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Post by webm@ster on Jul 6, 2005 14:00:22 GMT -5
Boo-Boo Album Of The Week - Oasis, 'Be Here Now' There are Boo-Boo Albums, then there are super Boo-Boo Albums, then there's Be Here Now by Oasis. Critics hailed Be Here Now as a modern classic on it's release in 1997 - possibly because they wrote off (What's The Story) Morning Glory and were proved wrong - and the third Oasis album remains to this day the fastest-selling album in history. Thing is, though, it's rubbish. It's hard to sit through Be Here Now in one go. It's just so long. In the 72 minutes that it takes to get from the start of D'you Know What I Mean? to the end of the reprise of All Around The World, you could have listened to both Rubber Soul and Revolver - 28 Beatles songs or 11 Oasis songs? Your choice. As you'd have guessed, each song goes on and on and on... about six minutes each. And it's a shame - at the heart of it, there were a few decent songs on Be Here Now; the title track and It's Gettin' Better Man would stand up on most albums. It's just they're all so bloody long. And bloated, too. The first single, D'you Know What I Mean?, started with helicopter noise, went through three guitar solos, backwards singing and finished on a squalling morse code fade-out. All Around The World featured two full orchestras. Fade In-Out had Johnny Depp twanging away on slide guitar. "This," you were meant to think "is the most important record you will ever hear in your puny mortal lives". The cover of the album was enough of a giveaway - the band standing outside a mansion surrounded by hollow symbols of notoriety - all Rolls Royces in swimming pools and clocks without hands ('timeless', do you see?). The night before the album was released, there was a 40-minute documentary on the band - one of the longest undiluted commercials for a forthcoming album of all time - and it aired on BBC1. And it managed to get people so excited that they ran to Our Price as soon as they opened in the morning to get this golden slice of heaven. 696,000 copies of the album were sold in Britain in the first three days of release. Then people listened to it. And started to skip Magic Pie. Then they'd skip The Girl In The Dirty Shirt. Then I Hope, I Think, I Know. Then they'd just put the album away. There are loads of reasons why Be Here Now is a Boo-Boo Album. Most obviously, at that point in time Oasis were so popular that nobody could tell them to pull things back a little. That's why the songs are so long and full of so many overdubs. The band seemed to be fuelled on success. And cocaine, naturally. Another reason for it's failure might have been it's timing. A month after it came out, Princess Diana got killed in Paris, and all of a sudden everyone decided that they liked sad songs instead. The Verve brought out The Drugs Don't Work and had outsold Oasis by the end of the year. Robbie Williams released Angels (because, you know, Diana's an angel and stuff now) and became a megastar. Be Here Now sounded too confrontational, and was full of cocky lines like "You'll never forget my name". Their charming arrogance suddenly sounded a little spiteful. Pre Boo-Boo Album: Oasis ruled the world. Post Boo-Boo Album: Be Here Now was disowned by Oasis, two members left the band, Oasis went on to record an even worse album and started to rely on touring the old hits. Liam Gallagher had his picture taken holding the hand of Spongebob Squarepants care to leave a message for the author : 586.typepad.com/hecklerspray/2005/07/booboo_album_of.html |
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Post by DixonHill on Jul 6, 2005 14:15:59 GMT -5
won't find any arguments from me about that.
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Post by Way Cool Jr. on Jul 6, 2005 15:04:24 GMT -5
won't find any arguments from me about that. vagina |
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Post by Way Cool Jr. on Jul 6, 2005 15:08:17 GMT -5
BHN is better than most shit bands can do, it was bad timing with princess di and all especially for Uk audiences...listen to BHN, urban hymms, and that thing by robbie which i will not utter and decide what is really the best album at the time, and now what the better album is...
you think oasis are obscure in the US, most people in the US never even knew the verve existed and i would argue that don't go away is about as popular as bittersweet symphony among many americans(and by that i mean they have heard the songs just dont know anything thing about them like name or band)
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Post by DixonHill on Jul 6, 2005 15:08:30 GMT -5
won't find any arguments from me about that. vagina ;D |
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Post by beedubyah on Jul 6, 2005 15:29:55 GMT -5
Never understood the criticism of this album
My Big Mouth
Be Here Now
Dya Know What I Mean?
Magic Pie
I hope I think I know (lord I love this song)
Dont Go Away (Liams best vocal)
Fade In-Out
All Great songs...On par with the most recent I believe...
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Post by MSprague01 on Jul 6, 2005 17:01:47 GMT -5
With all of the hype that it got prior to its release, there was pretty much no way that it could deliver. It's a really good album, but I think people at that time expected it to be better than all of the Beatles' albums put together and multiplied by a hundred. How can any band live up to that kind of expectation.
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Post by rdwngthirty on Jul 6, 2005 17:14:59 GMT -5
i hope i think i know is one of my favorite songs, its sooo freakin upbeat....i have been listening to this album all summer, nonstop...more than dbtt because i never really listened to be here now. the only song i dont really like is all around the world reprise..and magic pie could be a bit shorter, but the rest of the songs are AMAZING vastly underrated album and if it had been their debut it would be hailed as an instant classic
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Post by DixonHill on Jul 6, 2005 17:50:24 GMT -5
you don't have to love/like every oasis album.
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Post by globe on Jul 6, 2005 18:04:07 GMT -5
And bloated, too. The first single, D'you Know What I Mean?, started with helicopter noise, went through three guitar solos, backwards singing and finished on a squalling morse code fade-out. See, this guy says its a helicopter! ;D  |
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Post by rdwngthirty on Jul 6, 2005 18:26:06 GMT -5
yea, and d'you know what i mean coulda done without the 50 second intro and long ending
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Post by brumoscardo on Jul 6, 2005 20:47:41 GMT -5
BHN is a materpiece. I don't get it.
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Post by StepOut on Jul 6, 2005 20:47:42 GMT -5
Be Here Now, isn't that bad of an album. Compared to other albums that have been released, BHN could be seen as a classic. There are some truely great moments on the album, however, the album is quite bloated in some places. Not at their finest, yet, still a good effort.
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Post by Way Cool Jr. on Jul 6, 2005 21:43:12 GMT -5
i think it is quite masterful, no other band in recent times could ever do anything like it...that separates BHN
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Post by lyla on Jul 6, 2005 22:17:38 GMT -5
they refer to them as 'boo-boo' albums?! how are we meant to take that seriously! its like they are comparing albums to the rugrats i like be here now. the songs are great, the production kinda sucks but that doesnt make it a horrible album. a backlash had to come and as they guy did point out it had a lot to do with the timing of th release and all that i never picked on the timelessness of havign no hands on teh clock...thats so clever! lol |
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Post by mimmihopps on Jul 6, 2005 23:54:10 GMT -5
And bloated, too. The first single, D'you Know What I Mean?, started with helicopter noise, went through three guitar solos, backwards singing and finished on a squalling morse code fade-out. See, this guy says its a helicopter! ;D Aye!  Cheers webby! ;D now there're at least 3 wise people who say it's a HELICOPTER! ;D i'm going out with Jan's helicopter tonight |
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Post by masterplan200 on Jul 7, 2005 0:02:05 GMT -5
BHN isn't a bo boo album, I know of an album from a band that beats it out
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Post by calioasis on Jul 7, 2005 2:28:44 GMT -5
A few of my casual fan friends absolutely love I hope, I think, I know, I think it is one of the casual fan's favorites. My opinion is just about every song individually is good/great but put them all together and it's hard to get through it all, there's just too much feedback and long songs. Needs a roll with it or cast no shadow, something to break it up. Personally I love it though.
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Post by chocolate st*rfish on Jul 7, 2005 3:33:55 GMT -5
in my personal thinking it's one of the best rock'n'roll albums EVER!
but from an unbiased point of view the author offered some plausible thoughts why the album crumbled. to conquer the world an album probably needs THE big ballad that makes the average listener go and buy (and subsequently love) the record and that is kind of missing in BHN, i guess
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Post by LIVERPUDLIAN on Jul 7, 2005 3:53:01 GMT -5
The songs are a bit long granted, but give me Be Here Now over a dreary drab Coldplay album anyday!
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Post by RnRstar on Jul 7, 2005 3:59:06 GMT -5
That article is fuckin attrocious...
I really don't understand why all the 'critics' think that BHN is shit... I mean with songs like Stand By Me and don't go away, its a fuckin' good album
the only thing that guy could say in the article was 'it was too long'
'the song went for too long'
'its boring'
the only thing I could possibly say to him is...
HAVE A FUCKING CRY MATE
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Post by castlecraver on Jul 7, 2005 12:38:39 GMT -5
Absolutley wrong on every point. BHN is a classic, sucks that the events surrounding its release account for much of the disappointment. How can you slag off an album that contains DYKWIM, Stand By Me, Don't Go Away, and All Around the World (one of the 5 best coke opuses ever released)? Be Here Now (the song) I think is Oasis' most underrated track. How can anyone claim that these 5 aren't great fucking songs? That's half the damn album!
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Post by Superguiller. on Jul 7, 2005 14:11:08 GMT -5
This guy doesn't know shit about music, how can he base his argument on the length of the songs? What does he want, 2 minute boyband songs? HOw can he complain about AATW? WHat kind of twat is this guy?? Fucking hell, man, BHN it's full of master pieces!!! It's better than all the coldplay albums together. As far as I'm concerned, the longer the song is, the better.
All I'd say to this guy is: Go home and jack off to robbie williams you sad bitch!
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Post by MSprague01 on Jul 7, 2005 15:11:51 GMT -5
to conquer the world an album probably needs THE big ballad that makes the average listener go and buy (and subsequently love) the record and that is kind of missing in BHN, i guess I'm not disagreeing with you, but personally, I think that Don't Go Away is one of the best ballads that they've done and a very touching song, but I can see what you're saying. I don't know why that song didn't connect with the public as much as some of their other ballads did. |
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Post by bedwetter_v2 on Jul 7, 2005 22:28:08 GMT -5
to conquer the world an album probably needs THE big ballad that makes the average listener go and buy (and subsequently love) the record and that is kind of missing in BHN, i guess I'm not disagreeing with you, but personally, I think that Don't Go Away is one of the best ballads that they've done and a very touching song, but I can see what you're saying. I don't know why that song didn't connect with the public as much as some of their other ballads did. I completely agree you... my favourite Oasis song is "Don't Go Away", it has Liam's best vocals (although Slide Away is a close second), the rocking solo, the beautiful acoustic outro, it's more than a ballad... every time I listen to listen to this song, I have to fight back the tears. The drum beat in the beginning is also a highlight. I don't know how Noel does this, but he compose a mean hook here. Yeah, I still don't know why this song doesn't seem to be on the public's mind. Maybe it's because of the forgettable video or the fact it's the last single. Or it could be that it's tucked away in the middle of BHN. It's a shame that not a lot attention are paid by the people outside of hardcore Oasis fans for this track. "Damn my education, I can't find the words to say, about the things caught in mind..." mindblowing!! |
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Nov 4, 2024 5:04:30 GMT -5