The Oasis album Noel Gallagher called a “missed opportunity”
By the time Britpop was in full swing, there was no replacing Oasis as one of the kings of British rock. Taking the building blocks of what made classic rockers like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones so popular, Noel Gallagher had managed to write the most enduring songs of his generation, with ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ quickly turning into anthems shortly after release. When any artist is up that high, though, there’s no thinking about what happens on the way down.
As far as Noel was concerned, Oasis would continue skyrocketing for the rest of their days. With the release of What’s the Story Morning Glory, Noel had proved to the listening public that the bulletproof hooks on Definitely Maybe weren’t a fluke, giving people a chance to make their conclusions about what his songs meant. While everyone focused on the tunes, Noel was set on making the next album even bigger.
Coming out in mid-1997, the reception to Oasis’ third record, Be Here Now, was nothing short of rapturous. After becoming the biggest band in the world, this was supposed to be the Manchester band’s victory lap, making the most ambitious songs of their career while leaving their competition in the dust.
Though Noel was enthusiastic about reaching the top of the mountain, he hasn’t looked back on the record that fondly. When talking about the album since the group’s split, Noel has been harsh towards his musical baby, ignoring the album in a live setting and including none of their notable hits on any of the group’s best-of packages.
Although Gallagher may not be one to slag off all of his songs, he feels like the album was just not properly executed. When speaking about the album in a retrospective, Noel thought he could have done more to make it perfect, saying, “I look back on it as a real missed opportunity. It goes back to giving away all those great songs as B-sides. That is the germ of the problem. At that time, during Morning Glory, if we could have followed that up with something equally as good, I genuinely don’t think there’d be religious wars anymore.”
Many of the B-sides in question would eventually turn up on the compilation album The Masterplan, which offered up one classic after another like ‘Half the World Away’, ‘Talk Tonight’ and the title track. While each song was enough to launch any other band’s entire career, Noel’s logic that he would make something equally as good would have been realised if those B-sides were included.
Even though Noel has revived a handful of songs live, like ‘Don’t Go Away’ and ‘Stand By Me’ in recent years, he’s still not ready to call the album perfect. Looking back on the production, Gallagher was equally as vicious, recalling, “Everything sounds just kind of (makes electronic noise), and we’re like, ‘Why does it sound like that?’. Cocaine is a hell of a drug.”
That’s not to say the album doesn’t have its fair share of defenders, either. Throughout the years, artists like Kasabian and Marilyn Manson have shouted praise for the album, calling it one of the watershed moments in 1990s rock. Regardless of what anyone is saying about it these days, Noel will always see Be Here Now as the album that got away from him.
