The Album Review Club - End of Round #9 Break (page 1904)

I'm not a big Oasis fan but I thought, after reading all the reviews on here, I'd give it a big impartial listen.

The Masterplan is a great little song, especially the beginning, the cover version is dire, I recognise Half the World Away and the rest?

Generic average at best B sides.

I think it's the singing. Nasally and very irritating.

A score? Blimey...one good song, one I recognise and one butchered cover version and the rest bang average?

4/10

It's why they were B sides.
 
BlueHammer85 said:
The Album Review Club – Week #3

Oasis – The Masterplan (1998)

Selected by Bluehammer85

View attachment 27895


Did I really have to follow @FogBlueInSanFran with his great pick and review!

Been really undecided all week what to go for here and wanted to avoid the top 1100 - I didn't want to bore you all with Bob Dylan once again but Blonde On Blonde would of been a strong contender, 'Disintegration' by The Cure, The Smiths 'Queen Is Dead' (would have enjoyed the fireworks for that) Pink Floyd, Beatles, Bowie - hell any of the big dogs - my next review on Friday is even worthy of a 10/10
I thought about going down the rare unknown - Early Chem Bros, Band called Fink I'm listening too at the mo with a cracking album, Bear's Den, Kodaline or The Slow Show.

But! I've gone for The Album that got me into Rock/Pop - that brings back so much nostalgia and got me through my youth.

Firstly, the potential criticism here - It's not a standard Album, it's a compilation and as Rob confirmed we can pick 'any' album I thought this would just about pass - It's not a 'best of' or 'greatest hits' but it is a collection of their B-sides, secondly it's Oasis a unimaginative pick and I know many scoff at them - so I'm putting myself in the lions den here.

but as for the actual album, it still blows me away - The Masterplan era was Oasis at their absolute peak - Liam at his vocal best, so many loud crashing guitar riffs and Noel at his lyrical best - how on earth could they make Acquiesce, Talk Tonight, Listen Up and The Masterplan B-sides? the mind boggles! and they could easily have released a Masterplan 2 album - some of their B sides on later albums was just as strong.
Yes Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory get the plaudits, but maybe i have overheard them too much or just too popular nowadays for my liking - but if I do need a Oasis fix every now and then - then I run to their B-sides.

Nothing groundbreaking, no barriers being broken, no change of styles - but why does there always have to be? It's just a bunch of brilliant rock/pop tracks by a band at their peak. Say it loud and sing it proud todayyyy



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When Definitely Maybe was released in 1994 I was 37 with three teenage kids. It was they that really introduced me to Oasis and made me sit down and listen to the album beginning to end. I loved it and grew to consider Oasis as my second favourite rock band.

I really got everything about them, the manc attitude and humour, the britpop mullarkey with Blur, the sibling disputes, the Beatles influences and crucially the sheer mass of melodic sound. Because of Oasis, I started to buy records/cds again rather than rely on my collection of 60's and 70's classics. Because of Oasis, my kids even thought my musical taste had got kind of cool (almost). I never saw them live but the videos demonstrated what a bloody brilliant live band they were. I still regularly listen to their albums and saw NGHFB a couple of times where he covered a deal of Oasis stuff.

I never owned or really listened to The masterplan so it was nice to see it as your pick. Of course I recognise quite a few tracks on it but approached it knowing that it wouldn't have the same familiarity as their first four studio albums had. Having listened to it two or three times all the way through I loved it as I thought I would. If you like Oasis, what is not to like? The songs were as strong as anything they have done (recorded 95 -97?), the Band sounded at its absolute peak and Liam vocals were at their strongest. Lyrics? You don't listen to Oasis for the lyrics. My favourites were the slower tracks, Talk Tonight and Half a world away, and of course The Masterplan, but frankly I loved everything in a melancholic kind of way as the music took me back to the 90's so clearly and I could almost hear the 'ghosts' of my teenage kids. You cant wait until they grow up and then you miss the lunacy of those years when they do :-).

Its a very strong 8 out of 10 from me. Thanks for choosing it.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
When Definitely Maybe was released in 1994 I was 37 with three teenage kids. It was they that really introduced me to Oasis and made me sit down and listen to the album beginning to end. I loved it and grew to consider Oasis as my second favourite rock band.

I really got everything about them, the manc attitude and humour, the britpop mullarkey with Blur, the sibling disputes, the Beatles influences and crucially the sheer mass of melodic sound. Because of Oasis, I started to buy records/cds again rather than rely on my collection of 60's and 70's classics. Because of Oasis, my kids even thought my musical taste had got kind of cool (almost). I never saw them live but the videos demonstrated what a bloody brilliant live band they were. I still regularly listen to their albums and saw NGHFB a couple of times where he covered a deal of Oasis stuff.

I never owned or really listened to The masterplan so it was nice to see it as your pick. Of course I recognise quite a few tracks on it but approached it knowing that it wouldn't have the same familiarity as their first four studio albums had. Having listened to it two or three times all the way through I loved it as I thought I would. If you like Oasis, what is not to like? The songs were as strong as anything they have done (recorded 95 -97?), the Band sounded at its absolute peak and Liam vocals were at their strongest. Lyrics? You don't listen to Oasis for the lyrics. My favourites were the slower tracks, Talk Tonight and Half a world away, and of course The Masterplan, but frankly I loved everything in a melancholic kind of way as the music took me back to the 90's so clearly and I could almost hear the 'ghosts' of my teenage kids. You cant wait until they grow up and then you miss the lunacy of those years when they do :-).

Its a very strong 8 out of 10 from me. Thanks for choosing it.
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That's a good review Mr Saddleworth.

I particularly like your point about starting to buy music again. Although I have always bought CDs, I have bought a lot less during lockdown because I use Spotify most of the time. However, I distinctly remember saying to myself about 15 years ago that I don't need to buy any new music because I've got plenty to keep me busy. But it didn't take me long to realise that it's good to always introduce new artists and albums into your collection (even if that's virtually via streaming services). Yes, my favourite stuff will always be the albums I bought in my first 10 years or so of listening to music, but there's some good stuff out there, and every so often, something comes along that might just be worthy of my personal top 30 or 40.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
When Definitely Maybe was released in 1994 I was 37 with three teenage kids. It was they that really introduced me to Oasis and made me sit down and listen to the album beginning to end. I loved it and grew to consider Oasis as my second favourite rock band.

I really got everything about them, the manc attitude and humour, the britpop mullarkey with Blur, the sibling disputes, the Beatles influences and crucially the sheer mass of melodic sound. Because of Oasis, I started to buy records/cds again rather than rely on my collection of 60's and 70's classics. Because of Oasis, my kids even thought my musical taste had got kind of cool (almost). I never saw them live but the videos demonstrated what a bloody brilliant live band they were. I still regularly listen to their albums and saw NGHFB a couple of times where he covered a deal of Oasis stuff.

I never owned or really listened to The masterplan so it was nice to see it as your pick. Of course I recognise quite a few tracks on it but approached it knowing that it wouldn't have the same familiarity as their first four studio albums had. Having listened to it two or three times all the way through I loved it as I thought I would. If you like Oasis, what is not to like? The songs were as strong as anything they have done (recorded 95 -97?), the Band sounded at its absolute peak and Liam vocals were at their strongest. Lyrics? You don't listen to Oasis for the lyrics. My favourites were the slower tracks, Talk Tonight and Half a world away, and of course The Masterplan, but frankly I loved everything in a melancholic kind of way as the music took me back to the 90's so clearly and I could almost hear the 'ghosts' of my teenage kids. You cant wait until they grow up and then you miss the lunacy of those years when they do :-).

Its a very strong 8 out of 10 from me. Thanks for choosing it.
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Lovely words them @Saddleworth2 and nice it brought back some great memories!

Interesting you talk about your kids starting to like the music from your era. Growing up in the 80s, there definitely was a tendency to look at "old" pop music and dismiss it as old fashioned. I do think that the 90s started the trend to listen to older music and appreciate it. I always loved my Dad's music and as soon as I hear anything by Zappa, Steely Dan, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell etc I'm transported back to the early 1980s again :)
 
As noted on the other thread — been traveling for work this week was just able to sneak in Dylan on the other thread before the deadline. Heading home now and looking forward to this! Know the other Oasis records but not this one. While I think generally Brits overrate them some — they weren’t ever the second coming of anyone, I think I’ve said before — Yanks underrate them and I’ve always liked them.
 
GoatersLeftShin said:
Lovely words them @Saddleworth2 and nice it brought back some great memories!

Interesting you talk about your kids starting to like the music from your era. Growing up in the 80s, there definitely was a tendency to look at "old" pop music and dismiss it as old fashioned. I do think that the 90s started the trend to listen to older music and appreciate it. I always loved my Dad's music and as soon as I hear anything by Zappa, Steely Dan, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell etc I'm transported back to the early 1980s again :)
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I think it works both ways. For sure they introduced me to some stuff, particularly the britpop bands, but they grew up listening to a soundtrack of Zeppelin, Beatles, Beach Boys, Bowie, Cream, The Who, Genesis, Floyd, Yes and the Caifornian singer songwriters. Not a bad grounding in music. The only band they didn't take too was Yes. Probably too much 'air' keyboard work from their dad ;-)
 
Saddleworth2 said:
I think it works both ways. For sure they introduced me to some stuff, particularly the britpop bands, but they grew up listening to a soundtrack of Zeppelin, Beatles, Beach Boys, Bowie, Cream, The Who, Genesis, Floyd, Yes and the Caifornian singer songwriters. Not a bad grounding in music. The only band they didn't take too was Yes. Probably too much 'air' keyboard work from their dad ;-)
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My young lad (19) is the same. He doesn’t do prog rock, but has several of my staples on playlists of his own. Just individual tracks he likes and has picked up from 60’s all the way through to now.

The generation now have no hang ups about what era good music came from which is great.

I even noticed one Zappa classic on a playlist of his that he put on in the car, and thought, ‘that’s my boy’.
 
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