A recent blog post on the Onion’s A.V. Club about mid-90’s Oasis B-sides rekindled my interest in this album. When Oasis originally hit it big stateside with What’s the Story, (Morning Glory)?, I was in high school, pretending not to like them. I remember hearing about them as though they were this amazing new band. Then “Wonderwall” came out, didn’t change the world, and everyone soured on them. (That’s not to say that no one bought their album. They won the wallets of America, but not their hearts and minds.)
The major complaint about Oasis at the time was that they were too “Beatlesesque.” But as Steve Hyden points out in that blog post, Oasis wasn’t a mere Beatles knock-off, because they stole from everybody—the Stone Roses, the Faces, the Kinks and T. Rex, to name a few. Now that I’m familiar with these bands, I can hear them in Oasis’ sound, sometimes verbatim.
I have to suspect that part of the problem with Morning Glory is that the first 3 singles were ballads and mid-tempo anthems. They were well-written songs (even if the lyrics were a bit ridiculous), but they didn’t match the “hot new thing” buzz the band was getting at the time. I have to think that if Oasis had released a scuzzy, up-tempo rocker of a single, they might have won over the fickle teenagers. Interestingly, Definitely Maybe is full of scuzzy, up-tempo rockers, and enjoys a little more respect than its massive-selling follow-up.
I don’t love the album, however. Certainly, it’s got a batch of great songs. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star” is a statement of purpose and is a contender for best first song on a debut album ever (see my post about Elvis Costello – My Aim is True). “Live Forever” presages the lad anthems Oasis would go on to write. “Supersonic” is a keeper as well. But the execution of these well-written tracks is often self-indulgent. Only two of the eleven songs clock in under 4 minutes, and both are buried at the end of the album. The result is a lot of guitar noodling when it isn’t really appropriate. (Let’s face it – no one thinks of Noel Gallagher as a virtuoso) The guitar solo on “Rock ‘N’ Roll Star,” for instance, made me think of The Grateful Dead or Phish. I’m sure that wasn’t what the band was shooting for.
All in all, it’s an album worth owning, but I would be happier listening to Blur’s contemporaneous masterpieces Parklife and The Great Escape.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak
A lot has been written about Thin Lizzy’s guitar sound, but I’m not sure it’s enough. The guitars are tough and muscular, but also precise and lyrical. Guitarists Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham developed a dual-lead-guitar sound that’s harmonious and intricate, and must have taken a long time to perfect.
Even if you’ve never heard of Thin Lizzy, you probably know this sound from the guitar solo in the monster hit “The Boys Are Back in Town.” Despite its use in just about every commercial aimed at men (for cars, jeans, beer, etc), the song remains compulsively listenable. Much of that is due to frontman Phil Lynott’s lyrics (supposedly written about soldiers returning from Vietnam), which have a Springsteen quality, only more kick-ass.
There are other great songs on the album, “Jailbreak” and “Cowboy Song” among them. The former is a powerful album-opener with a propulsive bassline, while the latter is an epic Western featuring soaring guitar work. The other songs are always interesting, even if they don’t reach these heights.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the album, though, is the jaw-droppingly ridiculous sci-fi story in the liner notes. Apparently, in Dimension 5, the world was ruled by "the Overmaster, whose lust for ultimate power had become an obsession.” The subjects under his rule were essentially slaves, and he imprisoned innocent people on a whim. Eventually, a rebel leader called “the Warrior” leads a jailbreak. While this might have made a good novel, it’s laugh-inducing when rendered in 3 paragraphs on a single page in the liner notes. You can’t fault their ambition, though.
Over the course of this album, Thin Lizzy became my favorite 70s rock band. Enough said.
Even if you’ve never heard of Thin Lizzy, you probably know this sound from the guitar solo in the monster hit “The Boys Are Back in Town.” Despite its use in just about every commercial aimed at men (for cars, jeans, beer, etc), the song remains compulsively listenable. Much of that is due to frontman Phil Lynott’s lyrics (supposedly written about soldiers returning from Vietnam), which have a Springsteen quality, only more kick-ass.
There are other great songs on the album, “Jailbreak” and “Cowboy Song” among them. The former is a powerful album-opener with a propulsive bassline, while the latter is an epic Western featuring soaring guitar work. The other songs are always interesting, even if they don’t reach these heights.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the album, though, is the jaw-droppingly ridiculous sci-fi story in the liner notes. Apparently, in Dimension 5, the world was ruled by "the Overmaster, whose lust for ultimate power had become an obsession.” The subjects under his rule were essentially slaves, and he imprisoned innocent people on a whim. Eventually, a rebel leader called “the Warrior” leads a jailbreak. While this might have made a good novel, it’s laugh-inducing when rendered in 3 paragraphs on a single page in the liner notes. You can’t fault their ambition, though.
Over the course of this album, Thin Lizzy became my favorite 70s rock band. Enough said.
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