Album Review 2 - (What's The Story?) Morning Glory by Oasis

What makes a lot of bands fade away from a promising start is that they produce a debut album that is so good that they find it immensely tough to come up with a follow-up album that emulates their initial success. It certainly must have felt like a difficult task for Oasis after releasing Definitely Maybe, arguably one of the finest debut albums to grace the world of music. However their second album makes it seem like there was no doubt that Oasis were going to be up there amongst the greatest British bands of all time. Most of the credit going to Noel Gallagher for crafting some fantastic songs to make this album equally as impressive as their first.

It doesn't start as such a memorable album with the mundane 'Hello' but it gets going with the catchy 'Roll With It' which is the first on the album to demonstrate Noel Gallagher's ingenious lyrics. This is followed by the classic 'Wonderwall' which is so unique in comparison to the rest of the tracks that makes it stand out as the one the general public will always remember Oasis for and rightly so. 'Don't Look Back In Anger' is once again another memorable Oasis song that is perhaps the most guaranteed to be sung at karaoke, though personally I don't think even the best of those performers could even touch the superb vocals of Noel Gallagher, which almost "outsheeeiiiinnnneess" his younger brother Liam with the brilliant voice he executes for the previous song.

This album then goes into a slight meltdown with some disappointing tracks, starting off with 'Hey Now' and the less said about that the better. However during this weak part of the album, the first of two untitled tracks, leads into the highlight of the album, 'Some Might Say' which despite hitting the top of the U.K charts in 1995, is still not remembered like 'Wonderwall' but is devised with more fine lyrics accompanied by sweet and subtle guitar sounds from Noel Gallagher, bringing back the moments which lit up Definitely Maybe. The slight meltdown returns with 'Cast No Shadow' which sadly is more reminiscent of a barbershop quartet and the disappointment continues with 'She's Electric' though it does have some catchy and comical lyrics to make it somewhat radio-friendly.

The album finishes off in style with Oasis showing more touches of Definitely Maybe with 'Morning Glory' which is a treat for any guitar fans and this goes into the second untitled track that slides fittingly into 'Champagne Supernova' which has class written all over it in terms of structure, lyrics and instrumental backing. This last song is easily worth every one of those seven and a half minutes and makes you wish it wasn't the end of a beautifully constructed album.

This album stands out as one of the great album's of the 1990's, which Oasis should cherish as it just about overshadowed the headlines the band were making outside of music at the time. The classic singles released from this album also provided an unforgettable MTV Unplugged performance from Oasis again to overshadow more headlines involving Liam Gallagher's boycott of the show.

(What's The Story?) Morning Glory is a really fine piece of work that has more tracks of high quality than the majority of greatest hits albums from other bands. With exception to a select few British bands from the 1990's, it will take some time before the U.K hears another follow-up album from a band that will be regarded as high as Oasis.