Amazon.co.uk Review
It's often the way of rock & roll--the accidental stuff you don't sweat over often turns out to be better than the supposedly generation-defining monolith you rupture your life to expel. So it was with Oasis and their third album,
Be Here Now--soaked with sweat, it left Noel and Liam purple-faced with effort and stank like old egg sandwiches in a sock. Meanwhile
The Masterplan--b-sides and live tracks--came out a year later and effortlessly reminded everyone why they'd liked the hairy brothers in the first place. "Acquiesce"--don't worry, they admitted they didn't know what the word meant, they just liked the sound of it--was the greatest single they never released: a huge, affirmative sibling bellow-fest that makes "D'You Know What I Mean?" sound like a polite old grandma coughing in comparison. The mournful "Rockin' Chair"--another "lost" Oasis classic, makes it onto here, along with a truly execrable live version of the
Beatles' "I Am The Walrus", which actually sounds like they got a walrus to sing it, but no matter. The magic, so latterly absent in Oasis's career, is here in spades.
--Caitlin Moran
Description
After proving their staying power with 1997's BE HERE NOW, Oasis culls together b-sides and tracks which were previously available only as imports in the US on THE MASTERPLAN. This aptly titled collection fleshes out the legend, going backto older b-sides like "Fade Away" and "(It's Good) To Be Free" and newer flip-sides like "Stay Young". Opening with explosive live favourite "Acquiesce", THE MASTERPLAN will satiate the rabid completist but, with tracks as powerful as the slow-building anthem "Half the World Away", it's also sure to convert any newcomers. The ambitious (though, truth be told, not surprising) live cover choice of "I Am The Walrus" rounds out this energetic, often unexpected chapter in the story of this modern pop phenomenon.