Be Here Now, Oasis.

Affable

Is it as bad as the music press/Noel makes out?

I think it's not too bad of it's time, though would have been interesting if they had taken longer off after morning glory and then recorded an epic for the next one.

funktastic

Yeah it's terrible - apart from 'Fade In-Out'

Bubs101

This is a quality quality album and I am very passionate about it.

Do You Know what I mean is one of Oasis' best and it's a great way to start the album. It could be said it's too long with a ridiculously long intro in particular, but when you consider how long people had been waiting for this, I think it builds the tension up fantastically.
My Big Mouth is an above average album song while Magic Pie is a slightly below average one.
Stand By Me is a quality quality anthemic song, and if it had been on What's the Story I am a firm believer that with it's belt out chorus, it would be held in as high regard as Don't look back in Anger
I Hope, I think, I know is a really underated song. Great flow to it with a savage riff (although Noel probablyt stole it from somewhere)
The Girl in the Dirty shirt ain't great and as for Fade in Out, terrible song. Destroys the whole flow of the album. Don't know what Funktastic is saying.
But the next three more than make up for it. Don't go Away is a very good attempt to have a cast no Shadow on the album, and bar the pathetic lyrics, it's a good song. Be Here Now is a pleasant song that loses marks for having a whistling riff in it. All Around the World is one of Oasis' best and It's getting better man is a decent song to finish.

The only real problem with it is that every song bar 1 runs over 5 minutes. With a bit of good editing and no Fade in Out they'd have had a 4th classic in a row

Xavi6

Agree with pretty much everything above. I remember being so excited as a 12 year old buying 'Be Here Now' on it's release day then being utterly bemused as to why it was getting such a slating.

'D'ya Know What I Mean' is a brilliant opener. Love the helicopters and that at the start. It just screams attitude.

'Stand By Me' and 'Don't Go Away' are just really good songs. 'It's Gettin Better Man' is another that gives off the typical Oasis rockin attitude.

There are a couple of duds, namely 'My Big Mouth' and 'Magic Pie' but 'All Around The World' more than compensates for them.

However, my personal favourite song on the album is 'I Hope, I Think, I Know'. No idea why, just think it's really quality.

It's a 7/8 out of 10 album for me and one I'll always go back to.

Mr E

Yeah I love this album too. Like Xavi, I hate Magic Pie and My Big Mouth, but the rest will go on my ipod when I'm going through an Oasis phase

D'You Know What I Mean and Don't Go Away are great songs...

Looking forward to the new album in a few months.

JLemmon

Two of the most anticipated albums of 97 were Be here Now and Ok Computer
One showed a band reaching out past their limits and pushing rock music forward and the other showed us why it hadn't moved forward at all.
Basically, first two oasis albums were great. And most people wanted to see a maturity in writing and sound develop, like radiohead, the Beatles, Blur etc.
Not talking about making an electronic album or anything but show growth.
Blur did this after The Great Escape.
But the release of Be here Now and the subsequent albums have shown that Oasis are really only the modern day Status Quo, great live, all the hits but no real substance to them.

Bubs101

JLemmon wrote: »

all the hits but no real substance to them.

Any band with a B-side album as good as the Masterplan has a hell of a lot of substance

markesmith

The Masterplan was a classic, as was Acquiesce and Half The World Away. Maybe they should have held off on the quality B-Sides, and kept them in reserve. 'Be Here Now' was a very poor showing - maybe a 2-star album. 'Morning Glory' I thought wasn't great either. 'Definitely Maybe' was their best, then the coke, the Kinks riffs and the John Lennon song titles kicked in. Glorified tribute act apart from a class first album.

Affable

Funny, I think My Big Mouth is a great tune. Never cared for All Around The World much, or Magic Pie.

I agree with the other poster, it really isn't up to first two albums or The Masterplan.

Morgans

Can remember tuning into David Fanning to hear the first playing - and songs like All Round the World and I hope, I think, I know, while obviously continuing their Beatles tribute, they sounded like they were ready to take over the world.

But Do you know what I mean is awful dirge and in the matter of two weeks when it was released Oasis stopped being cool. Unlucky that they basically stayed the same and everyone else moved on. There are some good songs on the album and shouldnt be completely disregarded, but Do you know what I mean is an awful awful single. Absolutely tuneless, with no redeeming quality.

Liam's voice wasnt used enough, and they had just sounded tired.

Mr E

The Masterplan was a fantastic album ... the only great b-side missing from it was Sad Song.

Xavi6

Mr E wrote: »

The Masterplan was a fantastic album ... the only great b-side missing from it was Sad Song.

'Round Are Way' is excellent too.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

It's a very under-rated album in my opinion, i've always been a big fan of it

Death or Glory

Gonna give this a spin later, gotta be 7 or 8 years since I've listened to it

quarryman

I remember hearing this for the first time and being a little disappointed. Whatever amount of years later I always think that entire album must have been made while simulataneously ingesting large amounts of cocaine.

Its over-doing everything and trying too hard in an epic self-important way. (not sure what i mean there).

Might go back and listen to it now!

KrazeeEyezKilla

Be Here Now is a good album. It has a few strong songs like I Hope, I Think, I Know, Don't Go Away, Fade In/Out and Stand By Me. Do You Know What I Mean? is aso good. All Around the Word just about works. But the whole thing is just too long and bloated and the success of OK Computer, Blurs great self titled album and a few others had raised the bar of what was expected from where it had been a year earlier. Add the drug use, rows and the huge anticipation and it was inevitable it would be considered a disappointment.

JerryHandbag

What really got me was the knobheads in the music press actually gave the album rave reviews when it came out, Q Magazine gave it 5 stars ffs! But of course later on they all back tracked and I thought to myself "Well how come they say what they felt in the first place!"

I can think of far worse albums to listen to. The songs are all great, except maybe for I Hope, I Think I Know, which couldve been left out. The songs are better than Morning Glory, which i never listen to anymore cos it sounds so lame now, doesnt sound like rock n roll at all....ok the lyrics are naff, but come on its Oasis after all! The main problem is that the songs are miles too long....72 minutes is way too much to try to take in one listening....

Good songs though, especially Fade-In-Out with the legendary Johnny Depp on guitar