Blur Vs Oasis Ten Year Anniversary Edition

Blur had one brilliant tune ('This Is a Low') and a handfull of decent ones.

OFF MY PLANET, CMAN!!

blur: singles band oasis: eyebrows

PULP:

It: Good
Freaks: Better
Seperations: It's still good...
His N'Hers: Classic
Different Class: Even more Classic
This is Hardcore: Best Pulp album
We Love Life: 2nd Best Pulp album

SUEDE
Suede: Classic
Dog Man Star: Best. Album. Ever.
Coming Up: Different band. Still class.
Sci Fi Lullabies: Disc 1 - classic. Disc 2 - alright.
Head Music: Crap
A New Morning: Less crap. A grower.

Overall Pulp win by never making a crap album.

Fourway? Liam would be greasing Damon, Damon would be tugging Jarvis, Jarvis would be wristing Liam, and Brett would be clutching a mirror and palming himself in the corner.

NO! My band's bigger than yours!

PULP> ohgodhaveigottochooseoneoftherestofthese... Blur, if I must.

Dog Man Star bored the crap out of me.

This was the most important thing ever to happen to me musically. Hearing Aphex Twin for the first time, my first rave, getting my first guitar - none of them compare to who got to number one in the British charts that summer. Suddenly, being a teenager in the UK was the coolest thing in the world and Blur, Oasis, Supergrass and Pulp were the ones soundtracking it. People diss the Britpop movement saying it was false or pretentious - not if you were working on your GCSE English assignments it wasn't. This was proper music about people and places we sort of knew, injected with just a little extra sparkle. Smoking illicit cigarettes whilst dancing in circles at the local indie night to "For Tomorrow" and "Alright" - there was nothing more right in the world. Hour-long debates over a hot bunsen burner about whether "Roll With It" was better than "Country House" would ensue, normally ending withthe Oasis kids throwing basalt in the Blur kids' eyes and then getting bollocked by the teacher. Said scoundrels would then be packed off to detention, muttering curses about Blur being cheaters for releasing a double single to boost sales.

Then everything went tits up. My beloved Blur won the war, pipping the Gallaghers to the post. Suddenly they really were everywhere - pictures of Alex James in my sister's copy of Smash Hits, thousands of underaged screaming fans at concerts. This was nothing like the Starshaped video, this was Take-fucking-That all over again. The appalling Live It! remix of "Entertain Me" was the first nail in the coffin, the last was when a really irritating girl in my class came in wearing a "DAMON" neckband and then trying to correct me on the pronunciation of "Albarn". That was the day I went to the second hand shop and sold every Blur record I owned. The dream was over.

1 Oasis Go Let It Out Feb 2000
4 Oasis Who Feels Love? Apr 2000
4 Oasis Sunday Morning Call Jul 2000
1 Oasis The Hindu Times Apr 2002
2 Oasis Stop Crying Your Heart Out Jun 2002
2 Oasis Little By Little / She Is Love Oct 2002
3 Oasis Songbird Feb 2003

Anyway, my Blur ratings out of 5:

Leisure: 3
Underrated - there's some real moments on this one including "Sing", "Wear Me Down" and of course "There's No Other Way". I guess by later standards it was utter garbage but I really do like it.

Modern Life Is Rubbish: 4 and a half
A giant step on from Leisure - really amazing stuff. Chemical World was a highlight but I also liked that cheeky interlude track. I must dig it out again soon.

Parklife: 5
This album is flawless (yes, apart from Girls And Boys which I always skip for some reason). This was the first CD I ever bought and it changed my world. Punky tunes, new wave tunes, waltzes, sad tunes, shoegazer tunes and This Is A Low - the works in 16 tracks. Lovely album artwork too. Why don't more albums come with the chords and lyrics on the inlay, huh?

Great Escape
Yes it had some good singles and really I rather liked Country House - the harmonies and depth in that song made it so much more than a cockney knees-up. Still it felt like Blur had recorded Parklife's resigned older wearier brother. It was a depressed record after the celebration of the last two albums. I especially like "Best Days" the Graham Coxon contribution, the strings on "The Universal" and the two-tone touches on tracks 5 & 6. Was never too keen on "Stereotypes" - it felt like a non song to follow up the first two singles.

Blur
It was good that Blur made this album - I fell in love with them all over again - having to buy all my records back. Not a whole lot of duff moments on here and I have many many good memories of this LP.

13
It was clear that they were losing their grips about this time. The Damon schmaltzasborg that was "Tender" went on forever and just stank of self indulgence. A very dull song. I did however adore "Coffee & TV" and rate it as one of their best songs. There were a heck of a lot of clunkers on this album. I still have some great memories about it though.

Think Tank
Really really average. There were a few good moments - the first two tracks are really beautiful and "Caravan" reminds me of Ride a little bit. Still, I don't listen to this very much - it's clearly not worth the effort and I treat it as a relic.

Can someone post a list of all the Blur b-sides please? I think those are some of their best songs but I sadly lost them in the great Blur purge of '96.

Great Escape: 3 and a half
Blur: 4
13: 3
Think Tank: 2

Excellent. Does she want to come for a drink with me?

Leisure: 3.5
Modern Life Is Rubbish: 10
Parklife: 4.5
The Great Escape: 4
Blur: 4.5
13: 4
Think Tank: 3

"Oi Sev! There's a random internet mentalist from the West of England wants to take you out on a date - whaddya say?" ;-)

A few years ago I might have had Suede and Blur in the opposite order but then the latter went out and made Think Tank.

Leisure: 3
MLIR : 4
Parklife : 5 (but man, does this album sound dated now. Have you listened to it lately? Yeah, it already sounded dated when it came out because it ripped off the Kinks blah blah blah)
GE : 3.5 (as mentioned above, GREAT singles, including their best ever, "The Universal")
Blur : 3.5
13 : 3.5
Think Tank : - 1324748 (unlistenable)

They should have quit when Graham quit - he bailed ship at the right time. Instead they carry on as a trio of embarassing dads who bought silly "designer" clothes from TK Maxx.

I got paid today and I got a bonus, too.

Leisure: monotonous, drab indie-dance. "sing" shows promise for the future, couple of decent variations on the dull formula ("She's So High", "Theres no other way". 2.5 (out of 5)

Modern Life is Rubbish: Much improved and a lot more colourful. Slightly let down by some forgettable art-punk. 4 (out of 5)

Parklife: Brilliant, enormously enjoyable from start to finish. Last time i listened, Albarn's smug lyrical tone grated a bit, though. 4.5 (out of 5)

Great Escape: Basically parklife 2, but more refined, more colourful. their masterpiece. 5 out of 5.

Blur: Rather silly change of direction (although they'd probably brought the britpop thing to its natural conclusion) made up for by some classic tunes (beetlebum and song 2 mainly) 3.5 / 5

13: Overbearing arrangements suffocate the odd moment of loveliness -blur lacking lightness of touch to make textural music. coxon starting to bog the group down. 2.5 / 5

Think Tank: Much more relaxed, poppy and enjoyable - but still too much silliness. 3.5 / 5

OASIS:
Definately Maybe: Storming start - the only one i'd still listen to, although probably played "..glory" more back in the day. liam's voice at its best. 4 / 5

What's the Story: Largely excellent follow-up, bit drab and mid-paced at times. could benefit from more rockers. more about noel than liam, but noel actually coped manfully on this one. 4 / 5

Be Here Now: Overblown arrangements and production. noel's songwriting floundering anyway. i like "stand by me" though. 2.5 / 5

Masterplan: Sounding like a cool midpoint between their first two records - on b-sides noel resists temptation to overblow things as well - a much better rec than be here now. 4 / 5

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants: Too one-paced, all the life has been sucked out of the band. still have a soft spot for "fuckin in the bushes" and "sunday morning call", tho. 3 / 5

Heathen Chemistry: haven't heard it all, but from what i have, sounds rub. 2 / 5

blur win!

Anyway, yeah there is certainly a CD's worth of fantastic b-sides to compile. About a cd's worth of 'wastes of time' too mind youxe...

most of this is copied from the box set tracklisting (which is my most valued possession in the whole world, I'd say) and the ones that came out after "Coffee & TV" are more or less from memory, so I might be missing one or two. I deleted remixes and live stuff.

1. I Know
2. Down
3. Sing
4. Inertia
5. Mr Briggs
6. I'm All Over
7. Won't Do It
8. Day Upon Day (Live)
9. Explain
10. Luminous
11. Berserk
12. Uncle Love
13. Mace
14. Badgeman Brown
15. I'm Fine
16. Garden Central
17. Into Another
18. Hanging Over
19. Peach
20. Bone Bag
21. When The Cows Come Home (both this and #19 were featured as bonus tracks on the US Modern Life is Rubbish, though)
22. Beachcoma
23. Young & Lovely
24. Es Scmecht
25. My Ark
26. Maggie May
27. Never Clever (Live)
28. Dizzy
29. Fried
30. Shimmer
31. Long Legged
32. Mixed Up
33. Tell Me Tell Me
34. Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Made For Two)
35. Let's All Go Down The Strand
36. Magpie
37. Anniversary Waltz
38. People In Europe
39. Peter Panic
40. Threadneedle Street
41. Got Yer!
42. Beard
43. Supa Shoppa
44. Theme From An Imaginary Film
45. Rednecks
46. Alex's Song
47. One Born Every Minute
48. Ultranol
49. No Monsters In Me
50. The Man Who Left Himself
51. Tame
52. Ludwig
53. The Horrors
54. A Song
55. St Louis
56. All Your Life
57. A Spell For Money
58. Woodpigeon Song
59. Dancehall (secret track on the s/t)
60. Bustin' and dronin'
61. Get out of cities
62. Polished stone
63. Swallows in the heatwave
64. All we want
65. Mellow jam
66. French song
67. Beagle 2
68. Black Book
69. Seven Days
70. Money Makes Me Crazy
71. The Outsider

Does anyone remember an excellent two-week article in Select magazine circa 1995 called the Compleat Blur? Absolutely amazing rundown of all the songs they'd ever released up until the Great Escape. Wish I still had it but I think it got ripped up and thrown away.

Incidentally, you both should be writing about this very topic for I Love 1995, due in a couple days.

Leisure: 2.5:
Singles are great (I even harbor a soft spot for "Bang") but far too many weak spots. It's universally regarded as their worst album for a reason, though some of the b-sides for the album ("Down," "Inertia," "Luminous") could've made it a whole lot better. It's Blur's Movement, essentially.

Modern Life is Rubbish: 3.5:
Great album but by no means one of their best, and by far their most overrated. Couple of classics ("For Tomorrow," "Oily Water," "Chemical World") and some fun filler tracks can't really distract from the album's incosistency and lousy second half. It's a transitional album, but nowhere near deserving of the "unheralded masterpiece" title it's been tagged with in the Blur camp.

Parlife: 4.5
Where things got really great, but once again, for me at least, not the be-all end-all for all things Blur. The album is totally frontloaded, and between "To the End" and "Jubilee" are some seriously questionable tracks. It's a classic for sure, and "Girls and Boys" is almost doubtlessly their finest moment, but I just don't think it's their best album.

The Great Escape: 4
Better than some give it credit for, but there are obvious gaping flaws. "Mr. Robinson's Quango" and "TOPMAN" are pretty terrible, and Albarn's big ol' meany lyrics ruin potential Blur classics "Fade Away" and "Globe Alone". Still, there are so many stunning songs on this album--"Entertain Me," "Best Days," "The Universal," "Yuko and Hiro," "He Thought of Cars," and yeah, even "Country House"--that I still find it to be a great listen. Sometimes I like it even more than Parklife.

Blur: 5

Their White Album. 14 songs and for the first time, I love every one--it's one of music's truly great band re-inventions, up there with Kid A and Achtung Baby. Like The White Album, it's got Blur doing pastiches of a whole bunch of contemporary bands,--Pavement on "Country Sad Ballad Man," Sonic Youth on "Essex Dogs," GBV on "You're So Great," the trip-hop scene on "Death of a Party" and post-grunge on "Song 2"--and they all work. By far their most engaging listen.

13: 5

I was going to dock this album half a point for its flaws when I realized that the flaws of 13 just endear the album further to me. I always saw this as their Abbey Road to the s/t's White Album--the first half is really disjointed with a bunch of songs with totally disparate moods and tempos, and the second half is sort of this flowing mood piece. My favorite songs are mostly on the first side--"Tender" is possibly the most timeless song Damon ever wrote, "Coffee and TV" gave false hope for Graham's solo career and "1992" is one of the most beautiful guitar meltdowns I've ever heard. But it's the second half that does it for me--Damon truly hitting rock bottom and creating some of the saddest, most evocative and unique music of his career. This is their lost classic.

Think Tank: 4

It's hard for me to be objective about this album because I anticipated it so very much. I think the four is an adequate score because the album's strengths and weaknesses are much like those of TGE--a whole bunch of classics scattered amongst an album of shallowness. The new Blur sound is an infectious one, but it gets repititious and Damon really isn't writing the songs to back it up, but the standouts--"Ambulance," "Battery in Your Leg," "Out of Time," "Good Song," and especially the perversely obscured "Me White Noise"--add necessary punctuation and prevent the album from blurring into one huge mess. I'll always love this album regardless, but I still think it'll hold up for a while to come.

1. "All We Want"
2. "Tame"
3. "Peach"
4. "People in Europe"
5. "Down"
6. "No Monsters in Me"
7. "Trade Stylee (Alex's Bugman Remix)"
8. "Garden Central"
9. "The Man Who Left Himself"
10. "Ultranol"
11. "Get Out of Cities"
12. "Threadneedle Street"
13. "Bustin' + Dronin'"
14. "All Your Life"
15. "Tender (Cornelius Remix)"
16. "St. Louis"

It's a bit heavy on later-day stuff, but I think it nicely accentuates the idea of Blur being a try-anything-once sort of band--and now that I look at it, I don't think there's a single britpop song on there. It'd make a good introduction to the band for people who only know some of the singles, I think.

Not in agreeance with the "questionable" tracks on Parklife you mention. I used to skip "Trouble In The Message Centre", but now it's one of my faves - it sounds like they're trying to do the 80s well before any kind of revival made it the fashionable thing to do. "London Loves" was similar and had a very claustrophobic feeling. "Clover Over Dover" saw Blur showing off a baroque style that hadn't been donw before. I'd say these were worthy songs.

A Song
Ludwig
Supa Shoppa
Theme From An Imaginary Film
One Born Every Minute

The fact they were a "try anything" band is the reason I worshipped Blur. Oasis never came close to the ambition and dilletantism of Albarn and Coxon.

Bill, I'd love a copy of that Blur mix though - would you be interested in a CD swap?

"Young and Lovely" didn't really fit on the mix, and "Beachcoma" wasn't too necessary as I already had "Peach," but I agree that both are great songs. Looking at dl's list, I probably should've put one of their nifty muzak-y interludes on it somewhere.

"Theme from an Imaginary Film" is such a weird song. I can never tell whether I love it or hate it. Either way, it's extremely Damon--"now just look whose laaaaaughing!!!" "One Born Every Minute" gets on my nerves.

Yeah, I'd be happy to do a trade. Tell me what where and when.

Oh, and I also take slight issue with the titanic reputation afforded to "This is a Low". Great song of course, but not nearly as affecting as some say. Probably wouldn't make my top ten.

I think Magic America was the forerunner to The Great Escape's pithy criticisms. I saw TGE as a really scornful and often pitying record. It was about that time that Damon started getting delusions of grandeur, being quoted in the papers as saying he was "god's gift to women" and so on.

Which came out first - "Brighten The Corners" or "Blur"? The titles "Swallows in the Heatwave" and "Starlings In The Slipstream" are so close it's spooky. Also that song has to be Blur's biggest Pavement tribute without a doubt.

I think Blur's did, but either way it was too close for either one to be an intentional reference/rip-off.

I think CSBM is bigger--it sounds like a cross between "We Dance" and "Brinx Job" off Wowee Zowee.

they crop up in stuart maconie's blur biog.

Oasis? They have 'Whatever'. And that's about it.

Pulp, I really should get more into. Jarvis is awesome.

Suede were led by Brett. Therefore, dud.

PS dl - 'Country Sad Ballad Man'.

Fave b-sides - "I'm Fine", "Mr. Briggs", "Day Upon Day" (live), oooh and Mace too.

If I had to pick a fave album: Parklife, but it was 13 that fulfilled my wildest dreams of what they could be (see: Trimm Trabb and at least half the album)

I think it's interesting that the consensus here seems to go against Think Tank. I hadn't expected that, since it seemed like most of the reviews I read were positive. I bought it and really liked some of it a lot and was about to go full blown into it when I got distracted by other things and just never went back to it, so I almost don't feel qualified to comment on it one way or another.

I would like to see Graham come back to the fold, though, definitely, but I must say I enjoyed seeing them live on the Think Tank tour a hell of a lot more than I thought I would.

even if they'd only wrote "this is a low", well, that's better than any oasis tune I've ever heard.

Frankly I laughed when the whole Blur vs. Oasis thing was cooked up by the press. Oasis had their good days, but there was never, ever in my mind any question of who was better.

I was listening to Think Tank last night and I have to say that musically it's really wonderful - it's like a prog/krautrock album with loads of interesting arrangements. Sadly I think it's the presence of Albarn's pulsating and never-shrinking ego that fucks it up. Blur's least impressive albums for me have been the ones where Damon hams up his narcissism like he's singing to himself in the mirror and pulling all these mock-sincere faces. It's why I liked the self-titled album so much is because suddenly he wasn't the most important thing about Blur - they really felt like a proper indie-pop band again after TGE. But then of course Justine left him and he had to tell the world in order to satiate his self-importance.

Also it does my heart good to see so much talk of Country Sad Ballad Man. That song really made a heavy impression on me, probably more than any on that record.

Trimm Trabb
Ambulance
Coffee & TV
Mellow Song
Out Of Time
Sweet Song
Caravan
Caramel
Battle
Good Song

Doglatin so otm here. "Tender" is probably the worst example of this (even though I kind of enjoy the song -- if I imagine him singing it or god forbid watch that awful video, I can't stand it.)

Though I consider myself without doubt more of a fan of the early stuff than the latter stuff, I can't help but consider "Battle" the best thing they've ever done.

(I thought it was archived online somewhere but it's not.)

Wow, what a freaking great song, though.

At the time ('95) I kind of liked Blur, but a lot of their pre-Blur material sounds embarrassingly dated now. Blur itself is patchy but has a few genius moments, 13 is the only full album I have much time for. I find that the Best Of suffices, generally.

Oasis are just plain dreadful, and have no redeeming features whatsoever. Not a single good thing has come out of their existence. Quite possibly the worst band ever.

Nick, it's cos lad culture sucks.

Remember what kicked off the whole Blur/Oasis controversy - Brit awards 95. Blur walked away with 5 awards and Oasis got one or two. I remember thinking "Oh it's hat fucking boring band they've been playing on the radio who sound like Shed Seven. How dare they take the piss out of Parklife by singing "Marmite" over it. Bunch of tossbags".

We used to shout for that at gigs, because it annoyed Damon so much. Once or twice, Alex even played us the bassline... ;-)

And maybe Chemical World.

Leisure: OK, some nice songs. Still patchy. Love "Bang" for its archetypical hyper twee Englishness though.

Modern Life Is Rubbish: Lots of great stuff. Particularly "Sunday Sunday", "For Tomorrow" and "Colin Zeal" are classic Blur songs, among the best they ever did

Parklife: Deserved classic status, in spite of the spoken verse-title track being terribly overrated.

The Great Escape: Underrated, and their best work ever. Contains one of the best ever pop singles in "Country House". At the height of the band war, Blur were better than Oasis. "Globe Alone" was awful though.

Blur: OK, save for a "Song 2", "Easy Listening" and "Chinese Bombs". Was a disappointment to me at the time, but repeated listening reveals the album as another great one

13: Although this has its moments too ("Coffee And TV"), it remains their worst album. Lots of unlistenable noise, and lots of unusually tuneless songs.

Think Tank: Better than "13", but still far from their best. Oasis may have lost it, but Blur certainly have too.

Oasis:

Definitely Maybe: This one is indeed overrated. Sure, "Supersonic", "Live Forever", "Rock'n'Roll Star", Slide Away" and "Married With Children" are great songs, but the rest aren't. And the production is awfull all the way through, way too fixated on ugly guitar feedback. Hardly the classic it is claimed to be.

What's The Story (Morning Glory): Their classic, with lots of great songs and a considerable improvement in production (those vocal harmonies in "She's Electric" and "Cast No Shadow" are certainly classy!). Their masterpiece, but still not quite up there with "The Great Escape".

Be Here Now
There are a few nice songs here (I love "Stand By Me" and "Don't Go Away"), but generally the album is overblown and overlong. Some tracks, such as the awful Bon Jovi-like "Fade In-Out" and the worthless and unlistenable guitar feedback noise of "It's Getting Better Man" should have been left off the album.

Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
A huge improvement in production and songwriting and IMO their most underrated work. They have wisely turn down both the feedback noise and the tempo, creating several beautiful melodic ballads. Even Liam manages to come up with a nice tune, although the lyrics aren't quite level with the tune.

Heathen Chemistry
Having two profilic songwriters join the band should normally improve the quality of their output. The problem here is that Noel, normally their best songwriter, seems to have lost it completely. And if Andy Bell has managed to come up with some of the quality material he used to while in Ride and Hurricane #1, it was obviously still refused by the Gallaghers. Still not as bad as Blur's later efforts have been though.

My conclusion is that Blur wins, because their best material was better. Today, both have lost it, Blur so more than Oasis, but I still rank Blur on top because of their 1993-95 material being superior to almost anything else at the time.

What is this?

I think The Great Escape might be my favourite Blur record; meant a lot to me back in the 1995 day.

But "Popscene" is my favourite individual Blur track.

Don't think I ever "got" Oasis. But when you consider that the month their first album came out was the same month that - pause for breath - the Prodigy's Music For The Jilted Generation, Portishead's Dummy, Jeff Buckley's Grace, Orbital's Snivilisation and the Manics' Holy Bible also came out, then it's perhaps understandable.

C-post - yr a sick man, ENRQ.

Dummy and Sniv were the same day I think.
Def Maybe and Holy Bible were definitely the same day: the Monday bank holiday. WHSmiths was the only vendor open so that was where I got 'em.

I still like Oasis (even BHN!). I have long since ditched all my Blur albums except for The Great Escape, which I only really kept for Yuko and Hiro (bloody fantastic track). If I'm honest I still like the whole of TGE lots, but don't need any more Blur.

I have always found Pulp strangely cold and unloveable, there's just something too clever-clever and knowing about the likes of Common People, Sorted.., Mis-shapes etc. I think after years out in the wilderness JC tried too hard to be of the moment when his chance came. I dislike Different Class intensely, although I do have some time for Hardcore and the next one - more human.

Suede - pompous and wretched.

Best 'Britop' album by a mile - Elastica.

Dr C. -- no, 'Def Maybe' wasn't ignored, not in Select, anyway. 'Live Forever' was widely seen as a classic at the time, I think.

Oh yeah actually 'Dog Man Star' probably got mo' hype in the music press.

This had me falling out my chair - much as I like the MBeat song.

*goes off to check old diaries*

quite correct, Music For The Jilted Generation released 4th July 1994.

Def Maybe was raved about all over the place - 10/10 in NME etc. Typical that Q missed out on it, as they usually manage to miss out on everything else. It certainly was released on Aug Bank Hol Mon 'cos I remember going into HMV Bond Street and getting that + Holy Bible. The other big name record out that week was a Three Tenors album, and there was a bit of a hyped-up kerfuffle about who was going to get the number one slot (Oasis got it).

Dog -- I wd actually like to know what 'real' dnb fanz/junglists think of 'Incredible'. Coz indie me fucking loved it, but, being told somewhere that it was pop shit, didn't really follow it up. But in my memory that and 'Jilted' were the sound of that summer.

Cypress Hill: Black Sunday
Offspring: Self Esteem / Smash

I vaguely remember play Super Nintendo and listening to these about the same time (maybe a little later?).

It actually made the song sound a bit Teardrop Explodes, as Simon Price noted when it came out as a single...

To add my own spin to the Blur album ratings: Leisure 7 out of 10, MLIR 8, Parklife 8, TGE 8, Blur 9, 13 10, Think Tank 7.

channel 4 showing Supersonic...

directly opposite

sky arts showing To The End and the recent Wembley stadium gig

seems like every time one of these bands breaks up the other reforms.

no it doesn’t

"Incredible" was Paul McCartney's single of the year IIRC..

Mind blown by this. Surely it can’t be true, can it?

A few years earlier Paul loved On a Ragga Tip so much (having first heard it on Kiss) (!) that he got XL to send him a copy. As stated on The Chart Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XFkqxafdPc

All of this is probably beaten by how Des O'Connor's favourite album ever was Experience

Ha, it was only through this and the Wonderwall thread that I was reminded that Noel's daughter is named Anaïs Gallagher - apparently after Anaïs Nin. Somehow I feel the delicate erotica of Little Birds was what was missing from the brothers' lyrics...

Yeah I assume she was named by her mother.

any love for heathen chemistry? so many don't seem to care for this one. it was the first oasis disc i had when i was a kid, so maybe that's the bias for me... the first 5 tracks are solid, if a bit cheesy; hindu times is such a belter, and stop crying your heart out is just behind wonderwall for high emotions...! songbird is so, so sweet too.

Yes! I feel that Heathen Chemistry is easily the best post-Morning Glory album. Like, by far. I'm always surprised when I see it at the bottom of Oasis album ranking lists.

"All of this is probably beaten by how Des O'Connor's favourite album ever was Experience"

You have to admit that it's a pretty good snapshot of rave music circa 1992, and "Death of the Prodigy Dancers" demonstrates that they were capable of putting on an entertaining live show, which is something Des O'Connor would have appreciated given his theatrical background.