Thread: Favorite Albums
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Old 2012.02.14, 03:36 PM   #60
Tokyo Jihad
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#3 (What's the Story?) Morning Glory

People that know me well may have been wondering where the heck was Oasis on my list so far. After all, with the “goes-without-saying” exception of The Beatles, Oasis is pretty much my unquestioned favorite band. Yet, I have not even briefly mentioned the Mancs once in this series. In any one of these “favorite albums” lists I’ve made in the last fifteen years or so, (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory essentially always held the top spot, my absolute favorite album for a very, very long time. So what’s the story? When I sat down to make this list, I knew MG was one of the big elephants in the room. I penciled it at #1 out of habit, but knew to do this right I had to really put it (and the rest of my top 5) under a microscope. But this isn’t an essay on why Morning Glory is inferior to X or Y, it’s a love letter on why I have such strong feelings towards the album and a band that questioning it not being #1 at all is a big deal, and that anyone that immediately writes off such a notion is a chump.


I have vivid, photographic memories of picking up Nevermind, First Band on the Moon, and Beatles for Sale and Abbey Road (my first Beatles’ albums) in my hands at the record store. I remember cracking open the jewel case of Mellon Collie, and even Oasis’ debut Definitely Maybe for the first time, flipping through the booklets and peeling out the shiny discs. I even remember the car ride home from picking up Morning Glory’s follow-up, Be Here Now. But I have no recollection of the day I picked up Morning Glory. It is possible I bought it and Definitely Maybe together, but I am not even really sure about that. All I know is that there was a time before I had that album, and a time when I did. There was no life changing first listening. What I do remember are the hundreds and hundreds of different times in my life where this record was playing. This album played through my CD stereo in my bedroom at my parent’s house; it played from my PC at my own apartment. It played from my black CD player on the car ride to my middle school, my red CD player as I waited for my ride home from highschool. It played from my Creative Zen xtra mp3 player as I trekked through colleges, jammed in my car through my Zune later on, and most recently via my turntable as I write this. I’m not just listing the different modes I’ve listened to this record; these are the vivid memories I have.


Listening to the LP copy is as close to “listening for the first time” as I come for an album I know front to back and all around. Maybe it’s the turntable, maybe it’s my new adult headphones but I feel I can really hear the instruments on this album for the first time. The full bodied guitars, the primal drum thumps (the certainly competent bass) hit me – but let’s face it, apart from some “inspired” (wink wink) riffs and guitar flourishes Oasis was never about musicianship or finely crafted production. Oasis was about, “Soooo Sally can wait…” and “Whats the story morning glory? Weeeell?” and “Where were you while we were getting hiiigh?”, and of course, come on, sing it with me now, “Because maaaybeeeeee….” Big sweeping hooks and melodies and choruses that maybe made you feel something that you weren’t sure what, but you damned well knew you felt it. Songs, songey-songs, that inspire anyone and everyone in the vicinity (be it car, pub, or stadium alike) to join in. As I’ve grown older, and grown a taste for more “sophisticated” music (your Dirty Projectors, your Arcade Fires) I still hold these songs and the Oasis-approach very dear. For as long as there have been Oasis fans, there have been Oasis detractors. It copies other, real, artists; it’s not very intellectual; music for stupid drunk people; the Gallagher’s are assholes and this somehow makes the music bad; they don’t rock hard enough to be cool; they rock too hard to be taken serious; their lyrics are insipid: all I’ve heard countless times and seem to be cached and ready to be spewed on any music forum where Oasis may be mentioned. Off stage (or just off stage) antics, as well as the lyrics are neither here nor there. As far as them borrowing a riff and building their own song around it, let’s not act as if these same “serious” artists don’t do the very same or that Noel Gallagher doesn’t readily admit his inspirations when asked. Sure Oasis aren’t out to explore new sonic territories and if someone can miss the point of The Dirty Projectors more avant garde tracks, or the droners of Animal Collective, then certainly others can fly too high over the point of Oasis. I can’t help but feel that there is something very valuable in making very inclusive songs that can unite people (without resorting to pandering buzzwords like “the club”, “swagger”, and “getting tipsy.”)


About those songs, Morning Glory is as fine of a collection of pop-rock songs as you are going to find. Openers “Hello” and “Roll With it” are rollers that you bobbing your head. Deep cuts like “Hey Now,” the cheeky “She’s Electric,” and the down tuned aching rest of “Cast no Shadow” are songs worth not skipping. Not that there aren’t songs you might be dying to skip right towards like the hard rocking title track, or the fist-in-air lead single “Some Might Say.” There are the out-and-out classics on the album: the soaring Noel-sung “Don’t Look Back in Anger” the brilliant, tired, second wind summoning “Champagne Supernova” – one of the most epic sing-along closers ever and of course there’s the song that gets its own paragraph.

If I ever dare to make a thorough “favorite songs” list, as Morning Glory was a heavy contender for #1 on this list, “Wonderwall” would be the even heavier favorite for #1 on that list. Though later, the band would focus on making at least one “Wonderwall”-ish song per album and grew adept at it, at the time Wonderwall was the exception to all Oasis songs. They had done insecure and sincere with “Live Forever” before it, but that was still a big rocker with a kick ass solo and all. Wonderwall went all in. Acoustic, an undulating cello, soft drums, a piano outro – a form so uncharacteristic of Oasis, singer Liam Gallagher refused for the band to play acoustic, meaning the song was only properly played live a handful of times. (Of course, the song was still nearly always played live, just in an electric dress.) I know I’ve said the Gallagher’s extra-curricular behavior doesn’t factor into the music, but in the case of Wonderwall, it really adds to the song. With Oasis’ trademark swagger and attitude, the respite from it on Wonderwall sells the song and sells the meaning of it. Like this “asshole” really does “need” the subject of the song if he is going to musically disrobe like this. You buy it, I buy it. I think it’s one of the greatest, most effective, love songs and one of the best songs of all time.


Now of course, part of how you feel about these songs and this album depends about how you feel about the whole band. Many people hold a great disdain for the band for reasons stated above and also the idea that they arrogantly thought they were “the best band in the world,” “bigger than The Beatles,” etc. I was in middle school when I got into Oasis, and even I knew this was all just posture. I am a huge Beatles fan, they are reportedly big Beatles fans, and I highly doubt they literally believe what they say. But what else would they say, why would they say anything otherwise? “Oh, we’ll probably share a paragraph in the history books with Blur and The Verve!” Come now. This was, as I dubbed previously, act II of the 90’s. Kurt Cobain killed the rock star and in their places filled his ilk – who wanted to also be rock stars (Billy Corgan, Oasis, et all.) Politeness and humility wasn’t going to get you anywhere. “If you tell everyone in the world…half of them are going to believe you.” The Oasis mindset always made sense to me. They weren’t interested in making friends or playing nice, yet made music that as many people as possible could enjoy. In a way it’s that “confidence” that rubs off, in spite of Wonderwall’s sincerity, who feels insecure or weak listening to Some Might Say. In a way, Oasis kind of becomes a Superman you want to be more like. I want to feel bigger than the Beatles, I want to shave my head and have it be front page news (and yet with facebook, here we are) I want to walk slowly down the hall, faster than a canon ball. Though what makes it, again, is Wonderwall. It’s that crack in the veneer that shows you that they are insecure guys with petty troubles too and the whole “Oasis” thing is just an act, an oasis itself. You know they are probably more like you than you know – and that makes you and that makes them, the whole act stronger.


I’ve come a long way from the first time I played Morning Glory (whenever that was) and I’ve learned more about music since. I know there is not a whole lot of subtext or texture at all to play with on this record. I know the two untitled interstitial clips on the album don’t serve much of a purpose and seem like a weak attempt to tie together the album in to something “more” (not that that’s necessary, or that I ever really thought otherwise.) But for all that it is not; it excels at what it is and is the definitive Britpop album (for what it’s worth.) I spent a good chunk of my life listening to this album, probably more than any other – and I don’t think you can do that with any record. I don’t think a person is always in the mood to hear Kid A or something like Soft Bulletin or Loveless. But Morning Glory is dependably accessible, and that’s worth something. It is invigorating, inspiring, and inclusive. I’m mad for it (hyuck.) Is it a perfect album? No, its not. But that can be a very good thing. In fact next time I’m going to talk about an album so imperfect that it became the namesake for a whole type of album.
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