On This Day In Oasis History...
At one point during the day 500,000 people rang the freephone number in five minutes, tickets were selling at a rate of ten per second.
On May 11th 2001 Oasis played at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, USA.
It was the first date of 'The Tour Of Brotherly Love', called this as The Black Crowes, and Spacehog who were also on the tour had a pair of brothers in their respective bands.
Listen to a bootleg of the gig below.
Noel Gallagher On New Music, Getting Older And Wonderwall
Noel Gallagher stopped by Greatest Hits Radio to catch up with Ken Bruce. He spoke about new music and his upcoming world tour. Noel mentioned the impact of the pandemic and it helped him reflect on recent years of his life.
There was also talk of getting older and Noel expressed the realities of being in his 50's. Ken also revealed that Wonderwall was number one on our recent Coronation Countdown.
Be Here Now
02: My Big Mouth
03: Magic Pie
04: Stand By Me
05: I Hope, I Think, I Know
06: The Girl in the Dirty Shirt
07: Fade In-Out
08: Don't Go Away
09: Be Here Now
10: All Around The World
11: It's Gettin' Better (Man!!)
12: All Around the World (Reprise)
Release Date: August 21st 1997
Highest Chart Position: Number 1 in the UK
Liam Gallagher – vocals (1–2, 4–11)
Noel Gallagher – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals and Mellotron (3), string arrangements, production
Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs – rhythm guitar
Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan – bass guitar
Alan White – drums, percussion
Additional musicians and production
Mike Rowe – keyboards
Mark Coyle – backwards guitar (track 1)
Johnny Depp – slide guitar (track 7)
Mark Feltham – harmonica (track 10)
Richard Ashcroft – backing vocals (track 10)
Nick Ingman – string and brass arrangements
Owen Morris – production
Mike Marsh – mastering
Design
Brian Cannon – art direction, design
Martin Catherall – design assistance
Matthew Sankey – design assistance
Michael Spencer Jones – photography
Jill Furmanovsky – photography collage
Be Here Now is the third studio album by Oasis. Released on August 21st 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 in seventeen days in the UK.
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 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 Jones 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. Michael Spencer Jones 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 various props used on the cover.
Brian Cannon said in 2013 "All the props around the pool have no meaning whatsoever, I just took Liam and Noel down to a BBC props warehouse in White City and they picked loads of random stuff, it was total nonsense".
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 Bonehead.
The release date in each region was commemorated on the calendar pictured on the sleeve. It was thought that dating the album would encourage fans to buy a copy on the day of it's release, like they thought they were participating in some kind of historical event."
iTunes Festival: London 2009
01: Cigarettes & Alcohol
02: The Masterplan
03: Slide Away
04: Supersonic
05: Live Forever
Release Date: July 31st 2009
Highest UK Singles Chart Position: Not eligible.
This EP was recorded at the iTunes Festival on July 22nd at the Roundhouse in London.
The entire gig was included with the iTunes Deluxe Edition of Time Flies... 1994–2009 that was released in June 2010.
Various retail version of the album didn't contain Fuckin' In The Bushes, Waiting For The Rapture, My Big Mouth or I Am The Walrus.
Two iTunes Live Festival videos of Half The World Away and Slide Away were only available with the iTunes Deluxe Edition of Time Flies... 1994–2009.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Council Skies [The Reflex Revision]
Stop Crying Your Heart Out
CD - RKIDSCD 24
01: Stop Crying Your Heart Out
02: Thank You For The Good Times
03: Shout It Out Loud
7" - RKID 24
01: Stop Crying Your Heart Out
02: Thank You For The Good Times
12" - RKID 24T
01: Stop Crying Your Heart Out
02: Thank You For The Good Times
03: Shout It Out Loud
DVD - RKIDSDVD 24
01: Stop Crying Your Heart Out
02: Stop Crying Your Heart Out (demo)
03: 10 Minutes Of Noise and Confusion - Part Two
Release Date: June 17th 2002
Highest UK Singles Chart Position: 2
Stop Crying Your Heart Out is a song by Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher. It was released as the second single from Heathen Chemistry on June 17th 2002, peaking at number two in the UK singles charts.
The song is an "epic weepy" anthem in the spirit of Don't Look Back In Anger, reassuringly advising that in times of hardship, simply get over it and get on with your life. Noel Gallagher explained the song saying "A friend of mine was going through a pretty bad time and I sort of wrote it with him in mind."
Noel Gallagher had great expectations for the song, saying "I hope it does for us what Don't Look Back In Anger did... I didn't want it as a single because I thought we'd done all that before, but everyone's going, 'You're f**king mad.'". NME said, Stop Crying Your Heart Out [is where] you really start rolling out the red carpet. A return to the long lost humanism of Don't Look Back In Anger, it's a reminder of Noel's knack of cheering up his audience just when they need it most." Q magazine held up the song as proof that "genius never completely left Oasis".
Stop Crying Your Heart Out was one of the songs played during the end credits of the movie, The Butterfly Effect, starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart. It has been on the TV show Smallville too. The song also appeared after England's defeats in the 2002 Football World Cup and the 2006-07 Ashes. Noel Gallagher dedicated it to the English football team before playing it at the 2004 Glastonbury Festival. The song is also featured in the film Made Of Honor, Starring Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan and appears towards the end of the film.
10 Minutes of Noise and Confusion - Pt. Two is the second part of a feature covering 48 hours on the road with Oasis during the Tour Of Brotherly Love which took place in the USA with the Black Crowes during May and June 2001.
Noel Gallagher On Council Skies, Manchester And More
The Mancunion sit down with Noel Gallagher to talk about Manchester, his new album Council Skies, and his headline gig at Wythenshawe Park and more.
Click here to read the interview in full.
Some Might Say
CD - CRESCD 204
01: Some Might Say
02: Talk Tonight
03: Acquiesce
04: Headshrinker
7" - CRE 204
01: Some Might Say
02: Talk Tonight
12" - CRE 204T
01: Some Might Say
02: Talk Tonight
03: Acquiesce
Cassette - CRECS 204
01: Some Might Say
02: Talk Tonight
Release Date: April 24th 1995
Highest UK Singles Chart Position: 1
Some Might Say is a song by Oasis. The song was written by Noel Gallagher. It was the first single to be released from their definitive second album (What's The Story) Morning Glory? and provided the band with their first number one on the UK Singles Chart.
The track was apparently inspired by the Small Faces and/or T-Rex. It was the last Oasis track to feature original drummer Tony McCarroll, who was sacked before the main recording sessions for (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
The sleeve artwork, shot at Cromford railway station in Derbyshire, England, features art director Brian Cannon's father with wheelbarrow and his mother with the mop. Also pictured are Matthew Sankey, Cannon's aide and Carla Knox, barmaid of his local pub. Liam Gallagher can be seen on the bridge whilst Noel Gallagher can be viewed with a watering can. Cannon himself rates this piece amongst his greatest work.
The planned promo video for the song was cancelled due to Liam not turning up for the shoot. Instead, a makeshift video was created using footage from the Cigarettes & Alcohol and US Supersonic videos.
B-sides
Aside from the title song, the single boasts some of Oasis' finest B-sides, all of which were deemed worthy to grace the critically acclaimed Masterplan album.
Talk Tonight, is one of many acoustic B-side tracks sung by Noel, and was, at the time, the most vulnerable song he had attempted. It was inspired by the near-breakup of the band in Los Angeles in autumn 1994, when Noel walked out without telling anyone and headed for San Francisco.
The B-side Acquiesce was released as part of the Stop The Clocks EP in promotion their compilation album, Stop The Clocks.
In an interview promoting the compilation album, Stop The Clocks, Noel stated that Some Might Say is the "archetypical Oasis song' and 'defines what Oasis is". Noel added later in the interview that along with Some Might Say, its b-side, Acquiesce, was also the song that defined Oasis.
The song appears on Stop The Clocks, as do two of the b-sides.
Surprisingly, this means that the Some Might Say single contains the fourth largest number of tracks to appear on Stop The Clocks of any Oasis release (after Definitely Maybe, Morning Glory and The Masterplan). Therefore, more songs from this single ended up on Stop The Clocks than Don't Believe The Truth (2 songs), Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, Heathen Chemistry (1 song each) and Be Here Now (no songs from this album appear on Stop The Clocks).
Some Might Say is a playable track in both Guitar Hero World Tour and The European version of Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades