The Story
Every person you ask will have heard of Oasis, should it be the career high point of Wonderwall or someone who has every album, every single and maybe even an old bootleg cassette from back in the pre-internet days, the band are a world wide name for all different reason, some good some bad. We here at Supernova Heights wish to take you on a journey of their music, visiting Noel's first recorded songs and into the first ever full band demos up until the end and the Dig Out Your Soul world tour.
Sit back with your headphones on or speakers cranked up to eleven and enjoy Oasis... The Anthology.
Volume One
We begin with five songs written by the one and only Noel Gallagher, well before Oasis were even a pipe dream. The tracks were written in 1988/89 and eventually recorded with the help of a friend and put down on cassette in what is believed to be home recordings in Manchester. Fast forward to 2006 and that very cassette
was put up for auction where a consortium of fan forums and their members donated money into a fund and purchasing the tape for all fans to finally hear the early genius at work. The songs are a young Noel, influenced by The Smiths, expressing his feelings of his life at the time with Hey You hinting at the future Oasis sound.
We then move onto the heavily Stone Roses influenced tracks of the young and extremely raw Oasis. These are baggy tunes with plenty of solos and a darker edge. We also hear the first non Oasis written cut in Take Me, with it's very questionable and slightly worrying lyrics... What were Liam and Bonehead thinking when they wrote it? Who knows? The songs were recorded in various studios around Manchester throughout 1991 and 1992. On the 14th of January we are given our first taste of the band playing live at the now legendary and defunct Boardwalk. Included are the aptly named Acoustic Song, titled like that as according to Noel's witty or is it blunt description of Liam and Bonehead, it was a song and it was acoustic!
Within the next year Noel had taken complete control of the writing process and had been introduced to Liverpudlian band The Real People who took them under their wing and assisted each member in improving themselves in the recording process. In January 1993 sessions were tooled at Porter Street Studios, owned by The Realies themselves, and we hear the vast improvement from the previous year at The Boardwalk. Within these sessions we hear the Liam sung Comin' On Strong which eventually evolved into the Noel Gallagher and The Chemical Brothers collaboration and number one hit Setting Sun. Too close Volume One off, listen to the fantastic and still to this day unreleased Strange Thing, a song which should have made the final Definitely Maybe sessions as at least a B-Side or more!
Volume Two
After Oasis were signed to Creation Records on the back of the now famous King Tut's gig in Glasgow and the Live Demonstration Tape things stepped up even more quickly than they could have imagined. The sessions for Definitely Maybe proved difficult as the band struggled to nail down their live sound in the studio. We can hear tracks from the aborted Dave Batchelor recordings. Fan favorites Columbia is like a chainsaw being played loud, crunching along and Live Forever is stuck between it's demo form and final album version, amazing to hear. A live cut of the Beatles like Whatever from MTV is a highlight in it's acoustic form.
If Definitely Maybe was a like a rocket taking off then Morning Glory was Oasis going (Champagne) Supernova! Listen to the first ever recording of the world famous anthem Don't Look Back In Anger, the lyrics are not even complete as Noel had only written the song a matter of days previously. Even then you could tell this song was destined to become legendary. We have Oasis as a four piece for the only time in their career on David Letterman playing the monster Morning Glory after Guigs took a short break from the craziness which surrounded the band at the time. Embrace Noel singing Wonderwall for MTV Unplugged while Liam sat heckling from above and follow it up with a cover of This Guy's In Love With You with certain Mr Burt Bacharach who appeared on the cover of Definitely Maybe, accompanying on piano.
By the time Be Here Now made it's debut Oasis were the biggest band in the world.... In the space of three years they went from eight hundred capacity clubs to career defining headline mega gigs at Knebworth, an unbelievable rise to glory. Could the songs match up to their previous efforts? It is a split verdict amongst fans, critics and even members of the band themselves, Noel hates it, Liam loves it. We showcase some excellent acoustic versions of Stand By Me at the pool sung by Liam, a backstage Don't Go Away which Noel makes his own in the live setting and an extremely rare Fade In-Out.
Volume Three
After Britpop dies away, with criticism ringing in Oasis' ears, both Bonehead and Guigs leave the band and are replaced with Ride's Andy Bell and Heavy Stereo's Gem Archer who both add to the Oasis machine in terms of writing contributions and the live experience over the next nine years. Along the way we lose Alan White, his replacement Zak Starky before finally settling with Chris Sharrock for the Dig Out Your Soul world tour.
Welcome to Oasis Mark II. We start as we mean to go on with Volume Three exploding into life with the demo version of Fuckin' In The Bushes! Influenced by Jimi Hendrix Little Miss Lover and The Spencer Davis Group's I'm A Man it was conceived while Noel was working on a remix of UNKLE's The Knock On Effect. Listen to Noel experiment with his sound on the instrumental Teotihuacan and listen to the unreleased Revolution Song in all it's glory. Noel's spine tingling version of Where Did It All Go Wrong from Jools Holland is immense.
Moving onto the Heathen Chemistry era Liam stands out on his own with Songbird. The demo which we hear is a heavier version and you can nearly hear John Lennon possess Liam as he sings! Noel steps up to the plate with the immense Stop Crying Your Heart Out, a song which would make grown men hold their best mate tightly with a tear in their eyes. The vastly different, and darker, demo of The Hindu Times is a monster and has to be played loud. We have a special version of The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony which was played in Japan after Liam's voice gives way and Noel asks the crowd to pick a tune!
Noel previewed to mystical Stop The Clocks at a low key acoustic gig at the Zanzibar club in Liverpool back in 2003... Is it the greatest song he ever wrote? You decide, however while listening to this track please enjoy the bongos! We are now entering the Don't Believe The Truth era where both Gem and Andy come into their own with rocking tunes Eyeball Tickler and gig opener Turn Up The Sun. We have the long awaited, and long titled (I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine which should have made one of the last two albums and should have rivaled Champagne Supernova as an album closer. Liam belts out his take of Lord Don't Slow Me Down, which according to a certain Sara MacDonald, is the only Oasis song you can dance too!
To close volume three we are in the Dig Out Your Soul cycle. Starting off with a cover of the LOVE version of The Beatles Within You, Without You recorded for the 40th Anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band the band stay at Abbey Road and we listen to the unreleased demo of Come On, It's Alright complete with 100 piece choir and an instrumental cut of The Turning with it's original ending intact. There is a monster version of the Gem written To Be Where There's Life from the Eden Live Sessions in Cornwall, the album version really should have been done in this style.
And there we have it... Supernova Heights version of Oasis... The Anthology. We hope you have enjoyed this production. Please visit the forum and sign up if you wish. We have some excellent members who will be more than happy to answer any of your questions in regards to this project. Maybe you just want to be around some Oasis fans and like minded people... Whatever your reason you are more than welcome.
Credits:
Concept - Jim
Music - NoelsOasis
Information - DavidJay
Artwork, Booklet - JitKenson, Pashca
Special Thanks to - MickDude, Mr Monobrow, Joakim, NoelsOasis,
Fans who contributed to Tape Collections, Original Tapers, Original Sharers.
The Band:
Liam Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs
Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan
Tony McCarroll
Alan White
Gem Archer
Andy Bell
Zak Starkey
Chris Sharrock