Gig Raises £250,000 To Fight Cancer

Musicians from the north west raised £250,000 for cancer research and treatment projects across the region at this year's Versus Cancer gig.

The star-studded line-up headlined by Noel Gallagher also included Paul Weller, Ian Brown, The Charlatans and Echo and the Bunnymen.

Specialist cancer hospital Christie will receive £100,000, which doctors plan to use to research a revolutionary new treatment which works by boosting the immune system.

Cash also goes to the Genesis Cancer Prevention Centre, recently opened at Wythenshawe Hospital.

Funds raised have provided an ambulance for Dr Kershaw's Hospice in Oldham to help transport cancer patients to and from their homes.

And money is also going to testicular cancer awareness campaign, Check 'Em Lads, and East Lancashire Hospice.

It is the second year the charity gig organised by the Great Northern Aid Trust has been held at the M.E.N. Arena and organisers are planning more events for later in this year and early next year.

Ex-Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke was inspired to set up the Versus Cancer gig after his manager's sister Nina Rehman was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2004. She lost her fight with the condition a year ago.

Rourke said of this March's gig: "It was an amazing night and we're overwhelmed that so many great artists gave up their time for free to make it happen.

"Of course this is just one more step for us. With a DVD due out soon and more events in the pipeline, we hope to raise even more money for cancer charities."

Christie Hospital chief executive Caroline Shaw said: "We are so grateful to everyone involved in Versus Cancer for this generous donation.

"A fantastic concert that entertained thousands of people is also helping people with cancer by raising vital funds for research. You can't get a better combination than that.

"This money will help develop our T-cell therapy research - a revolutionary new type of treatment which boosts a patient's own infection-fighting cells to naturally seek out and kill cancerous tumours."

Wendy Adams, of the Genesis Centre, said: "One in 10 women is currently expected to develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Our mission is to make one in 10 none in 10. The involvement of the Great Northern Aid Trust goes a long way in helping us to achieve this goal."

Nova Rehman, of Great Northern Aid Trust, said: "We aim to do three things: to help find a cure for cancer; to help patients currently suffering from the disease; and to raise awareness to reduce cancer death."

Source: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

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Still Time To Vote...

Voting is well under way at 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.

The People's Choice award is now open. It's your chance to nominate the best music fan sites on the web in the past year.

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.

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"My Heroes" Oasis

You're stuck behind a three-wheeled old banger, stuttering and stalling at the traffic lights... Thinking of giving the driver a piece of your mind?

Well, think again, because behind the wheel could be Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton, a barrel of bulging muscles with fists like sledgehammers, who's on the way to becoming the greatest boxer Britain has ever produced.

The next punch Ricky throws with a vengeance will be aimed at the American Floyd Mayweather. Their bout, under the chandeliers of the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in December, has just been announced.

The welterweight match will earn Ricky £5million. To add to the £2.5million he collected after flooring Jose Luis Castillo in four rounds in June.

He has gone 43 fights unbeaten (46 if you count the playground scuffles) and, at 28, is already worth £12million.

And yet we're sitting in a semi-detached home, in a back street in Hyde, Manchester. Ricky says this is his dream home, the sort of palace he thought he'd never be able to afford in the days when he was a trainee carpet fitter.

It must have set him back the best part of £200,000. Parked outside is that three-wheeler, Ricky's pride and joy, never mind the top-of-the-range BMW next to it.

It's one of the original Reliant vans from Only Fools And Horses. He bought it for £20,000 from a collector and his hobby is to drive it around Hyde, wearing a sheepskin coat and flat cap, Del Boy-style.

Looking around at the snapshots in Ricky's home and they're a celebrity gallery... Ricky with Tom Jones, Ricky with the Gallagher brothers ("My heroes. I play Oasis in the dressing room before a fight"), Ricky with Sly Stallone. "This is my favourite spot in the whole house," he says, leaning back on the chocolate-leather sofa in the corner, surveying his collection.

Click here to read the full story.

Source: www.sundaymirror.co.uk

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Pre-Order Lord Don't Slow Me Down

Oasis : Lord Don't Slow Me Down
(RKIDDVD38X)
Double DVD
price: £16.99
Pre-order. Released 29th October

Click here to order

Source: Email from oasisinet

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Rock 'N' Roll Stars Behaviour

Keith Richards' idea of rock ’n’ roll used to be crashing cars, injecting heroin in front of groupies and trashing hotel rooms.

On Thursday night he shuffled to the front of the stage at London’s O2 Arena to light up in defiance of the smoking ban.

Hardly the wild man of old. So whatever happened to our legendary misbehaving music stars?

Today’s acts still have a taste for Class A drugs — witness the shambling wrecks that are Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty.

But the over-the-top bizarre behaviour that fascinated millions of fans seems a thing of the past.

Richards puffing a roll-up to wild cheers from the £150 corporate seats — telling fans it contained cotton wool — would have Keith Moon turning in his grave.

The Who’s drummer — known as Moon the Loon — was the undoubted king of the swingers.

He was famous for destroying his drum kit, dressing as a Nazi, blowing up toilets and throwing TV sets out of hotel windows.

But his most famous moment — later immortalised on an Oasis album cover — was when he drove a Rolls-Royce into a hotel swimming pool during The Who’s first US tour in 1967.

Moon was celebrating his birthday drinking with cronies at the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan, the party culminating with a naked Moon sending the posh motor to a watery grave.

Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne runs Moon close.

Among his excesses were biting the heads off a bat and a dove, snorting a line of ants and trying to kill his wife Sharon after one too many.

But in February 1982 he reached a new low.

Drunk in his hotel room, he grabbed the only clothes he could find — one of his wife’s dresses.

He then decided to visit the Alamo, a US national shrine and, caught short, relieved himself against a wall.

He spent the night in jail and was banned from San Antonio for ten years.

Led Zeppelin were notorious for their insatiable appetite for groupies.

But what took place at Seattle’s Edgewater Inn in 1969 has gone down in rock legend.

The band’s entourage, including drummer John Bonham, discovered they could fish from their hotel room window.

They caught several small sharks and hung them in the wardrobe.

But after tiring of this, they decided to involve a groupie in their antics.

The rumours were that the groupie had sex with one of the sharks.

Years later, road manager Richard Cole was happy to clear up the misunderstanding.

He explained: “It wasn’t a shark, it was a red snapper.

“And it wasn’t some big ritualistic thing; it was in and out and a laugh and the girl wasn’t sobbing — she was a willing participant.”

Elvis Presley was not only the king of rock ’n’ roll but also the king of rock excess.

His favourite snack was the Fool’s Gold Loaf, a speciality of a Denver restaurant — a whole loaf, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of grape jelly and a pound of bacon.

One night, Elvis got the munchies so he rang the restaurant from his Memphis mansion and ordered 22 of the loaves.

He then flew the 877 miles to Colorado with two buddies on his private jet to tuck in before flying back.

Punk also spawned its own rebels.

The Sex Pistols caused national outrage by swearing on teatime TV.

Guitarist Steve Jones called interviewer Bill Grundy a “dirty f*****” and a “f****** rotter”.

The Clash’s Paul Simonon and Topper Headon were arrested for shooting racing pigeons while The Stranglers appeared on stage with strippers.

The last great wild Lead man is Liam Gallagher.

The lead vocalist of Oasis spent ten years drinking, doing drugs and getting into scrapes with the law.

The most notorious was in December 2002, when Gallagher and two other band members began fighting each other in a Munich hotel nightclub.

One fell into a table where five or six large Italians were sitting. They joined in.

The band’s security men came to help.

The police arrived and, possibly in an attempt to restore calm, Gallagher kicked one in the chest.

The fight continued outside, where Gallagher lost two front teeth.

He narrowly escaped a GBH charge and a two-year prison sentence.

To date, he’s been banned from an airline, four hotel chains and Channel ferries.

Sadly, since Gallagher settled into fatherhood, hell-raising has been a dying art.

source: www.thesun.co.uk

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Email From The Director Of Versus Cancer

Thanks for your email. In terms of the DVD we are completing the edit at the moment and we are aiming for a release late this year / early next year. I am unable to confirm the track listing, but obviously we are trying to include as much of Noels set as is possible. I’ll keep you posted on developments.

Thanks for the support, it is greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards, James.

James Ward

Director Versus Cancer

www.versuscancer.org
www.greatnorthernaidtrust.org
www.myspace.com/versuscancer

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The Cavern The Most Famous Club In The World In Stores Now

EMI Marketing / Universal Music TV are proud to release a 3 disc anniversary edition CD to celebrate The Cavern’s 50th anniversary this year. Containing 50 tracks from artists who have all appeared at the club over the years, the tracklist reads like a Who’s Who of British popular music over the decades, and amply highlights the pivotal importance and influence the club has extended over the years since it opened on 16th January 1957.

The album is released on 20th August, ahead of the internationally acclaimed Mathew Street Festival, which runs over the Bank Holiday weekend every year and is typically visited by in excess of three hundred thousand people.

CD 1
01. Bob Wooler - Intro
02. The Beatles - Please Please Me
03. Chuck Berry - No Particular Place To Go
04. The Shadows - Apache
05. The Spencer Davis Group - Keep On Running
06. Johnny Kidd & The Pirates - Shakin' All Over
07. Cilla Black - Anyone Who Had A Heart
08. The Hollies - I'm Alive
09. Gene Vincent - Be Bop A Lula
10. The Easybeats - Friday On My Mind
11. Lonnie Donegan - Cumberland Gap
12. The Fourmost - Hello Little Girl
13. The Searchers - Sweets For My Sweet
14. Manfred Mann - Do Wah Diddy Diddy
15. Chris Farlowe - Out Of Time
16. Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour
17. Ben E. King - Stand By Me
18. Stevie Wonder - I Was Made To Love Her

CD 2
01. Queen - Killer Queen
02. Paul Mccartney - All Shook Up (Live at The Cavern)
03. The Kinks - You Really Got Me
04. The Big Three - Some Other Guy
05. The Animals - The House Of The Rising Sun
06. Hermans Hermits - I'm Into Something Good
07. The Moody - Blues Go Now
08. Gerry & The Pacemakers - Ferry Cross The Mersey
09. The Zombies - She's Not There
10. The Swinging Blue Jeans - Hippy Hippy Shake
11. Little Eva - The Locomotion
12. Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers - Got To Get You Into My Life
13. Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas - Little Children
14. The Merseybeats - I Think Of You
15. The Flowerpot Men - Let's Go To San Francisco
16. Elton John - Border Song

CD 3
01. The Rolling Stones - It's All Over Now
02. The Who - My Generation
03. Oasis - Part Of The Queue
04. The Yardbirds - For Your Love
05. Donovan Sunshine - Superman
06. Wishbone - Ash Blowin' Free
07. Georgie Fame - Yeh Yeh
08. Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
09. Status Quo - Down Down
10. Tom Robinson - 2-4-6-8 Motorway
11. Edwin Starr - War
12. Thin Lizzy - Whiskey In The Jar
13. Rod Stewart - Handbags And Gladrags
14. Embrace - All You Good People
15. Kt Tunstall - Black Horse & The Cherry Tree
16. Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me
17. The Coral - In The Morning
18. Arctic Monkeys - The View From The Afternoon
(Live - previously unreleased version)

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Cancer Concert Raises A Quarter Of A Million

Versus Cancer has raised a quarter of a million pounds to benefit cancer charities across the North of England.

Following the massively successful concert at Manchester's MEN Arena on Friday March 30th this year, which saw unique performances from Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Ian Brown, The Charlatans and many more, The Great Northern Aid Trust, organisers of the Versus Cancer concerts, has announced its first money raise for 2007.

“It was an amazing night and we’re overwhelmed that so many great artists gave up their time for free to make it happen,” said Great Northern Aid Trust founder Andy Rourke. “Of course this is just one more step for us, with a DVD due out soon and more events in the pipeline, we hope to raise even more money for cancer charities.”

The biggest beneficiary from the concert will again be the Christie Hospital, a specialist cancer hospital in Manchester, who have received £100,000 for innovative cancer research.

Source: www.oasisinet.com

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Noel Gal's Wrong Answer

Noel Gallagher won a scooter and David Beckham fragrance in a pub quiz at his local.

The Oasis legend made a sterling skipper of The Wrong ’Uns at the Islington boozer.

But missus Sara MacDonald overruled him on one question.

It was: Who did the Bond movie producers intend to take over from Sean Connery as 007?

Sara didn’t think that the answer was Oliver Reed, so changed it and lost a point.

Their baby is due soon. I reckon they should call the tot Olly if it’s a boy.

Source: www.thesun.co.uk

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Noel Gallagher Wins A Scooter And Some David Beckham Fragrance

Oasis rocker Noel Gallagher won a scooter and a David Beckham fragrance after he came top of a pub quiz at his local London drinking spot.

To view more pictures from the quiz night click here

Source: www.contactmusic.com

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Oasis CD Bootleg Artwork Wanted 1992-1999

I'm looking for the CD artwork for the following Oasis shows, for the Bootleg Artwork section on the site.

If you have any of the artwork that I'm looking for, could you please Email it to at scyhodotcom@gmail.com

1992
??/??/1992 THE BOARDWALK, MANCHESTER
??/??/1992 PORTASTUDIOS, MANCHESTER

1994
07/04/1994 TRAMWAY, GLASGOW
27/04/1994 GLR RADIO SESSION

03/05/1994 MARK LAMARR SHOW

07/06/1994 MAIDA VALE STUDIO'S, LONDON
08/06/1994 MARQUEE CLUB, LONDON
12/06/1994 GLASGOW CATHOUSE, GLASGOW

24/08/1994 2FM RADIO, IRELAND
25/08/1994 AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND

16/11/1994 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

06/12/1994 JOOLS HOLLAND, UK

1995
30/06/1995 ROSKLIDE FESTIVAL, DENMARK
05/10/1995 BOURNEMOUTH, U.

29-30/11/1995 TWO NIGHTS IN BRIXTON

1996
10/03/1996 RHODE ISLAND, USA
26/03/1996 STADTHALLE, GERMANY

13/04/1996 SAN FRANCISCO, USA

10/08/1996 KNEBWORTH, UK (soundcheck)
15/08/1996 CORK, IRELAND

08/09/1996 JONES BEACH, USA

1997
12/07/1997 GLASGOW, SECC
18/07/1997 MUNICH, GERMANY

09/09/1997 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
23/09/1997 SHEFFIELD ARENA, UK

03/11/1997 LE ZENITH, FRANCE
10/11/1997 MADRID, SPAIN
17/11/1997 MILAN, ITALY

1999
05/12/1999 DETROIT, USA
11/12/1999 ANAHEIM, USA

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Noel And Pregnant Sara Shopping In London

Oasis star Noel Gallagher pops out to the shops of Marylebone Street with his girlfriend Sara MacDonald, who is eight months pregnant with their first child.

Source: Celebs And Bubs

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South's Tribute For Tony

To mark the death of Tony Wilson, South nightclub is reviving The Haçienda's legendary Temperance night this Friday.

Even the drinks will be at 1986 prices from 10-11pm. The Temperance Club was created by the Hacienda's Paul Cons, now proprietor of South, 21 years ago. The mix of rock, hip hop, indie and house was a key feature of the Madchester era.

Regulars included Noel Gallagher, Ed O'Brien from Radiohead, Ian Brown and Tim Burgess.

Former Haçienda DJ Dave Haslam and Ben Livingstone will host the night at the King St club.

A percentage of the £5 admission will go to Tony's chosen charity, Christie's.

Click here for more information.

Source: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

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Oasis Tour DJ At Red Rooms This Saturday

This Saturday night the resident DJs at Red Rooms will be joined Oasis Tour DJ Paul Smith who is also resident at two of London's most famous Bars, The MET Bar and KOKO.

Part of the 1980's Manchester scene, Phil Smith originally worked as stage crew at the legendary Hacienda Club and both the International One and International Two music venues.

From there, Phil worked as road crew for The Stone Roses ('88-'90 &'95), OASIS ('93-'95) and The SeaHorses ('96-'97) before becoming the ON TOUR DJ for OASIS on the Be Here Now Tour ('97-'98), and all subsequent OASIS world tours.

Since then, Phil has DJ'ed clubs in the UK and Ireland. Many of these gigs were DJ'ed with Mani (Stone Roses/Primal Scream), and Guigsy (ex Oasis member), playing cities such as Barcelona, Stockholm, Paris, Buenos Aires and Santiago. He is a Resident DJ at the MET Bar London, KOKO, and Bangers and Mash Club in Stockholm He also DJ'ed the recent London shows for Australian rockers Jet.

Phil was featured in OASIS's 'Definitely Maybe' "making of" DVD and forthcoming OASIS tour documentary film, 'Lord Don't Slow Me Down'.

This weekend Red Rooms will also be continuing the very successful Happy Hour it launched last weekend. So to take advantage of this make sure and be at Red Rooms this Saturday night, the Happy Hour will be running from 9.30pm – 11.30pm. Have a Good weekend!!

Source: www.myspace.com/redroomsderry

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Oasis Nominated For A Vodafone Live Music Award

KT Tunstall will be battling it out against Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen and Kate Nash at this year's Vodafone Live Music Awards.

St Andrews-born KT is going head to head with the other feisty gals for the new title of Best Live Female.

The glitzy bash is in its second year and both music industry aficionados and fans will have the chance to enjoy the London event next month.

Fellow Scots Primal Scream have also been nominated for the Best Live Music DVD for the Riot City Blues tour. They're up against Maximo Park, Oasis and Take That.

The Best Live Act this year will be fought out by Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian and last year's winner's Muse, while James Morrison, Mark Ronson, Mika and Jamie T are nominated for Best Male. Announced by presenter Alex Zane moments before an exclusive Vodafone TBA performance by Kanye West, the Vodafone Live Music Awards nominations have been put together by a panel of music industry insiders, including representatives from Music Week and the major record labels.

Voting for the winners is now open to the public at www.vodafone.co.uk/music and by texting BAND and your choice to 61500.

Source: www.dailyrecord.co.uk

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On This Day In Oasis History...

"The Importance of Being Idle" is a song on the British rock band Oasis' sixth album, Don't Believe the Truth, written and sung by lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. It was the second single released from the album in the UK, on August 22, 2005, where it debuted at #1 (see 2005 in music). It was also the first time that Oasis earned two successive #1's in the same calendar year. It was written by Gallagher sometime during the summer of 2004, before the band made their final attempt at recording what would become Don't Believe the Truth. He got the title from the Mark Twain book of the same name which he found whilst cleaning out his garage (it belonged not to him but to girlfriend Sara McDonald.)

Musically, as Noel has commented, the song sounds like tunes from two British bands, The Kinks and The La's. In particular, the sentiment expressed is noticeably similar to The Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon" and "Dead End Street", and the use of falsetto for every other verse line recalls The La's "Feelin'". The guitar sound is similar also to The La's b-sides; "Clean Prophet" and "Over". It also is a breakaway from the sound of Oasis's latter albums, especially the straight ahead rock 'n' roll anthems of Heathen Chemistry. The keyboard used on the pre-chorus sections was bought by bassist Andy Bell from the auction website eBay.

Noel has said that the lyrics of "The Importance of Being Idle" are inspired by his own laziness. Some of the second verse, with the reference to begging his doctor for "one more line", seems to be referring to an actual event as this resembles Noel's account of how he gave up cocaine in 1998.

Most reviewers acclaimed the track as one of the highlights of Don't Believe the Truth, which itself was widely praised as a marked return to form. The band mentioned in interviews in June that it would become the second single, after the UK Number One "Lyla". The b-sides are Liam Gallagher's "Pass Me Down the Wine" and Gem Archer's "The Quiet Ones."

The promo film was directed by Dawn Shadforth, (whose previous videos include Kylie Minogue's award-winning "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"). Shadforth's film for "The Importance of Being Idle' starred Welsh actor Rhys Ifans and homages the style of early 1960s kitchen sink drama British films, and is set during the build up to a funeral procession in a northern town, with the extravagant undertakers parading the coffin at the video's climax and Ifans playing the part of a high-kicking funeral director. The video is based on the film and play Billy Liar with Ifans playing the role of Billy. Noel and Liam therefore play Shadrack & Duxbury, the owners of the funeral parlour where Billy works. The rest band (Gem,Andy and Zak) make a brief appearance as lazy workers playing cards in an undertaker's office. It was widely acclaimed at the time as being probably the best video Oasis had ever made, not least by the band themselves, who were said to be very happy with the finished product. The video is very similar in style and concept to the music video for "Dead End Street" by The Kinks.

Q Magazine readers placed the song at #1 in a list of 2005's greatest tracks.

The video for the song was voted the video of the year at the NME Awards.

The song is included on Oasis' 'best-of' album Stop the Clocks.

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

Source: Wikipedia

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Oasis Start Recording New Album At Abbey Road Studios

Elisa and SallyCinnamon had these pictures taken with the Gallagher's outside the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London on the 6th August.

Noel told the girls that "we started recording the new album on August 6th", and Liam described the new songs as "huge".

Read the full story here (Italian)

Special thanks to Elisa and SallyCinnamon @ www.upinthesite.com

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Cocaine Supernova: Oasis' Be Here Now Is 10

A decade ago today, Oasis released their bombastic third album, later regarded as one of rock's all-time folies de grandeur. So what does it sound like now?

Now this is what I call an anniversary. Never mind Diana, or the first Blair victory, or the decade that will soon have passed since the release of Kula Shaker's epochal K - today is the tenth birthday of Oasis' Be Here Now, and anyone who has not yet taken their copy to Record and Tape Exchange should surely give it at least one celebratory play. You'll laugh; you'll cry; best of all, you will surely be transported back to the strange days of 1997, when Oasis's imperial phase began to draw to a close, and the moment of giddy innocence that was Britpop died with them.

At ten years' remove, you can only marvel at what on earth they thought they were doing. Did Noel Gallagher really listen to a playback of the impossibly over-wrought, soupy, completely meaningless Magic Pie and sign it off? Did no-one listen to the absurdly Bon Jovi-esque intro to Fade In/Out and advise even a slight re-think? As the last five minutes of All Around the World found trumpets colliding with strings, the guitar overdubs piling into infinity and the whole conceit threatening to collapse in on itself, why didn't anybody pause for thought? Most bafflingly of all, isn't "All my people, right here, right now/D'you know what I mean/Yeah yeah/Yeah yeah" among the most woeful choruses ever put to tape?

What's most baffling of all, perhaps, is that precious few of the critical fraternity caught the whiff of spectacular failure (and though I didn't actually review it, by way of a mea culpa, I include myself in that). The Guardian's review claimed that Be Here Now "validates most if not all of the Gallaghers' boasts about their greatness." The Daily Telegraph told its readers that Be Here Now was simply "a great rock record." Q and awarded BHN the full complement of five stars and compared it to The Beatles' Revolver. NME reckoned it was worth eight of ten; in Mojo, Charles Shaar Murray was so enraptured that he lapsed into patois: "This is Oasis's world domination album. Dem a come fe mess up de area seeeeeeerious."

What was going on? There was, undoubtedly, a massed desire to somehow prolong the fun that Oasis had commenced in 1994. In several reviews, you could make out an obvious subtext bound up with the fact that many people had (rightly) thought that (What's The Story) Morning Glory? was not nearly as good as Definitely Maybe, but been wrong-footed by its sky-high sales figures. Perhaps most importantly, 1997 was the last stand of the absurdly positive, romanticized, starry-eyed mindset that Britpop fostered. Be Here Now, let us not forget, was not the only dud to be so hysterically lionized; two years before, very similar gasps of appreciation had greeted Blur's The Great Escape.

As I recall, it took until the end of that year for the penny to drop, when a run of indulgent, arrogant arena shows exposed Oasis's washed-out state, and Liam Gallagher served notice of the strange place at which they'd arrived by dedicating Live Forever to Princess Diana. Not long after, when his elder brother had quit the drugs and moved out of London, there came his own spurt of self-criticism: "It was an album mixed on cocaine. That's why it sounds like it does. Loads and loads of trebly guitars...I wasn't prepared to make things any better. I'd get to a certain point and go, 'Fuck it, that'll do.' We made the record to justify the drug habit."

So, there you have it: the empty sound of being off your head and convinced of your own brilliance at the start of the Blair era and the endtimes of what was known at the time as - oh, please - Cool Britannia. These days, Be Here Now actually sounds grimly fascinating: a crystallization of its time whose absence of restraint (try, for example, timing the length of the intros) is really quite something. For those of us who are occasionally partial to the musical equivalent of visiting graveyards, might it be time for the obligatory 'Collectors' Edition' and DVD?

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

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On This Day In Oasis History...

Be Here Now is the third studio album by the English rock band Oasis. Released on August 21 1997, the album was highly anticipated by both music critics and fans as a result of the band's previous worldwide successes with their 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe, and its 1995 follow up (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. The album's pre-release build up led to considerable hype within both the music and mainstream press. At that point, Oasis were at the height of their fame, and Be Here Now became the UK's fastest selling album to date, selling over 420,000 units on the first day of release alone, and over one million within two weeks. As of 2007, the album has sold eight million copies worldwide.

Oasis' management company Ignition were aware of the danger of overexposure, and before its release they sought to control the media's access to the album. Ignition's campaign included limiting pre-release radio airplay, and requesting that journalists sign gag agreements. These tactics resulted in the alienation of members of both the music and mainstream media, as well as many industry members connected with the band. Ignition's attempts to limit pre-release access to the album only served to fuel large scale speculation and publicity within the British music scene.

Artistically Be Here Now failed to live up to the expectations that preceded its release. Although initial reviews were positive, retrospectively the album is viewed by much of the music press and by most members of the band as over-indulgent and bloated. In 2007, Q magazine described Be Here Now as "a disastrous, overblown folly—the moment when Oasis, their judgement clouded by drugs and blanket adulation, ran aground on their own sky-high self-belief." The album's producer Owen Morris said of the recording sessions: "The only reason anyone was there was the money. Noel had decided Liam was a shit singer. Liam had decided he hated Noel's songs [...] Massive amounts of drugs. Big fights. Bad vibes. Shit recordings." None of its songs were included on the band's 2006 "best of" compilation album Stop the Clocks.

Album cover

The cover image to Be Here Now was shot at the Stock Hotel in Hertfordshire in April 1997. It features the band standing outside the hotel surrounded by assorted props. At the centre of the image is a Rolls Royce floating in a swimming pool. The photographer Michael Spencer Johns said the original concept involved shooting each band member in various locations around the world, but when the cost proved prohibitive, the shoot was relocated to the Stock Hotel. Spencer remarked that the shoot "degenerated into chaos", adding that "by 8pm, everyone was in the bar, there were schoolkids all over the set, and the lighting crew couldn't start the generator.

It was Alice in Wonderland meets Apocalypse Now." Despite various meanings people have tried to read into the selection of the cover props, Johns said Gallagher simply selected items from the BBC props store he thought would look good in the picture. Two of the props that had considered thought in their inclusion were the inflatable globe (intended as a homage to the sleeve of Definitely Maybe) and the Rolls Royce, which was suggested by Arthurs. The release date in each region was commemorated on the calendar pictured on the sleeve; Harris said the dating "[encouraged] fans to believe that to buy a copy on the day it appeared was to participate in some kind of historical event."

Tracklisting

D'You Know What I Mean? – 7:42
My Big Mouth – 5:02
Magic Pie – 7:19
Stand by Me – 5:56
I Hope, I Think, I Know – 4:22
The Girl in the Dirty Shirt – 5:49
Fade In-Out – 6:52
Don't Go Away – 4:48
Be Here Now – 5:13
All Around the World – 9:20
It's Gettin' Better (Man!!) – 7:00
All Around the World (Reprise) – 2:08

Singles

D'You Know What I Mean?"
Released: 7 July 1997
Producers: Owen Morris and Noel Gallagher
Chart positions: #1 (UK), #1 (FIN), #1 (IRE), #3 (CAN), #4 (US)
Music Video (here)
Live Performance (here)

Stand By Me
Released: 22 September 1997
Writer: Noel Gallagher
Producers: Owen Morris and Noel Gallagher
Chart positions: #2 (UK), #5 (US), #2 (IRE)
Music Video (here)
Live Performance (here)

All Around The World
Released: 12 January 1998
Writer: Noel Gallagher
Producers: Owen Morris and Noel Gallagher
Chart positions: #1 (UK), #1 (IRE)
Music Video (here)
Live Performance (here)

Don't Go Away" (Japan Only)
Released: 13 May 1998
Writer: Noel Gallagher
Producers: Owen Morris and Noel Gallagher
Music Video (here)
Live Performance (here)

Source: Wikipedia

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