Oasis BE HERE NOW (LP) - Vinyl

Oasis: Liam Gallagher (vocals); Noel Gallagher (guitar, background vocals); Bonehead (guitar); Guigsy (bass); Whitey (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel: Johnny Depp (slide guitar); Mark Feltham (harmonica); Mike Rowe (keyboards); Mark Coyle (programming).
Recorded between November 1996 and April 1997.
"All Around The World" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.
Shamelessly enamored of The Beatles, Oasis uses BE HERE NOW to serve up another heaping platter of larger-than-life rock and roll garnished with Fab Fourisms. Noel Gallagher's ambitious songwriting and production (which, not coincidentally, was done at Abbey Road) result in an average song length of almost six minutes and the full, gnarly guitar sound that's become Oasis' trademark. "Magic Pie" and "All Around The World" incorporate brassy orchestration reminiscent of "Let It Be," while the former's name seems a less-than-subtle nod to Macca's FLAMING PIE album released a few months prior.
Aside from the band's constant worship at the Beatles shrine, Gallagher occasionally draws from other sources, sharply addressing the uncertainty of fame with the slam-bang rock and roll of "I Hope, I Think, I Know" and the latter-day Stone Roses sound of "Fade In-Out" which prominently features guest Johnny Depp's slide guitar. With their nemesis Blur busy trolling the noisy depths of lo-fi, American indie rock, BE HERE NOW proves to be another jewel in the crown of Brit-pop, which is now perched more firmly than ever on the collective, if occasionally swollen, head of Oasis.

• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Pop