I forget why this mattered to me so much on Twitter last night, but you could probably say that about anything on Twitter, so one idea is as good as the next, right? Oh right, I was drunk and grumpy at a show and trying to come up with a list of the hundreds of bands I've written about over the last year or so that I actually did so out of genuine excitement rather than professional obligation/cursory admiration/curatorial duty. It looked like this: 1) Kitty Pryde 2) Ringo Deathstarr 3) Noel Gallagher 4) Robyn 5) Yuck 6) uh...
But oh man, Noel Gallagher! His "If I Had a Gun", I said, was probably the best song in recent memory, and an instant top ten all time Oasis-related classic. Naturally, the next question was, ok, but what is it up against? With that in mind here are the top 17 or so Oasis songs ever. It's a list for no reason, and lists for no reason are content.
1) Slide Away
Here's the rare song where I think it might actually be better done by Liam, but it's so beautiful and sad it's well suited to Noel's more reflective voice.
2) Supersonic
Was going to make this a list of Noel versions only, but then I realized, come on, this one belongs to Liam. Needs the attitude and the snarl.The chord turn leaning into "My friend said she'd take you home..." that's as good as it gets.
3) Aqcuiesce
Of course the best are when they both take lead. Wait wait, this might be the #1 -- song ever that is. This is hard. This one is so special because it's the closest thing to a love song between two brothers they ever did. They do need each other. Or is it about the band and their relationship with the fans? Maybe it's a coded message they wrote just for me!
4) Morning Glory
5) Rockin Chair
If this song doesn't still give you shivers then you have no soul. "When you're chained to the mirror and the razor blade." Never understood what that meant as a kid. Figured it out soon enough. They were right about that part.
5) Rockin Chair
Oasis were always paranoid about getting old from the start, as heard on songs like this one, Stay Young or Live Forever. That always resonated with me, even when I was a little snot-nosed shit watching them play at the Strand in Providence in like 1994. Someone threw a shoe at Liam that night and he walked off the stage. I thought that was pretty awesome.
6) Stay Young
Anyway, now I'm actually old, which means those dudes are double old as fuck, so songs like this one take on an added layer of melancholy now.
7) If I Had a Gun
Doesn't matter that this is roughly the 47th time Noel has reused these same Wonderwall chords, this is one of the most unabashedly romantic and heart-tugging songs he's ever done. "Excuse me if I spoke to soon, my eyes have always followed you around the room, cause you're the only god that I will ever need. I'm holding on and waiting for the moment to find me." <3! :(!
8 Listen Up
Another sad one that splits the difference between sprawling guitar excess and introspection. That's when they were at their best, constructing big walls of feedback and towering sound, but breaking through it with humanity. The fact that Liam, probably the furthest thing from a regular dude in the world at this point, was able to embody it so perfectly is the genius here. "It wouldn't be so bad if I had more time," he sings. "Sailing down the river alone, I been trying to find my way back home. But I don't believe in magic, life is automatic, but I don't mind, being on my own." Doesn't matter if it actually makes sense or not, because it just does.
9 D'You Know What I Mean?
Was on the fence about whether or not to include a Noel acoustic version of this one or the original. Both are brilliant, but this video was, at the time, literally the coolest thing I had ever seen in my dumb young life. It doesn't get any sharper than Liam in this one. And you still get the gorgeous back up harmonies from Noel here, some of his best.
10 Don't Look Back In Anger
I will never understand how a band can be this massive in literally every other country in the world except for this one. The crowd singing along here? Floors me. When I saw Noel play this one earlier this year in Boston I thought, meh, I've heard this one a million times, I'm not going to get that excited, but as soon as it got to the lead up to the first chorus my heart was in my throat and I was singing along like a drunk Argentinian chick waving a flag and her tits in the air.
11) Angel Child
A supremely underated b-side from the D'you Know What I Mean single, (which also had the Heroes cover, which actually improved on Bowie, not easy to do), and Stay Young. An amazing single all around. Pound for pound the best 4 song release of the late nineties. Noel brings the pain on this one. "No eyes that've seen such beauty could lose their sight. And there'll be no lies, no lies that you could tell me to make things right."
12 Talk Tonight
13 The Importance of Being Idle
14 Little By Little
15 My Sister Lover
16 Whatever
17 Carry Us All
16 Whatever
17 Carry Us All
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15 comments:
Sweet list. The acoustic Slide Away was perfect for Noel's voice too. I was at this show and just about crapped myself http://youtu.be/RHcKcAzjlYA
Oh man, that looks like an awesome one.
Well said about "Listen Up", too. Liam sounds like he's 1000 feet of Manchester rain away
MAYBE IT SHOULD BE HIGHER!
Wait, I thought the only song they'd ever written was Wonderwall. My whole life is a lie.
SOMEBODY THROW A SHOE AT THIS FUCKERS HEAD^
At that show in Providence and I am surprised we never talked about that...unless we did chained to the mirror and the razor blade. That's the night I met Liam and he hit on this kid I was with's girlfriend. Now that I think of it, it must have happened. Funny, we share the same thought on D'you know what I mean. Got me to go to tower records to get the CD and tape at midnight. The tape was just because my car had no CD player and had to hear the album immediately. Life before the internet
Always liked Noel's voice better. Thought it was pretty rich for a rock vocal. Liam's nasally twang could get irritating.
Agree with choosing Liam for "Supersonic", though. You need that faux-Johnny Rotten snarl on that one.
Mooose. Had we probably told eachother that like 20 times over the years when drunk then forgot and told eachother again.
i was gonna be angry about not being consulted on this list, but you did alright, son. throw headshrinker, live forever and STEP OUT in there to make it 20.
wait a second. there are 17 oasis songs?
HAR HAR VERY FUNNY BUTTHEAD
I assume you feel the same way about Tool that I do about Oasis. Why did people like these lumpy moaners? (Alright, you've told us why you like them. But people in general.) They ripped off the most twee and easily digestible parts of The Beatles, grinding them down into a bland beige paste which assistant bank managers blankly spooned into their earholes. I can't speak for their US fanbase but in the UK Oasis fans are/were people who don't like music and have thick, doughy flaps of vulcanised rubber where their ears should be.
Also any pics of this Argentinian girl you mention?
Luke Ferigno do you listen to the last dos Oasis lps much still, or was it a give-it-a-whirl-cuz-it-just-came-out-then-forget-it deal w/DBTT and DOYS for yous?
there's a few keepers on each of the records, but i can't be arsed to think about what they are at the moment because i'm shit faced on mezcal and pato in oaxaca.
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