Standing on the Shoulder of... [Explicit Lyrics]

Well, it couldn't have lasted forever, could it? After the bombastic, larger-than-life "Be Here Now", Noel Gallagher wanted to write a few more low key numbers. Thats all right. But there is no evidence of written songs on "Standing on the Shouldar of the Giants" has few songs, and even fewer memorable ones.
You shouldn't compare records, so I'm not going to. The problem with this record is how increidbly lazy it all sounds. "Put Your Money Where Yer Mouth Is" and "I Can See A Liar" try to harken back to the glory days of "Defintley Maybe" and "Morning Glory" but are little more than under written riffs with dumb lyrics, even for Oasis, and needless flourishes of synths. "Sunday Morning Call" is the worst "Noel" moment ever, a piss poor Neil Young rip-off. His other Neil Young "homage", "Where Did It All Go Worng?"(an all to appropiriate question)fares better, but since the two songs are placed right next to each other, you find yourself missing Liam, though he sounds less alive on this record then he ever has.
"Who Feels Love?" is a bad attempt at '60's psychdelic, as is "Go Let It Out", the lead off single for this travesty, which is little more than a head ache. And Liam's first attempt at songwritting, "Little James" fares better than much of Noel's compositions, though again the lyrics are so silly that its really tough to get into the song.
"FXXXXXX in the Bushes" is little more than a sound collage of lead guitar riffs over a trash can drum beat, but it gets the blood flowing, and the impressive "Gas Panic" lets the band, or what was left of them, rock out like a band. Noel's guitar work matched with Liam's haunting, nihlisitc vocals take the song from sketchy homage to classic rock status.
But by that point, you really won't care any longer. Gone is the fun, the bravado, the great songs, the anthems for all the average joes to sing along with. Namely, all that made Oasis so much fun to listen to in the mid-to-late ninties. Maybe Bonehead was the talent after all.

The brothers Gallagher and crew blistered out of the ether in 1994 with the quintessential angry young Brit declaration Definitely Maybe to become the celebrated Beatles/Clash progeny of the U.K. music scene. Their follow, 1995's glittery and poignant Lennonesque meditation What's The Story (Morning Glory), affirmed Oasis' as gods of the new music movement and flag-bearing saviours of the Brit music scene. But it's all been downhill from there. Drugs, egos, money and two impossibly bad albums (Be Here Now and the B-side/rarity compendium Masterplan) find Oasis at the crossroads with Standing On the Shoulder Of Giants. The verdict? It's a mess. But at least it's an honest mess. Recorded in France over six turbulent months of booze detox, new fatherhood and the abdication of band members Bonehead and Guigsy, Standing is a noisy hodge-podge of plodding techno beats, oily Mellotron samples, haphazard guitar riffing, shameless Beatle shanghais and Liam's irritating nasaled vocal cliches. Lyrically, songwriter/guitarist/brother Noel comes across as a feeble-minded George Gershwin playing with 'plasticine' on a 'trampoline' with a 'worthwhile smile' behind a 'certain curtain.' Musically, his creative ambition is best described as thievery, the shameless embezzlement of old psychedelics from the Beatles' catalogue (Strawberry Fields Forever, Dear Prudence, etc.) are the sole support beams holding this load of post-cocaine twaddle in the air. When it's not an oblivious parody, it's utterly excruciating, thanks to the perpetual tonal fuzz and Liam's squalling protraction of vowels: 'She go let it ooooaaaaaoooout, she go let it iiiiiiiiieeeeeeiiiiiin,' etc. No surprise then that the best track is the instrumental F***in' In The Bushes, a pounding Bonzo Big Beat Beastie Boy samplefest sewn with an outraged reprimand from the promoter of the 1970 Isle of Wight festival as utopia-impatient hippies in the audience storm the concert site. At once, the musical melee is a stark reminder of the power and chaos of Oasis' best days and a sure sign that somewhere in there, they've got the wits to do it again.

Sadly the answer to that question is a big fat NO! This cd doesn't sound like Oasis, doesn't look like Oasis, it just happens to say Oasis on the cover. What happened to the band you ask, i'll tell you. Two of the band's guitarists, Bonehead and Guigsy, quit. Only Noel, Liam, and Alan White(the drummer) remain. Although I guess they did happen to find a couple of stiffs to replace them. But they sound nothing like they used to. Gone are the crunching guitars and brash vocals. The only song that sounds close to their old stuff is Go Let It Out but, it's not even close to Supersonic or D'Ya Know What I Mean. Everybody complained about Be Here Now (their last album) but at least it was Oasis. I don't understand why they would change so much. I mean even the black and white Oasis logo is gone. What's up with that? One of the reviewers said that these songs reflect the changing face of Oasis, with a darker and more complex personality. What is that supposed to mean? I liked them when they just wrote good rock songs that you could crank up on your stereo. And to all of you who say Oasis is back i'd like to ask you a question. Have you ever heard Definately Maybe, What's the Story, or Be Here Now.