Oasis: Noel Gallagher (vocals, guitar, E-Bow, piano, Mellotron); Liam Gallagher (vocals); Paul Arthurs (guitar, piano, Mellotron); Paul McGuigan (bass); Alan White (drums, percussion). Additional personnel: Paul Weller (guitar, background vocals); Tony McCarroll (drums). Recorded at Rockfield Studios, South Wales, United Kingdom. "Wonderwall" was nominated for 1997 Grammy Awards for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. The state of English popular music in the mid-'90s will be looked back upon as a time when groups like Blur, Supergrass and Oasis rode the UK charts with a style (nicknamed Brit-Pop by that country's press) that fused the 1960s pop aesthetic of the Beatles, Kinks and Small Faces with the flamboyance and cocksuredness of T. Rex and the Buzzcocks. But (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY? is a more tempered follow-up to Oasis' 1994 debut, DEFINITELY MAYBE, the band having gone from enfant terrible to dreamy romantic this time round. Oasis has also crossed the Atlantic this time; (WHAT'S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY has made the band a major U.S. success. Toning down the brattiness, Oasis guitarist/songwriter Noel Gallagher brings minimal orchestration into the mix, while still mining for inspiration in the past. A buzzing amp cues up the opening cut, "Hello," before giving way to a thunderous rocker that credits Gary Glitter as a co-writer by way of a line lifted from his "Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again." The innovative use of strings on songs like "Cast No Shadow," "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back In Anger" avoids any mawkishness, leaning more towards a melancholy sheen. Such ambitious chance-taking turns "Don't Look Back In Anger" into a grand epic that has singer Liam Gallagher sounding like Ian Hunter to brother Noel's Mick Ronson. All these external tools do nothing to detract from Oasis' ability to play rock and roll with a religious fervor. The first version of "The Swamp Song" (the untitled track 6) is a bluesy, instrumental rave-up complete with a wailing harmonica that sounds unlike anything they've done before. It's followed by "Some Might Say," a sweeping epic layered with chunky riffs. While new pal Paul Weller's guitar lends some grit to "Champagne Supernova," the best song on MORNING GLORY is "She's Electric," a '90s equivalent to "Itchycoo Park" with the end-chorus of "With A Little Help From My Friends" grafted onto it.
