Manchester is a huge city, divided into various towns and
boroughs; led by different councils, split between football teams at the
highest and lowest level, and home to various historic events and people. We
boast one of the best schools of learning outside Oxford and Cambridge, and
even produced the great Alan Turing (if you don’t know him, google him, you owe
him that). However, one thing we all boast about the most is our music scene.
You’ll never convince a true Manc that we aren’t responsible for some of the
best bands, clubs and record labels. Look at the likes of The Smiths, The Stone
Roses, Joy Division, Happy Mondays and The Charlatans and you’ve already got a
playlist worthy of any road trip. The nineties also saw Manchester produce one
of my favourite bands of all time; Oasis. Originally formed by a bunch of
schoolmates, lead singer Liam Gallagher’s brother Noel returned from working
for The Inspiral Carptets to join up, and four albums were produced between
1994 and 1998 in a successful period for the band. The album I’ve opted for
this week is full of absolute tunes, and I guarantee you only need to hear the
opening 5 seconds and you yell “TUUUNNNNEEEE!” and start blaring it out
clutching onto your can of Carling (just me? I’m ok with it); it is, of course,
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory.
Starting off with ‘Hello’ (genius), Noel has a line, “it’s
good to be back” and, based on this track, we were all happy to have them back
(sidenote, 5/6 year old me loved listening to this because Liam swore! HE
SWORE!). Then we fly into ‘Roll With It’, which starts off with a proper strum
on the guitar, making you fully aware that about to hear heaven through your
stereo. Third on the album, and bane of my life at university, is cult classic ‘Wonderwall.’
Now, don’t get me wrong, I used to adore this tune, but it has been over played
to the max, like, I’m talking ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ levels (IT’S NOT JOY
DIVISION’S ONLY TRACK); every open mic night, every house party where there
happens to be a guitar lying around, every jamming session and every lad who is
learning to play, all have this quote in common: “anyway, here’s Wonderwall.”
I’ve managed to avoid it for a while, mostly by leaving our SU abruptly, or
staring at the bloke with a guitar as he notices my Man City top and reassesses
the situation. That is, until I visited Sam down south and suddenly an entire
bar in Henley are singing it to me, with a dedication from the artist for good
measure! Oh and yes, I joined in. I blame the tequila.
Track four is my dad’s favourite song, and the track I
phoned him during at Noel’s gig a couple of years back, ‘Don’t Look Back In
Anger.’ Strangely, this is the only time on the album where Noel takes centre
stage, and he doesn’t disappoint. With his Beatles inspired video and music,
this is definitely one to belt out around midnight at your cousins wedding. Skipping ahead a little, we have ‘Some Might
Say’, a track us Blues like to relate to, culminating in a flag that travels to
games bearing the lyrics “some might say we will find a brighter day” and we
finally have done! ‘Cast No Shadow’ and ‘She’s Electric’ are in complete
contrast with each other, but both loved by the fans. ‘Morning Glory’ is
probably my favourite track from the album; the start up to it still gives me
goosebumps. It’s my alarm tone and my darts walk-on music so that should tell
you how much I love it. The album is beautifully rounded off by the fantastic
‘Champagne Supernova’, which makes no sense when written down, but makes
perfect sense to the millions of people who have referenced it on a night out.
Noel even did an interview where he questioned his own lyric saying, “how can
you slowly walk down the hall faster than a cannonball?” Well I have no idea Mr
G, but I’m certainly glad you thought it possible at one point. Noel’s guitar
solo is so beautiful it’s haunting (someone once told me it made them wee! I
doubt she was being literal, but it’s certainly a glowing review), and it
certainly ends this truly brilliant album on a well deserved high note.
6 out of 5 from me!
Tracks to check out:
-ALL THE TRACKS!
Mike Bray x
@SmilerBray180
I had this album a few weeks before it came out on a cassette. There was bootlegs of it all over Manchester. Go anywhere in Afflecks and you'd hear the album being played and this was before it came out.
ReplyDeleteFor the best part of a year, it was everywhere. Blasting out of pub jukeboxes, passing cars and bedroom windows of anybody under the age of 30 (and a good few that were older too). Like you, I've heard Wonderwall too many times, it is to the nineties what "House of the Rising Sun" was to the sixties, the first song most people learned how to play on the guitar.
A truly great album, this was Oasis at their commercial peak, my personal favourite is Definitely Maybe, possibly the most important album released since 1990. All the same, on the back of the glorious summer of 1995, Morning Glory magically caught the atmosphere of optimism around. It was a great album to be released at a great time to be young.