; they took a style of music around the world."

SETTING UP FACTORY RECORDS

Joy Division, New Order and Electronic were among the acts on the roster at Manchester's Factory Records.

New Order's hits included True Faith, World in Motion and Blue Monday It has often been said that Wilson wrote contracts in his own blood, saying the artists owned everything and the label owned nothing.

Whether this story was true or not, the principle certainly was.

It was a powerful and revolutionary statement of creative freedom - but it was also financial suicide.

Albums were overdue and over-budget when they were delivered.

New Order's Blue Monday became the biggest-selling 12" single in UK history.

But Factory lost money on every copy sold because of the intricate die-cut design of its sleeve, which looked like a floppy disc.

Wilson also claimed that Factory was on the verge of signing Oasis and Pulp before it went bankrupt in 1992.

ESTABLISHING THE HACIENDA NIGHTCLUB

Rob Gretton, who was the manager of Joy Division and New Order, decided there should be a venue that played the kind of music he liked to hear.

The Hacienda was an integral part of 2002 film 24-Hour Party People
The Hacienda was funded by New Order and Factory Records, and as well as being a magnet for clubbers, it also hosted gigs - such as Madonna's first UK appearance.

"The Hacienda changed Manchester forever," said Vaughan Allen, chief executive of the city's Urbis centre, which is currently hosting an exhibition about the club.

"It did 25 years ago what MySpace does today, bringing together creative people to create something new," he told the BBC last month.

The venue was officially opened by risque comedian Bernard Manning.

He departed quickly, however - some accounts say he left his fee behind because he was so unimpressed by the sound system, while others claim it was owing to the fact that his act went down badly with the crowd.

RUNNING THE "IN THE CITY" CONFERENCE

Set up in 1992, it is the UK's largest and most influential forum for finding new talent and discussing the future of the industry.

Oasis played at In the City before they had their first hit, Supersonic It allows the music industry to run the rule over the cream of the UK's new and unsigned bands.

And it has helped launch the careers of almost every major British act of the last 15 years.

Oasis, Radiohead and Suede played at the first In the City.

Muse and Coldplay appeared in 1998; Snow Patrol performed in 2000; and The Arctic Monkeys put in an appearance five years later.

Wilson was renowned as "one of the great spotters of music talent", said Alan McGee, who founded Creation - the home of Oasis and Primal Scream.

"He was a complete inspiration," McGee told the NME website following Wilson's death.

PIONEERING LEGAL MUSIC DOWNLOADS

Wilson was one of the first people to realise the full implications of the illegal downloading revolution that Napster ushered in at the turn of the millennium, and to turn it into an opportunity.

Napster had let fans download songs without paying royalties
Back in 1999 - four years before iTunes was launched - Wilson was preparing a site called Music33, which sold tracks from local labels for 33p each.

He said the 33p price-tag was based on an honest assessment of the costs of digital delivery.

However, the site failed to take off and the cost of digital music was set much higher by the major players in the coming years.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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Who Is The Best Ever Northerner?

Organisers of the exhibition - a celebration of all things Northern - have been inviting gallery visitors to nominate their favourite Northern people, places, food and musicians, with the most popular being displayed on a specially created Wall of Fame within the gallery.

And there are plenty of Boltonians on the shortlist.

Steeplejack Fred Dibnah, comedian Peter Kay and presenter and DJ Vernon Kay have all been nominated for the "Myth Of The North Male Personality" award.

They will be up against playwright Alan Bennet, comedians Bernard Manning and Les Dawson, singers Liam Gallagher and George Formby, actor Ricky Tomlinson, former England cricket captain Geoffrey Boycott and interviewer Michael Parkinson for the award.

Currently in the lead is Davyhulme-born former Smiths frontman, Morrissey.

Vote for Liam Gallagher as best male personality

Vote for Oasis as Best Northern Band

Source: www.thelowry.com

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Sunday On BBC 6Music

BBC 6 Music
Sunday 12 August
Oasis - 22/12/1993
04:00 - 04:30 (GMT)

Every Saturday and Sunday morning from 0400, Clare McDonnell brings you Access All Archive a unique insight into the BBC's concert and Sessions back catalogue.
Click here for more information on the show

Madia Vale Studios
22/12/1993

Cigarettes & Alcohol
Shakermaker
Bring It On Down
Up In The Sky (Acoustic)
Supersonic (Acoustic)
Married With Children (Acoustic)

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

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This Year I'll Ride The Snake Like A Soccer Shaman

We may need a revolution to sort out society's problems, but leave football alone and let's enjoy the new season.

Today I am going to watch West Ham v Man City for the first game of the new calendar. The season's commencement feels all fresh, lovely and new. We've rinsed away the horror and regret of last season; I suppose that's another of the sublime delights entailed within the game - a terminable, manageable existence within defined parameters. Regardless of how spectacular or drab your term has been it'll all begin again next August. That's comforting. Better than actual life where if you hijack a bus and drive it into old folks home yawping slogans and hurling fireworks the consequences will haunt you to your grave.

I shall make my way to Upton Park all virginal and brimming with innocent expectation with a couple of chums, perhaps singing "three little maids from school are we" from the Mikado. Noel Gallagher will be there in his capacity as a City fan elevating further the jeopardy for this already thrilling encounter as football kindly provides a context for good-natured banter and playful threats - again within defined parameters.

I shall enjoy this year's football; I'll ride the snake, like Jim Morrisson as a soccer-ball shaman. I'm not going to focus on the incremental erosion of the essence of the beautiful game because it is symptomatic of a much larger problem. I'd like to suggest that we enjoy the football then come late May, in the un-season, instead of watching the to-ing and fro-ing and the "I'd rather not go-ing" we unite under one glorious banner march down Whitehall and kick off a proper revolution.

Source: Russell Brand's Blog For The Guardian

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Happy Birthday Andy Bell...

Andrew Piran Bell (born 11 August 1970 in Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh musician, and former member of the early 1990s shoegazing band, Ride, and later, Hurricane #1. He currently plays bass guitar and is a songwriter for Oasis. However, on latest albums, the band have taken less clearly defined roles and Bell was able to contribute guitar on his tunes.

Ride

Bell formed Ride with Mark Gardener (guitarist), who he met at Cheney School in Oxford and Laurence Colbert (drummer) and Steve Queralt (bassist), who he met doing Foundation Studies in Art and Design at Banbury in 1988. While still at Banbury the band produced a tape demo including the tracks "Chelsea Girl" and "Drive Blind". In February 1989 "Ride" were asked to stand in for a cancelled student union gig at Oxford Poly that brought them to the attention of Alan McGee. After supporting The Soup Dragons in 1989 McGee signed them to Creation Records.

With Ride, Bell released three EPs between January and September 1990, entitled "Ride", "Play" and "Fall". While the EP's were not chart successes, enough critical praise was received to make Ride the "darlings" of music journalists. The first two EPs were eventually released together as Smile in 1992, while the "Fall" EP was incorporated into their first LP, Nowhere, released in October 1990, which was hailed as a critical success and the media dubbed Ride "The brightest hope" for 1991. This was followed in March 1992 with Going Blank Again. The twin rhythm guitars of Bell and Gardener, both distorted, both using Wah-wah pedals and both feeding back on each other was seen as the highlight of the album's critical and chart success.

Despite having a solid fanbase and some mainstream success, the lack of a breakthrough contributed to inter-band tension, especially between Gardener and Bell. Their third LP, Carnival of Light, was released in 1994, after shoegazing had given way to Britpop. Carnival of Light was oriented towards this new sound, but sales were sluggish and the shift in musical tastes devastated much of their original audience. The band were joined at Creation Records by Oasis, who shot to fame in 1994 with their groundbreaking debut Definitely Maybe. As label mates, Bell came to know the bands Gallagher brothers quite well and often shared in their partying, if not their success.

1995 saw the dissolution of the band while recording fourth album Tarantula due to creative and personal tensions between Gardener and Bell. The track listing of Carnival of Light gives an indication of the tension that was mounting between the two guitarists, with the first half of the album being songs written by Gardener and the last half of the album being songs written by Bell - one or both had refused to let their songs be interspersed with pieces written by the other. Bell penned most of the songs for Tarantula, one of which - "Castle on the Hill" - was a lament for the band's situation and contains references to Gardener's self imposed exile from the group. The album was withdrawn from sales one week after release.

Since the break-up, both Bell and Gardener have been able to be more reflective on the reasons why the group disintegrated, with Bell especially admitting his own part in the process. It appears that they had just been too young and too stubborn and had no real idea of where the band was heading when they changed their style.

Hurricane #1

Bell returned in 1997 with Hurricane #1, another Creation signing. Aware of his own vocal fragility, Bell had drafted in a more gutsy singer, Alex Lowe, who would sing the songs Bell wrote for him. The same year, they released their first album, also called Hurricane #1. Their first single, "Step Into My World", number 29 in the UK charts (a re-mix of reached number 19 that year), and other less successful singles "Just Another Illusion" and "Chain Reaction".

Their second album, Only The Strongest Will Survive, was released in 1998 and the title track was released as a single reaching number 19.

Hurricane #1 drew criticism, bordering on ridicule, for their similarity to Oasis. Bell himself said "Hurricane #1 is not so much influenced by Oasis, it's inspired by Oasis". Ill-advisedly, they let one of their songs be used on a TV ad campaign for The Sun. Their albums did not sell well and in 1999 Bell took time out to tour as guitarist with the band Gay Dad.

Oasis

Bell has been good friends with Magnus Carlson, the lead singer in Swedish band, Weeping Willows. Together they have embarked on some musical projects. The two run and DJ at the club, Bangers ’n’ Mash. During the autumn of 2006 Carlson and Bell teamed up (with Janne Schaffer) and performed at an event dedicated to the late 1970s singer-songwriter, Ted Gärdestad.

The Weeping Willows released their fifth studio album Fear & Love with Bell as producer in February 2007. Bell played a number of instruments on eight of the album's twelve tracks ranging from glockenspiel, piano and guitar. Weeping Willows has always drawn upon early Roy Orbison and The Smiths as their main influences. On Fear & Love Bell brought some English folk music influences, and a some 1960s styled British Invasion sounds. The album was more or less recorded live in the studio, by playing the songs until the band got them right with minimal digital post production. Weeping Willows last two albums relied on a lot of post-production and remix styled studio techniques. Scandinavian music critics have given the album a warm welcome and compared some songs to The Verve, Talk Talk and Oasis.

In 2003 Bell collaborated with the Stockholm based Irish-Swedish electronica/acid house duo, DK7, on the tracks “Heart Like a Demon” and “White Shadow” for their Disarmed album.

He has also performed solo gigs at smaller Swedish summer festivals.

Source: Wikipedia

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Oasis: World Exclusive Announcement Coming

NME.COM gets the latest update on Gallagher and co

Oasis are set to make a world exclusive announcement on NME.COM on Monday (August 13).

The band are ready to break their silence about their future plans.

Despite the fact that they recently covered 'Within You Without You' for the BBC Radio 2 re-recording of The Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', Oasis have been comparatively silent.

The band's last release was last year's 'Stop The Clocks' double CD 'Best Of' compilation.

Be sure to check back to NME.COM at midday and we'll have the full lowdown.

Source: www.nme.com

Vote For Us At The BT Digital Music Awards 2007

The annual BT Digital Music Awards 2007, this year held in association with Packard Bell And Yahoo Music, will take place at London's Roundhouse on October 2, 2007.

The ceremony will again be broadcast on Channel 4 in early October – the natural home for the only awards designed to reward cutting-edge music entertainment delivered using the latest digital technology.

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You can support stopcryingyourheartout.com and cast your vote for the site by clicking Here or on the BT Music Awards banners around the site.

Thanks for all your continued support, and every vote is appreciated.

Oasis Biography

The rock annals are so full of myth and invention that every now and again when the real deal shows up, it takes a while to recognise it for what it is.

Noel Gallagher's memories of his first Glastonbury Festival appearance in 1994 are episodic and intimate, like outtakes from a movie he'd wandered into. They're of things like taking possession of a backstage caravan from the band he'd once worked for as a roadie, and coming offstage to be told that Oasis's second UK single, Shakermaker, had climbed to number eleven in the chart; of someone from Creation Records being disappointed to fall short of the top ten while the band, having just heard their music soaring towards a horizon for the first time, now knew there would be no space they couldn't fill, were individually thrilled. Noel recalls having the astonishing intimation that the band's dreams were about to become true. Oasis were at the forefront of a new generation of British guitar groups who stepped out of the shadow of native dance culture and American grunge, with eyes fixed on the mainstream in a way that would have been unthinkable a few years before. 60,000 people went away from that first Glastonbury performance and told a million others about the thrill of what they'd seen: about this band who were the absolute primal essence of rock and roll, refined and distilled to ragged perfection - the impact of whose music, then as now, was so bafflingly much greater than the sum of its parts. We all went away knowing we'd seen something great and that the acts who followed Oasis that afternoon might as well not have bothered.

Talk to the Gallagher brothers about how they made it to Glastonbury and you get no romanticisation, because while their tale might read like a fairy story now, that's not how it began, and you don't have to delve far to find echoes of rock's origins in the Delta. The details of their early lives in the tough Manchester district of Burnage are well documented, but fortunately there were compensations in the form of an old guitar their father brought home one day - in which Noel found refuge for hours at a time - and regular trips to Maine Road Stadium to watch Manchester City play football. In the case of the latter, what fascinated the boys was not so much the action on the pitch, but the 'stands full of crowds singing together, something you never saw (and still seldom see) anywhere else. And what they sang was so uplifting. Noel had been born three days before the release of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper, but football provided his first real experience of music and it may be coincidence that songs like Don't Look Back in Anger and Champagne Supernova seem to come fully alive in a stadium; that Oasis are one of the few bands you'd rather see in that environment than in a sweaty club. But there again, it may not. Critics who dismiss Oasis's songs as populist fail to recognise the core emotion behind them, which is yearning.

So in their different ways, the songs are mostly about transcendence and it's arguable that what we have here is a form of English soul music… which also explains the uniquely intimate relationship between Oasis and their fans - why their audience not only remains constant, but constantly renews itself, regardless of whatever vogues are playing elsewhere.

Liam formed the band. Noel never played in one until he came home from roadying for Inspiral Carpets and managed to persuade the four friends from the original lineup that he should join forces with them. Liam appears to have been born to his destiny as a rock star – his mother tells a story of him covering dropped lines in a nativity play with a spontaneous impression of Elvis – but Noel expected to be a builder like his dad. None of his mates were into music, but a first sighting of local boys The Smiths in 1984 turned his world upside down, with Liam equally besotted by The Stone Roses' legendary early Manchester shows, setting the seal on the brothers' musical ambitions a few years later.

We often assume the rise of Oasis to have been instant and unchallenged, but it wasn't: the first review in Britain's NME was noncommittal and the second scathing. Nevertheless, by the time that blistering debut album Definitely Maybe arrived, most observers had no trouble recognising it as a stone cold classic. The instinctive theme was the band's dream of escaping the life they'd been born to, but where a song like Rock 'n' Roll Star, with its chorus of 'Tonight...I'm a rock 'n' roll star!' could seem aloof in other hands, this song wasn't about being a rock star, it was about feeling like one; about that fleeting sense of immortality you got when you stalked into a bar at the age of 18 knowing you looked great, felt great, were the very essence and summation of being – the sense that existence could never, ever have more to offer than this. No one has ever captured this precarious thrill better than Noel, while Liam seems its perpetual embodiment. The singer's six-syllable phrasing of the word 'imagination' in the first line of Cigarettes & Alcohol makes it easily the most iconic song line of the 1990s.

Everything which followed was built on this ecstatic foundation. The second album, (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, went over the top when Wonderwall became a world-wide anthem of 1995, while Oasis became part of the national narrative in the UK - and don't we have the memories to prove it. There were the Maine Road and Knebworth mega shows; the sibling feuds and Liam's leery and often hilarious misdemeanours at a time when London was swinging in a way that it hadn't since the Sixties.

Then there was the insanity surrounding the release of the band's third album, Be Here Now, in 1997, of a type not visited upon the British Isles since Beatlemania and which no album could hope to live up to. Notwithstanding its author's retrospective belief that Be Here Now was rushed, it springs a lot of surprises when listened to with fresh ears at this remove: at the very least, it looks like the most perfect expression of its time; of New Labour's victory and Diana's death and the blizzard of cocaine on the city streets, all of which seemed to feed the inevitable post-millennial comedown, and a sense of disorientation which found focus in Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, the album made just before the sudden departure of founder members Bonehead and Guigs. All the same, a period of rebuilding both band and the brothers' personal lives – all reported as news of national significance because, in a funny sort of way, it was - culminated in 2002's Heathen Chemistry, which combined the band's best collection of songs since Morning Glory with the fresh drive provided by new members Gem Archer and Andy Bell.
The interesting thing about the story so far is that, throughout, the group's live audience continued to grow on a world-wide scale, perhaps because the brothers' triumphs and travails seemed to reflect our own as individuals. Just as they are a part of our story, we feel ourselves to be a part of theirs and perhaps the most revealing thing Noel Gallagher has ever said about the band came in response to a question concerning their lack of razzmatazz live, to which he replied simply that 'if you take the emphasis away from razzmatazz, the audience gets more involved with itself.'

And now we seem to have entered a second phase. Their most recent album, Don't Believe The Truth, rightly heralded as a triumphant return, differs from its predecessors in that the writing is shared amongst the band. Liam continues to blossom and mature as a songwriter, while Gem Archer and Andy Bell have stepped forward with telling contributions and are making it increasingly hard to remember a time when they weren't around. Meanwhile, Noel's own tunes seem to be engaging with the world in a more direct way, almost as wry Information Age protest songs in some cases. Where this might lead, it's impossible to know, but anyone who saw 2005/06's world tour will have found Oasis looking and sounding as vital as at any time since '94.

Andrew Smith 2006

Source: www.myspace.com/oasis

Fan Gallery Winners

We’d like to thank the thousands of fans who sent in pictures and mobile clips from the Manchester shows in July ‘05 for possible inclusion in the fan gallery on the forthcoming Oasis DVD.

We received so many that we couldn’t include all of them, but you could be one of 140 lucky fans whose photos or clips will appear on the release for posterity!

As promised we will be choosing 10 winners of an advance copy of the DVD, signed by the band. The winners will be notified on or before 9th September ‘07, and will also be listed on the website.

Keep an eye on oasisinet early next week for more news on the release!

Source: www.oasisinet.com

411mania.com Top 100 Albums

Number 62
Chart History:
Album:Billboard 200: #58

Singles:

"Live Forever" Mainstream Rock: #10 Modern Rock: #2
"Supersonic" Modern Rock: #11
"Rock ‘N' Roll Star" Modern Rock: #36

Rutherford: Many words have been written about this band over the past decade and only a small portion has been about the music. Which is a pity because during the early part of their career they produced some classic moments, most of which can be found here. There is a swagger and defiance about the way Oasis went about their business and whether it was the cocky exclamations of "Rock 'N' Roll Star" or the plaintive ballad "Live Forever" it always had a definite "British" attitude.

O'Sullivan: Anyone who says that Morning Glory is a better album is a cretin and a loser. Okay, so that's perhaps a tad harsh, but that sentiment of Oasis' sophomore album being their finest work has always annoyed me. This was their peak, and the start of their superstardom in Europe. Commercially, it didn't hit as hard as Morning Glory, but that's beyond irrelevant. Creatively, this was gold. Indie rock and roll at its finest. "Cigarettes and Alcohol", "Live Forever", "Slide Away"……pure class.

Tollah: The album that grabbed Britpop by the scruff of the neck and made it something. A true classic. The lyrics are meaningless for the most part and the musicianship is nothing special at all (kind of like Nirvana), but (unlike Nirvana) this album has so much raw energy and attitude that it just mesmerised all of us teenagers growing up in Britain in the mid-90s

Click here for the countdown so far...

Source: www.411mania.com