Oasis - Definitely Maybe
I've enjoyed listening to this over the past week for a few reasons. One, because of my 3 favourite Oasis albums, it's the one I've least listened to over time.
The one that got me into the band was their second,
WTS(MG), and it may still rank highest with me. It wasn't until I heard
The Masterplan, however, that I really took this band to be one of my favourites, but a lot of that is due to Noel on vocals.
I won't repeat a lot of what others have said thus far, but I found a lot of similar feelings with Rob in that the album for me didn't get going until track three with "Live Forever". I honestly still feel like I could do without the first two songs entirely - they're just nowhere near my top ones from this band. The string of good songs after LF really hit the sweet spot of the album for me, with "Columbia", "Supersonic", and "Bring It On Down" being the best string of three on the album, with the final one the best of them collectively. The guitars really stood out to me on that last one, really hitting the feeling that BH was talking about.
For full disclosure, "Cigarettes & Alcohol" has never been a song I've particularly liked, but I wasn't a big fan of "Get It On" by T. Rex either. Oh well.
The album ends well with "Slide Away" probably being one of the top songs here, and "Married With Children" also being a decent closer for a change up tempo wise without the heavy guitars.
Unlike many of the Oasis fans, I'm fine if the band never gets back together. I know that may not be popular here or with their most ardent fans, but I very much like Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds as a band, and am fine with continuing to mostly ignore whatever Liam Gallagher is doing. Noel gets to shine on his own, and that is perfectly fine with me.
I still say on the whole,
The Masterplan with Noel singing (on) most tracks and "Acquiesce" and "The Masterplan" being songs that took this band to a place I didn't think they could get to, I just don't think this album measures up to that and
WTS(MG).
For the record, I don't care if they are considered pop, rock, Britpop, whatever... they're an important part of the history of music from Manchester, England, and for that, they'll always be influential, and what led me to other bands later on that I enjoy even more.
For me, this album is a
7/10 as a strong debut, not the best lyrically, but with 4 songs (LF, BIOD, SA, and MWC) being among the top ones that I still enjoy listening to today. Thanks to
@BlueHammer85 for the nomination and the trip down memory lane. Wish I was here prior for
The Masterplan too...
