I'm on a bit of an Oasis binge and would like to know what people think of Be Here Now.

Some people see it as their last great album and the end of the golden era that began with Definitely Maybe while others write it off as the beginning of their decline. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

I was a bit late to "discover" Oasis, I think I got the first two albums in late 1996 and quickly became a big fan. The hype for Be Here Now, even here in Canada, was massive. I remember being impressed with the "D'You Know What I Mean" single and video and when the album was released I convinced myself that it was their best yet but the more I spun it the more disappointed I became with it. For one thing most of the songs are too long. Excluding the reprise of "All Around the World" the songs average over six minutes. It's also one of the loudest and densest albums I have ever heard. That sound works on some of the tracks but most of the album probably would have benefited from fewer guitar overdubs and a clearer production. I'm not sure but I think there may have been some excessive drug intake during the recording of the album that may have led to some poor decisions.

Then there are the b-sides. Some of them are good but after the (What's the Story) Morning Glory? b-sides they are a bit of a disappointment. That might not be a fair comparison as the band were at their peak circa 1995/1996 but the Be Here Now b-sides were still something of a letdown. Noal always prided himself on great b-sides and hearing the quality start to slip was probably a clear signal that things were going off the rails a bit.

What I really would like to know is how do people think the album compares to what came later? Do any of the later albums (Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, Heathen Chemistry, Don't Believe the Truth and Dig Out Your Soul) better Be Here Now? After Be Here Now they made some subtle changes to their sound and became a bit less "pop" sounding and more of a traditional sounding rock band. I think they made a bit of a break from the earlier era. For me Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was the last era that I thoroughly enjoyed. They were back to shorter songs and the b-sides, although regrettably there were fewer of them, were of a slightly higher quality. Still, there was a bit of the early magic lingering on Be Here Now and despite all of its faults it still feels like "classic" Oasis. No doubt about it, the album pales compared to the first two but I also do not believe that it is the disaster that some people claim it to be.

Their "cocaine album", as Noel calls it.

It's bloated beyond belief and could have benefited massively from a more stripped down production approach yet still contains some good tracks.

Nowhere near as good as their first two albums, or their last two albums, but certainly better than the rather dull and uninspired SOTSOG and HC.

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[Edited 7/24/11 8:15am]

Love the album, I remember living with the hype for it's release. The tv special a day before. And the supurb lead off single! I was so into Oasis at the time I visited teh concert in Den Bosch and bought everything I could find by them.

Excellent album

best songs

do y'know what I mean

stand by me

I hope, I think I know

fade-in out

don't go away

all around the world

wow what an album!!

I like the heavy guitar overdubs on "My Big Mouth", "It's Gettin' Better (Man)" is exuberant guitar-driven rock and "The Girl in the Dirty Shirt", a tribute to Noel's then-girlfriend Meg, is so catchy that its hook overshadows his best lyrics on the whole album. Everything else on Be Here Now is either too long, too oblique 0r too darn repetitive.

I always dug it. It's definitely bloated, but I always took that to be a way for the band to antagonize some of the people who'd come to them via Morning Glory. Kinda like how Prince tried to unload some fair weather fans of Purple Rain with Around THe World...

Definitely some great songs on it though, and I think it's the closest thing to a mainstream psychedelia album that we've seen since the 60's unless there's something I'm missing.

I've only heard up to Heathen Chemistry and wasn't terribly impressed with SOTSOG, but HC had some good tunes on it.

guitarslinger44 said:

I always dug it. It's definitely bloated, but I always took that to be a way for the band to antagonize some of the people who'd come to them via Morning Glory. Kinda like how Prince tried to unload some fair weather fans of Purple Rain with Around THe World...

Definitely some great songs on it though, and I think it's the closest thing to a mainstream psychedelia album that we've seen since the 60's unless there's something I'm missing.

I've only heard up to Heathen Chemistry and wasn't terribly impressed with SOTSOG, but HC had some good tunes on it.

Songbird is a lovely little thing. Who'd have thought that Liam would write the album's best song!

The Hindu Times and Little By Little are okay too, not very keen on the rest.

Their last two albums are worth checking out, some great stuff on both.

One thing that I forgot to mention about Be Here Now are the lyrics. Oasis/Noal have always been slagged for their lyrics but I think this album is the worst offender.

Exhibit "A," "Be Here Now"

Exhibit "B," "My Big Mouth"

probably the most pre-hyped of the '90 in the uk, it's funny the backlash this album had so soon after being so well recieved by the UK music press.

I didn't think it a bad follow up to What's the Story, the songs bore the same mark of immediacy that was present in all their music up till then, but as you said, the length of the songs arre silly, and they make the whole album seem draggy and repetitive. I thought the heavily layered guitar sound was wicked in places. The only subsequent album I heard was Shoulder of Giants, it didn't leave much of an impression.

Heard Liam on tv a few weeks back doing an Instant Karma rewrite with his new band, surprised me actually.

I actually rate it nearly as high as "Morning Glory" just has 2 or 3 fillers to keep it from being as good, most of the songs are superb and i don't mind that they're overly long, totally outrageous, loud and over the top lol, that's why i love the album!, and it's the last album with that "classic" Oasis sound.

I'd probably rate it as their 3rd best album, i think it's slightly better than their last 2 efforts.

[Edited 7/26/11 18:00pm]

That bsides album is actually the best thing I heard of them.