Definitely Maybe
by Oasis

Overall I find the album lacks musical creativity, particularly next to the inventiveness of contemporaries such as Blur. The guitars are too noisy without offering much in return: case in point, the noisy and boring instrumental outro on "Rock 'N' Roll Star". Quite derivative, apparently they even ripped off a soft drink commercial. And chorus and verses too repetitive.

However, there are too many catchy tunes here to write this off completely. And I liked the punk attitude in Liam's vocals. People with undeveloped taste need music too, and on that level it's a very decent album. Best: "Live Forever", "Supersonic", "Slide Away".

I discovered Oasis just when I ended school and started to work and their music is symbol to that whole summer of coolness and uncertainty for me

Shortlisted for album of the year at the 1995 Mercury Prize. The winner was Dummy by Portishead

Noel Gallagher built the album for stadiums: simple, punchy melodies with zero frills. It’s raw, sometimes crude, but incredibly effective — Supersonic says it all. At a time when British rock had lost its way, Oasis showed up and crushed everything in sight.

Chuck Berry popularised it; the Beatles, Oasis and many others have carried the baton and moved the beat on. All have been heavily criticised. There is nothing new under the sun.
The beat goes on.

Some songs are bangers and Live Forever is great, but I don't care very much for this album.

This is an up and down debut album that showed all the potential of being the next big thing to come out of the UK but it isn't fully realised on this release. This is mainly due to the mediocre songs which make this record feel like it drags. Songs like Bring It On Down, Digsy's Dinner, Columbia and Up In The Sky come to mind when thinking of the weaker tracks as these songs feel really insignificant. Musically, these songs are extremely repetitive as well and they have little to no depth to them. However, you then have the outstanding songs that came from this release which are just absolute classics that you can't help but sing along to. These songs are just so infectious and the group clearly know how to create a brilliant hook and an irresistible chorus. The peak of this is on Live Forever and Supersonic with both of them getting stuck in my head for months after first hearing them. Despite this, the best song on the record in my opinion is Slide Away as that is the song that made me feel most connected to the band. I think this is mainly due to the outstanding vocal display by Liam Gallagher that is amongst the best performances he ever gave with the group. Overall, this is an inconsistent ride but it is filled with character and charm making it difficult not to love the songs on here.

Solid album

Features my all time favourite Oasis track - Cigarettes & Alcohol
Unfortunately it's let down by Digsy's Dinner which stops it being a 10/10 album

From pedro1976 05/05/2022 17:38 | #284978

Album of the year, 1994