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

8/10

In the early-to-mid-90's, my Converservative Evangelical mother used to let me listen to the secular rock station in the minivan. She allowed this so that she could have the opportunity to pass out zingers such as these:

(While listening to Oasis' "Wonderwall," one of my favorite songs, in response to the lyric, "I thought maybe, you were gonna be the one that saves me")

"ONLY JESUS SAVES!!!"

This was a few years before the zinger that led me to believe I would be better off not talking to or interacting with her, in reference to my love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer (after she had subsequently banned it from the house), when the preacher mentioned that Jesus conquered death.

"NOW THERE'S A SLAYER FOR YOU!"

She always did this while making the most intense eye contact, and posturing the most intimidating body language. Strangely, my relationship with Jesus has survived much better than my relationship with her. Also, "Wonderwall" is still one of my favorite songs, and this is a review of Oasis' breakout album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory.

*     *     *

Like most people who came of age in the 90's, I thought that all of the singles from Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning glory were incredible. I remember eating lunch at school, hearing the Juniors working on Prom in the gym next door blasting "Champagne Supernova," thinking about how cool the song sounded. Running down the hallway in Grand Isle that summer "faster than a cannonball." Listening to the huge-sounding title track while reading Paul Zindel's Loch, and thinking that there must be so many awesome things in life, I'll never get bored, and to this day, I haven't. And then, there's the aforementioned "Wonderwall," whose textural combination of strings, keyboard, and piano in the outro might be my favorite ever (it's a texture amalgam repeated several times by other bands throughout the mid-to-late-nineties).

These singles are timeless indie/alternative/rock/what-have-you songs..but what about the rest of the album?
The rest of the album is straightforward rock, with stomping drums, bass, and rhythm guitar, a very electric lead guitar that's a little flashy, but not quite showy, and a dude singing with a British accent. There are some ballads, too. It's all pretty good, though it bogs a little in the third quarter with the schmaltzy "Cast No Shadow" and the silly "She's Electric."
Timeless singles or not, this album could have only been released in the mid-90's, a great time to be alive and be a teenager, and even if my mom tried to ruin all the cool stuff for me, nothing can take away the love I still have for that cool stuff today. Also just like the 90's, 20th Century Fox's copyright office sucks. I wanted to embed Buffy's opening credits to close this review, but they STILL keep that stuff on lockdown! Jerks!

1995 Creation
1. Hello 3:21
2. Roll with It 3:59
3. Wonderwall 4:18
4. Don't Look Back in Anger 4:48
5. Hey Now! 5:41
6. Untitled 0:44
7. Some Might Say 5:29
8. Cast No Shadow 4:51
9. She's Electric 3:40
10. Morning Glory 5:03
11. Untitled 0:40
12. Champagne Supernova 7:27