What's the Story?

On this day, in 1995, Oasis released its masterpiece (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. Several weeks later, I went out and bought the album. It was the first album I’d ever purchased—the cornerstone of what would grow over the ensuing decade to be a rather large CD collection. I bought it on a whim; I knew nothing about Oasis, or about any music that wasn’t the Beatles. If I hadn’t enjoyed the album, I’m not sure what would have happened. Maybe I would have gotten into Pogs instead, and gone down a completely different path in life. Or Magic cards. Yikes. Fortunately, my shot-in-the-dark album choice turned out to be a good one.

Morning Glory? is not a groundbreaking album, but it is catchy and it is consistent. Its songs demonstrate the keen songwriting ability of Noel Gallagher (an ability that unfortunately seemed to dissipate after two albums). Take “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” for example. After a brief, bell-like piano introduction, the song swings into a rhythmic verse that flows from chord to chord. Then comes the more static pre-chorus, which begins with lyrics that add to the sense of stasis: “So I start a revolution from my bed.” But quickly, the pre-chorus begins to climb, building breathlessly to the epic, sing-along chorus that has no doubt echoed in countless living rooms during sessions of Rock Band.

Other highlights include the big American hits, “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova,” but also the shuffling, (dare I say it?) Beatles-esque “She’s Electric,” and also “Hey Now!”, the chorus of which features an almost creepy chromatically descending chord progression. I’ve included these songs, as well as “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” below.

If you haven’t listened to the whole album in awhile, I recommend you go back and give it a spin. The songs hold up pretty well with age, and after all, it is the 14th anniversary of the album’s release.

Oasis – Don’t Look Back in Anger (YSI) (filesavr)
Oasis – Hey Now! (YSI) (filesavr)
Oasis – She’s Electric (YSI) (filesavr)