Oasis: 'Time Flies... 1994-2009'

Released on Monday, June 14 2010

"It's hardly Paul leaving The Beatles," Noel Gallagher quipped in 1999 when Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs left Oasis. Similarly, after Noel himself ended the group for good with a few eloquent words last summer, even he would probably admit that it wasn't exactly the Fab Four ripping themselves apart. Briefly the Biggest Band InThe World, Oasis had become a scapegoat for everything wrong in British music and an easy target for hipsters and broadsheet journalists alike. But despite the band's wavering quality control in the latter two-thirds of their career, it would be unfair to ignore their genuine pop culture impact through both their attitude and their songs - 28 of which are gathered here on this comprehensive singles collection.

Over their 15 years, Oasis released snatches of music that came as close as any from the period to modern folk standards. Dulled by ubiquity, Time Flies perhaps marks a moment where some of those hits can be appreciated again. Despite their daft lyrics, 'Wonderwall' and 'Live Forever' sound every bit as wonderful as they did at the dizzy peak of Britpop. 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' will be played when England get knocked out of every World Cup until 3010. 'The Importance Of Being Idle' is a sharp paean to laziness up there with 'I'm Only Sleeping', 'Sunny Afternoon' and 'Seventeen'. The shoplifted 'Cigarettes & Alcohol' (T-Rex) and 'Whatever' (Neil Innes) perhaps uphold the adage that if talent imitates, genius steals. First single 'Supersonic' is still their finest moment, as Noel's third-hand solos and Liam's sweet/scratchy vocals combine to make so much more than the sum of their parts. Swansong 'Falling Down' boasts some of Noel's best words and a twisting groove that hints at what he might achieve on his own. The prescient 'Don't Look Back In Anger' shows Noel's underrated knack for flinging out a great one-liner amid all the silly rhymes ("Please don't put your life in the hands / Of a rock 'n' roll band / Who'll throw it all away").

There are misses aplenty, of course. While 'D'You Know What I Mean' is a delightfully arrogant mess of self-belief and proggy power, the other Be Here Now singles are just overlong, overblown puffs of coke and booze. Despite occasional peaks, including Liam's sole songwriting classic ('Songbird'), Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants and Heathen Chemistry often sounded like the work of a band deflated, their once-alluring lack of guile undermining any attempt at experimentation ('Who Feels Love?'). Don't Believe The Truth was genuine return to form, but infighting and the supporting cast's weak writing efforts ended the hope of Oasis reborn as a democracy on Dig Out Your Soul.

It's tempting to force Oasis into a historical narrative, with the release of their first single and this comp almost precisely mapping the birth and death of New Labour. But Oasis only really gripped the Zeitgeist for a heady three-year period between their first single and Be Here Now. After that, they were much less a social phenomenon than Just Another Rock Band Putting Out Records. For all the comparisons to The Beatles, they were more like the Ramones in many ways - a short-lived burst of brilliance followed by a longer period of hit-and-miss efforts. They also had a similarly shameless heart-over-head sensibility and near-Luddite back-to-basics approach to rock 'n' roll which infuriated as many as it entranced.

The singles were of course only half the story. There were great B-sides ('Acquiesce', 'The Masterplan') and album tracks ('Slide Away', 'Gas Panic'). There were also live shows that veered from the wonderful to the ear-rippingly awful. But here on Time Flies you get a fair overview of a band who soundtracked a generation and gave thousands of kids the misguided-but-wonderful belief that they too could be superstars.

Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk

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