I think Columbia is an example of Noel proving he was a pretty decent punk rock writer and Liam a good punk rock singer (see also: Headshrinker, Fade Away, Bring It On Down). I don't mean punk in the sense of the short, sharp, stabbing guitar genre but more the feel of this song; the ethos; a droning three chords and tons of simple solos. Good Stuff. Raw.

I used to dislike Be Here Now and found it one of that album's weaker songs but to be honest, its grown on me. Ludicrous lyrics yes but it has one thing: REAL SWAGGER! That chiming sound throughout kinda appeals to me. I certainly think there are arguments for worse and even more self indulgent tracks on the record: Magic Pie, All Around The World anyone? BHN's main weakness is that it is a bit of a copy of Columbia as Don't Go Away was trying to recreate Wonderwall with the guitar intro reminiscent of Slide Away. Noel started to plagiarise himself. If you put Noel's previous work out of your mind, it's an okay song...

Even when Noel was on auto pilot, he still managed to produce work that was better than many of his popular contemporaries of the time (I'd still rather listen to 'the worst' Oasis record than 'the best' Green Day record for instance). Liam's Bring The Light, well, I still believe it pails in comparison to nearly all of Noel's songs, Be Here Now and Columbia included. He simply doesn't have the talent as a songwriter/composer. Songbird was about as close as he got to emulating anything of Noel's IMO.

Noel could see that letting the others write tracks would alleviate his enormous contribution (because let's face it, he'd used most of his best material by 1998) and he probably had to make it more 'democratic' to help lubricate 'relations' in the band. Liam wouldn't be the most agreeable of chaps to work with afterall.

The Be Here Now record, even though it's a bit shit overall, you can't help but admire the sheer audacity and brazen 'fuck you!' attitude of it all. They did nothing with as much balls after that. D' You Know What I Mean?, even though it sounds like a dirge with little melody, still excites me because of the attitude. That video clip on the new DVD release fucking rocks on a big widescreen turned up real loud!

The anti-Oasis writer John Harris actually made a decent point when he said you could mount an argument for Be Here Now being Oasis' 'art record' depending on which way you look at it... I'll just say Bring The Light is catchy enough but it does little for me emotionally. It's inoffensive; it just comes and goes. Not at all memorable. People remember the Be Here Now record, even if they do bag it these days. Still the fastest selling CD in England isn't it?

Not sure many people will remember Bring The Light in thirteen years. Granted, I live in a country where Oasis aren't at all popular but I think BTL has had two spins on Triple J, an alternative 'youth station'. This is a station Oasis once ruled in the nineties. God knows what all the 'twenty somethings' think of thirty-eight year old Liam Gallagher's take on the fifties. Not much evidently, going on the fact that the song hasn't been played again since...