Oasis
Definitely Maybe (Creation/Epic)
by Marc Hirsh
Oasis
Definitely Maybe (Creation/Epic)
by Marc Hirsh
originally published in the Rice Thresher, February 10, 1995
Welcome to the future (1994 British model).
If you follow the amazingly fickle British music press, you'll know that every year every significant publication will simultaneously latch onto some unsuspecting band and attempt to mold them into gods. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you last year's Suede.
That's right. Last year's Suede. We're actually a bit late here in the States. 1994 was definitely the big year for Oasis. Just like Suede in 1993, Oasis released 3 absolutely huge singles, captivated Select, New Musical Express, Vox and all the other magazines and actually managed to release an album, Definitely Maybe. It was a close race, but Oasis managed to win the dubious prize of British Media Darlings at the last minute, narrowly beating out contenders Elastica (next year, next year).
All that prevents Oasis from being thoroughly detestable is the fact that, also like Suede, they happen to be very good despite the hype. Sure, lead guitarist/sole songwriter Noel Gallagher thinks he's a genius and once said that if anybody else in the band came up with a single musical idea, he'd drop dead of shock. What makes it work isn't that he's right (he's not, I don't think) but that he has standards. Never on the album is the sense that Gallagher is so enamored of himself that he figures he can get away with anything. Here's a guy who is so convinced of his gift that he tries to make damn sure that his songs are worthy of carrying his name.
In the other corner, we have his brother, singer Liam Gallagher. He seems almost as egotistical, taking the opening "(I'm A) Rock `n' Roll Star" and making a convincing case of it. Never mind that the words were written by Noel; Liam believes it.
The rest of the band's pretty dispensable, really. They back up the Gallagher brothers well, but that's the problem, really. It's as if they're just happy to be along for the ride. They do, however, do the job they're supposed to do, which is flesh out Noel's songs.
It's in the songs that Oasis fully steps into Suede shoes. Both bands take glam rock as their key inspiration. Suede loved it for its androgyny, which lead singer Brett Anderson milked to its utmost. Oasis love the fact that it rocked like all hell and do their best to do the same. The shameless rip of T. Rex's "Get It On" in "Cigarettes & Alcohol" is done with such style that it's hard to fault them for it. "Digsy's Diner" starts out as a swinging little jazz bit before the entire band kicks it into the ionosphere.
Riding the fuel-injected crest of the band are Liam's drawling, sarcastic vocals. Like Suede's Anderson, Liam seems to convey desperation and apathetic abandon through his singing. "Live Forever," the album's "hit," provides one of the best examples of this, and the subject matter would fit perfectly on a Suede album, despite the generally sunny exterior of the song. It's also one of the best songs on an album with a lot of good ones.
Despite Noel's protestations that they have universal appeal, Oasis are extremely British in sound and conception. Like Blur and Morrissey, Oasis probably just couldn't happen here. The two versions of the "Supersonic" video testify to the band's desire for universal appeal while showing off their innate Britishness. The first one shows the band looking cold, windblown and sullen on the roof of a building against a grey sky. The second one, obviously tailored for American audiences, is more colorful and shows the band looking much more playful against more down-to-earth settings. Try as they might, though, it comes through in the music, and that's part of their appeal.
All reports seem to indicate that Oasis live is an experience not entirely unlike listening to the album while staring at a picture of the band. Despite this, though, such reports still tend towards the "brilliant" end of the spectrum. It was a live show, and not a demo tape, that led them to being signed in the first place.
If you're really lucky, you may get to see something just a little more dynamic than that, even. As if following some guidebook, Liam and Noel carry on the standard love-hate rock `n' roll brother relationship. In the grand tradition of Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks and the Black Crowes' Chris and Rich Robinson, Liam and Noel Gallagher regularly stop gigs to beat the hell out of one another in front of their adoring fans. Maybe Noel's upset that Liam's the pretty one and Liam's angry that Noel effectively controls the band. Then again, maybe they just know that this stuff sells.
It also breaks up bands. Still, the fact that the siblings are locked together whether they like it or not pretty much prevents a breakup like the Brett Anderson-Bernard Butler split that leaves Suede on the road without much of a future. The Gallaghers are stuck with each other, unless one kills the other. In any case, enjoy it while you can, because when the next Next Big Thing kicks Oasis off their pedestals, it's not going to be pretty. After all, it is already 1995. Oasis' time is almost up.