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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hugely Underrated, 25 Jun 2009
Despite the bad reviews this album has been given in recent years it isn't actually that bad. Ofcourse it's not as good as their 2 previous records but is it that much of a disappointment, the answer is No, its hard to forgot the great praise that this album got when it was first released, it was seen to some as a modern version of Sgt pepper, but I suppose as soon as critics realised that it wasn't another Morning Glory or Definitely Maybe this album would be seen as a hugh disappointment. There are still some very good songs on here like D'You Know what I mean, Stand By me,Fade in-out and Don't Go Away. Their are also some average ones like the title track,All Around the world and the average mid tempo 'Girl in the Dirty Shirt'. Still it's not a bad record in my opinion and despite the bad press it was given many fans still see as a momentous release non the less.
Key Tracks:D'you know what I mean,Stand by me,Fade in-out,Don't Go Away
Recommended:Monster by REM
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A valiant attempt to try something different., 28 Nov 2006
I'm no great fan of Oasis... which is perhaps why I can enjoy an album like Be Here Now without feeling the need to compare it to the ones that came before. Regardless, I can still remember when this was first released, and the buzz of anticipation that surrounded the first single, D'You Know What I Mean? Opening with those mysterious blips of Morse code, a wash of guitar feedback and a penetrating riff; it was a song that seemed to go everywhere and no where simultaneously. Too dumb to appeal to the kind of people listening to Pulp and yet, too "out-there" for the lad down the pub mentality of most of Oasis's core-audience. The same can be said about much of the album itself, which generally shows Oasis (or, more specifically, Noel Gallagher) to be pushing the band's sound further than the Status Quo style sing-along riff-rock of the first two albums, and more towards something that embraced industrial, electronic and psychedelic influences, alongside the typical Oasis sound.
As a result, D'You Know What I Mean? is the sound of a steamroller levelling Knebworth, with Noel's iconic union-jack guitar lying broken beneath the Britpop rubble. It could be described as the band's Achtung Baby, a year-zero album that would signal a change of style and the second phase of their career... but it didn't happen. The failure of this album and it's follow up, the perfectly fine Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (which, if we're sticking with the U2 analogy, is this band's POP!) would send Oasis into a backtracking spiral in which they've created some of the most uninspiring music of their career. Still, this was something different. This was Oasis when they still believed they had a shot at world domination. When they were still convinced they could produce albums as great as Bowie and The Beatles. It may lack the sense of crowd-pleasing excess of the more successful and immediately rewarding Definitely Maybe, or its hugely successful follow up (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, though regardless, Be Here Now remains a wild and unrivalled musical journey (by Oasis standards) through a variety of sounds, styles and influences.
From D'You Know What I mean through to the brilliance of closing track All Around the World's instrumental reprise (which panders to The Beatles circa Sgt Pepper, and is all the better for it) the album shows a sense of vision, ambition, and genuine intent that Oasis has previously been hinting at. The arrogant swagger that many wanted to see in those ripped off-riffs of T-Rex and Garry Glitter were really coming to the boil in songs like Be Here Now, Stand By Me and Fade In-Out, which features Johnny Depp of all people, twiddling away on a slide guitar (this was the same period in which he turned up on albums by Shame MacGowan and collaborated with The Butthole Surfers). Yes, the songs are longer, have denser production and more elaborate arrangements, but surely this should be seen as a good thing. Only to an Oasis fan could a heavily orchestrated instrumental coda be seen as a cardinal sin. I mean, it's not like they'd gone off and done a jazz-fusion concept record about the fall of the Roman Empire (though some still believe they should have!!).
Be Here Now is no masterpiece, but it's an interesting album with some strong ideas and an imaginative approach to instrumentation (drum loops, orchestras, backwards guitars, electronica, etc). Clearly, 1997 was really the bumper year from Britpop getting tired of itself... with many bands of the era creating deliberately difficult albums in an attempt to push the boundaries of what was, in all respects, a limited scene. Be Here Now can stand alongside albums like This is Hardcore, Baader Meinhof, Six, Blur, POP, OK Computer, Radiator, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, After Murder Park, Dog Man Star and The Sky is Too High as an example of what happens when a generation face the morning after the night before and realise, there's more to life than ripping on The Kinks. Most of the band members might have washed their hands of the project, but for me, Be Here Now is a fine album that is worth experiencing. The fact that Noel Gallagher hates it just goes to show how great it really must be!!
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A victimised work of art., 4 Feb 2003
I remember the release of Be Here Now, surrounded in unbelievable, unprecendented hype, and creating great excitement to millions of music fans worldwide. It followed two of the greatest and best selling albums ever, and so much was expected of it. A situation such as this is almost doomed to disappoint- could any album live up to such hype? I dont think so. However, it was met with a general positive response on August the 26th 1997-launch day- by both the record buying public and the critics. It gained positive reviews in the press, including an 8/10 in the NME. Bare in mind that morning glory only received 7/10 in the same publication. And this success was not down to hype alone-it was an album full of great rock songs. Its getting better man, the title track, and Do you know what i mean? are as good as the rockers from before, say, Some might Say or Supersonic. And songs such as Stand by me and particularly Dont Go Away are amazing songs in the mould of Slide Away and Wonderwall. And this without mentioning the other masterpieces, such as The Girl in the dirty shirt, Fade in-out and the epic no.1 single All around the World. And Liams voice is amazing throughout. It is an album with a completely different sound than the first two Oasis albums but nevertheless another classic. In my opinion it is one of the most uplifting and tuneful records EVER.
However, the music industry had to knock oasis down in typical fashion after building them up, and so began the anti-beherenow backlash. Pathetic. It is a great rock and roll album that completes a great set of oasis' 3 first albums.Buy it! you wont be dissaponted i promise.
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