Oasis: Definitely Maybe (Chasing the Sun Edition)
Tracks: 44, Website: www.oasisinet.com
Label: Big Brother Records
We wouldn’t have it any other way, but Liam Gallagher has disowned the planned series of remastered Oasis albums, warned fans off them and along the way also managed to refer (amusingly) to his big brother as “some roadie from the 80s”, in reference to Noel’s dues-paying spell humping kit for the Inspiral Carpets.
Hey-ho, business as usual round their way then.
And, to some extent, it’s business as usual when it comes to this kind of remastering project really. Liam asked via Twitter how you can master something that has already been mastered and there are many – especially those listening to this on headphones through one of those new-fangled digital devices – that will likely wonder just how much work has gone into it. If, however, your copy of Definitely Maybe is a vinyl (or, hell’s bells, a cassette) one of 1994 vintage (yes, it really is 20 years), then boy, is there a treat in store for you here!
The weedy bass of the original has grown hairs and now growls magnificently, Tony Carroll’s drums have been beefed up so much so that you have to doubt whether it’s actually him playing and (perhaps inevitably) there are new levels of intricacy to be detected in Noel’s guitar lines. Never exactly one to hide his light (not even after co-producer Owen Morris junked half the guitar tracks in the name of sweet reason), it’s fair to say Gallagher Senior’s guitar looms large.
Anyway, what’s to say of the album itself that hasn’t already been trotted out dozens of times? Not much really. Back in the day, Live Forever sounded like a massive affirmation of everything that was great about British guitar bands back through Stone Roses to Smiths, The Jam, Slade, Kinks, Small Faces and, oh yeh, The Beatles. Definitely Maybe came out a few months after Kurt Cobain ducked out by his own hand, it was the sound of guttersnipes having their moment – there was/is no way these boys were/are going to take that route to oblivion. They had their own plans.
And it wasn’t long before it became clear this album was redrawing the landscape. T Rex riffs were recycled, the two Johnnies – Lennon and Rotten – were held up as heroes and the album’s opening cut Rock ’n’ Roll Star provided a fine de siècle anthem to match Working Class Hero or Pretty Vacant.
That it all lead to Downing Street, Cool Britannia and Be Here Now can hardly be blamed on the boys that made this record. It precipitated 14 years of albums, by turns infuriating and inspiring, gave a generation of post-Rave party animals new hope and made it possible to swagger again at the indie night.
Alongside the remastered album comes a three-disc Deluxe edition and Super Deluxe box set. Both have the same musical content – two discs rounding up all the b-sides, rare and unissued tracks, demo versions, live cuts and the Whatever single – you just get extra sleeve notes with the box.
There are some classic songs tucked away on here – Half a World Away, Round Are Way, Sad Song, Cloudburst, Fade Away – and completist fans will have much of this already, but the extra discs provide some interesting Oasis contextualisation. Marvel at Liam’s oh-so polite vocal on early versions of Rock ’n’ Roll Star, wonder how the rockin’ Strange Thing from their original 1993 demo cassette is only now seeing an official release, ponder the meaning of surreal nursery rhyme lyrics (actually don’t, there is none, it’s just inspired gibberish), spot the John Squire riff steals and revel in the undeniably rave-influenced beats and structure of early mixes of Columbia.
One of the greatest debuts of all time? Not maybe, definitely. BUY HERE!
