Oasis - Be Here Now Era Poll

One winner, easy.

Is 'Street Fighting Man' a Stones cover then?

Haven't listened to this in some time, but off the top of my head I recall liking:

D'You Know What I Mean? (still think this is pretty underrated as far as Oasis singles go)
Stand By Me
Don't Go Away
All Around the World
Stay Young
Going Nowhere

Yes it is, probably should have identified that. As is "Heroes" a Bowie cover.

(x-post)

D'You Know What I Mean? (still think this is pretty underrated as far as Oasis singles go)
lol when that came out that's when I gave up on Oasis for good!

Soft spots for Don't Go Away & Stand By Me, chose DGA because it instantly got stuck in my head (in a good way.)

No, I can totally understand why someone would feel that way and I certainly don't think it even comes near the Top 5, but I just love the guitars and the anthemic, epic feel to it. It was a very "look how awesome we are" move for a band built on that sort of self-mythologizing.

(xpost)

Right, so no-one's mentioned "Fade in-out" then?

is that the one johnny depp plays on?

yes.

i remember liking that one

Cos you see me I got my magic pie
Think of me yeah that was me I was that passer by
I've been and now I've gone

whats in that magic pie, noel?

''Stay Young'', I think this may be the best thing they did.

Fewer good songs here, but voted "Stand By Me", which is still a great anthem up with their best moments. Also like "D'Ya Know What I Mean", "Don't Go Away" and "Magic Pie", but this is generally a patchy album.
The only non-album track of some value is "Going Nowhere", which was a great Bacharach pastiche.

I only know one of these. I feel I shouldn't vote, it only encourages them.

Here's a protip: you can improve any song dramatically if you put "(Man!!)" in the title.

hahahaha that song is probably the most overblown, maxed-out thing on the record

this is all such lumbering crap but it is better than all other oasis for that reason. at least it is trying to be enormous. gah er erm er maybe d'ya know what i mean for the build-up/outro, maybe magic pie for the sheer lumpen massiveness, stand by me and be here now also possibilities

but i don't want to think about this music too much...in fact that's the best way to approach it

http://sta✧✧✧.g✧✧✧.c✧.uk/Guardian/arts/gallery/2007/aug/01//GD4189✧✧✧@oasis-1✧✧✧.j✧✧

"the most overblown, maxed-out thing on the record" you say?

yeah i meant 'it's getting better (man!!)' which for the last two minutes is just impressively stupid

oh, it doesn't matter anyway

it doesn't matter (man!!)

heh

inspirational thread

Really need to be "Man!! (Man!!)"

otm

!!

7 minute pop single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGaRDN8IMcg

going nowhere

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"It's Getting Better (Man)" represents pretty much everything which was wrong about this album.

Now, there are earlier Oasis tracks suffering from the same overblown wall of guitars which makes it almost impossible for me to listen to them without making my ears hurt. But "Rock'n'Roll Star" and "Some Might Say" are at least great songs, which cannot be said about "It's Getting Better (Man)"

Nice bit of robot drumming on it during the intro, though. Probably because whoever the drummer guy was back then couldn't figure out anything that went with it other than dum - ksh - dum - ksh - dum - dum - ksh.

The chorus is so loud you can't actually hear the fucking drums.

Also SOME REALLY LOUD TAMBOURINE.

Three solid minutes of REALLY LOUD TAMBOURINE.

ACTUALLY PART OF THE PROBLEM ABOUT OASIS' GUITAR BASED SONGS IS THAT T H E E N T I R E P R O D U C T I O N IS SO LOUD ALL THE TIME

It's Getting Louder (Man!!)

Went with "All Around The World" in a close toss with "Be Here Now," "Going Nowhere," "It's Getting Better (Man!!)" and "I Hope, I Think, I Know." I don't mind the overblown songs here, I just mind the ones that overblown AND drudgy - but their attempts at acid-fried giddiness are really great IMO. Not exactly charming, but enjoyable.

I always liked The Girl In The Dirty Shirt. One of the few songs on this record that are not so over-the-top.

This was one of the great momentum killing records in music history. They never really recovered from this, did they?

Went with Stay Young as it's closer to their anthemy britpop/rock "best" than anything that made it onto the album.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I cant remember which track Be Here Now is

cant find a studio version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ns2UZa62XY

cant say i remember this song at all

"Wonderwall" was famously inspired by "Wonderwall Music" the album by George Harrison.

"Be Here Now" is a track off "Living in the Material World" by George Harrison.

Who's this John Lennon then?

the 'best Oasis track ever' poll is going to be confusing for random googlers

Wow, gotta say I really didn't expect that. Fine song though!

"Be Here Now" is among the better songs on the album, but by no means the best.

Wow, yeah, very surprising result. Glad to see more people participated in this poll than I thought too! I mostly agree with the results other than seeing "Magic Pie" get some votes, never much got the appeal of that one. I'd have ranked my top 5 something like this:

1. "D'You Know What I Mean"
2. "Stand By Me"
3. "Stay Young"
4. "Don't Go Away"
5. "Be Here Now"

Did I miss the Standing On The Shoulder of Giants era poll or have these wound down? Was enjoying the trip down memory lane...

This album was 'lack of memory lane' for me.

Played it twice, I think.

That album has one reason to exist and you would remove it

" “As the years went by I’d started to accept that the songs on ‘Be Here Now’ were in fact insanely long… too long! Someone (I can’t remember who) had the idea that we re-visit, re-edit the entire album for posterity’s sake. We got as far as the first track before we couldn’t be arsed any more and gave up… It does sound fucking mega though!”

and then he cut it down from the original's 7:42 to the remix's rethink's 7:23

The main difference is that he reduced the volume of the 456 guitar tracks in the mix, isn't it ?
A quieter, older guy mix !

"d'you know what i mean" rules, blunted beats against a vicious wall of sound

The main difference is that he reduced the volume of the 456 guitar tracks in the mix, isn't it ?

― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, July 22, 2016 7:01 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Listening to it again, there's a hell of a lot that's been filtered out and re-positioned in the stereo field. It was always apparent that the original Be Here Now mixes were dense, with Owen Morris trying to cram every single last track into the mix, but listening to this has made me realise just how much they were trying to cram into the mixes. Like, they recorded that string section and it's so hard to pick out in the original mix it might as well have not even been there. The notable things that I've noticed is: no helicopter intro, and the wah-wah guitars at the beginning have been filtered out completely, as well as a lot of vocal harmonies and of course zillions of rhythm guitar overdubs and a couple of solo's here and there. There's more bass, too. It's a much more easier-on-the-ear mix and I agree with PaulTMA that it's a bit of a missed opportunity to not remix the whole album.

I noticed that the demo for 'D'You Know What I Mean?' also clocks in at over 7 minutes - clearly, it was always meant to be that long!

The drum sound still sucks, though.

as I say, I'm sue the remix attempt was only five years after the event.

Oasis artist poll will open next month. Starting to revisit now.

They really should have given the master tapes over to someone else to mix at the time, given how lousy the original mixes sound. That's apparently what Ash did when they were working with Owen Morris. Having said that, the secrecy surrounding this whole record at the time was (by all accounts) batshit and I'm not surprised that they never considered it an option.

Putting aside the sonics, which has a greater number of good tunes: stone roses s/t or those first three oasis ones?

Nice to hear the vocal harmonies in Know What I Mean. The dual vocal is also the best part of Stand By Me.

Just listened to the new mix again. This is the definitive version, as far as I'm concerned. Remix the rest of the LP, Noel!

Is 'Street Fighting Man' a Stones cover then?

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, October 7, 2009 3:35 PM (6 years ago)

lol, i remember i had at least a couple of dorky oasis obsessive friends back around the be here now era who insisted that every cover they ever did was better than the original, including "street fighting man" and "heroes." i kinda love this band despite everything but come on

I remember reading an interview with Owen Morris in which he said he didn't get why they were even bothering to attempt to cover those tracks for that reason.

this might be a good time to ask some questions about the upcoming Oasis poll.

i hate, hate, hate worst song polls but i think i need to do that for Oasis as they have some cringe worthy songs.

i was also thinking of doing a best cover side poll as well but are there any really good covers?

anything you would like to see for the Oasis poll?

thoughts?

now, i will have to try this link.

Oh man, during my teenaged Oasis fandom there was at least a week or two when my buddy and I convinced ourselves that their "I Am The Walrus" was way more far-out and sound-expanding than the original. Yeesh.

i actually remember liking their version of "heroes" OK but yeah last time i put on the masterplan (which i mostly like) their take on "walrus" sounded so embarrassing i had to hit the skip button about halfway through.

If they were really like the Beatles, they would've had Liam sing German versions of the songs, such as "Stehen Sie bei mir bitte".

the sonic excess of this album is part of the appeal.
i mean seriously, the opening track without the helicopter intro!?
dear god, what is the point ?

otm

I agree that it needs the helicopter intro, but then again it was absent on the single version too. I still think the new mix is an improvement - folks can talk all they like about how the excess was the point, but the new mix is listenable in a way that the original mix wasn't.

due to this thread revival i dropped this album on the playlist earlier and fuck, i seriously do not want a re-dux version.

xpost :

i genuinely love the excess.
having upgraded my system recently, i can actually hear all the various guitar parts...

glad some sense is finally being spoken

no-one has suggestions for the Oasis poll? i will wing it.

btw, i like the new version. can finally understand what he is saying.

what does he mean though

the lyrics are just a mix of beatles titles and quotes, as usual, aren't they ?

ahah, I never noticed (or cared) so I just checked the lyrics.
man...

man!!

(man!)

the Man !

no-one has suggestions for the Oasis poll? i will wing it.

Did you mean covers as in album/single art? I'd vote for that, I like those Microdot sleeves.

The redo of DYKWIM sounds good at least (still too long and yeah the lyrics are crap) but then it was always the closest thing to a decent song on Be Here Now anyway.

I still think 'It's Getting Better (Man!!)' is one of the best songs on the album and I'm still surprised it wasn't released as a single.

hum. I'm not sure there's one good song on that album. maybe "stand by me" as an easy cheesy ballad...
but there are some atrocious songs, for sure !

Wow, I'd completely erased this album from my memory. I was 15 when it came out and me and my friends all went through the same hype cycle, convincing ourselves it was great for about a week, then piling on as we realised it was complete muck.

I remember there was a documentary about the album called Right Here Right Now on TV the night before it was released. It had this version of Stand By Me, which made the excess of the album version all the more hillarious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ6Etl_BU64

Then cleaned up version of DYKWIM is actually decent - the When The Levee Breaks/Kashmir influence is more obvious. Of course Jimmy Page built the heaviness around the drums and a sense of space. Anyone who's messed around with a multitrack editor knows you can't just keep piling on overdubs - the fewer parts you have, the louder each of them can be.

Oasis poll to open Monday. if there are any last minute suggestions for this poll then this weekend is it. i think i will go with three or four categories.

tasty bits of Mea Culpa going on here

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/06/flattened-by-the-cocaine-panzers-the-toxic-legacy-of-oasiss-be-here-now

I thought it'd at least be another year before we saw another piece on this record!

so this really was the 1st line in Stand By Me after all, lol

Made a meal and threw it up on Sunday I've gotta lot of things to learn Said I would and I'll be leaving one day Before my heart starts to burn

I don't really get the "it was too exciting to write a proper review!" excuse

Ah, this was less a piece about Oasis and more a piece about music critics.

Mojo’s reviewer was even moved to patois: “This is Oasis’s World Domination Album. Dem a come fe mess up de area, seeeeeeeeerious.”

a positive review !

http://thequietus.com/articles/21162-oasis-be-here-now-review-anniversary

The Mustique demos are on Youtube now and... christ, Owen Morris wasn't wrong when he said that they should have referenced the demos more. They're a lot more polished and fleshed out than I expected too, i.e. it's not just "Noel on an acoustic"

http://www.youtube.com/Bg2O3V1IzMI

https://youtu.be/Bg2O3V1IzMI

a positive review !

http://thequietus.com/articles/21162-oasis-be-here-now-review-anniversary

Sorry, but this is a truly bizarre bit of writing. I can't think I've ever seen somebody go to such lengths to try to defend something and still have nothing to show for it at the end, not a single point rings true.

As a friend of Angus's for some years now, I must disagree (admittedly, I would). If anything I thought it was a good portrait both of the hothouse situation and looking back on the album. Also, I distinctly remember him talking up the album when I first got to know him back in 2001, so it's not him trying to push a contrarian view out of nowhere.

I quite like it, especially for its exuberance. And I quite agree that it's their best album, of course

The 'Fade In-Out' demo is interesting in the way most of it ended up on the final version. It's excruciating hearing Noel circa 1996 singing it, though. Just totally wrong.

there's NG interview about the reissue where he says that album should have had a stamp on it saying "to be consumed within 48h", like you should only listen to it once front to back, high on something, sitting in a park. and even that way...