Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?

There are some pieces of pop culture out there, that even if you haven't experienced them, you cannot escape them. (What's The Story) Morning Glory? is such a phenomenon. Starting with seeing it in my sister's CD collection, it's nearly impossible to check out any second-hand media store without finding an unloved copy of this album, somewhere around the neighbourhood of $2.99. Obviously a lot of people bought it (14 million worldwide, according to Wikipedia), but for some reason, none of those 14 million seem to want to hold onto it. You don't expect to see copies of Thriller or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band clogging up used shelves, but for whatever reason, Oasis doesn't seem to make the cut.

It's not necessarily due to a lack of quality. Sure, it's not Sgt. Pepper's, but it can hold its own.

We start off with "Hello," a groovy, serviceable little pop-rock tune that does an appropriate job of setting the sound for the rest of the album.

It would be silly to pretend that, even though the average person on Earth has heard "Wonderwall" something like 63 times, it isn't a great song. Just try to listen to it without either singing along, wishing you were at a campfire, or being absorbed in a vague sense of nostalgia that takes you back to memories that have nothing to do with "Wonderwall." I dare you.

"Don't Look Back In Anger," is just as good as "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova," but get the same uber-status as either in North America. It's got the same kind of range and feeling as a "Piano Man," in that when I hear it, I want to be bellowing it out drunkenly in a karaoke bar somewhere.

More than anything else, "She's Electric" is a jaunty pop tune. Jaunty, jaunty, jaunty.

And, of course, the album wraps up with the probably-less-epic-than-it-seems-but-still-really-really good "Champagne Supernova." Aside from its quality, there's something else that intrigues me about this song. Any time I've heard anyone sing along with it, they have, entirely unintentionally, taken on an accent while singing it. The British-ness of the chorus is so pervasive, that everyone sings about that "Champagne Supernover in the sky." I guess it makes a statement about how we learn music by sound association, rather than by the meaning of its lyrics, but really, I just think it's cool.

Rating: 3.6 stars