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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Hugely Underrated
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...
Published 5 months ago by T.K
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Wall of
Ok Ok, slow down - so this definately isn't the complete balls up that the critics (and most of the public) would have you beleive. But at the same time it isn't a classic (put those five stars away NOW!!!)
In short, to listen to this album all the way through is quite a tedious experience. But that is not to say there aren't some gems on there.
First...
Published on 20 Jul 2005 by Mr. C. Willis
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
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:
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:
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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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Build them up, smash them down, 9 Feb 2003
It didn't matter what Oasis brought out, it was never going to be as popular as morning glory. Be here now was supposed to put them on a par with the Beatles, stick them up there with the greatest bands of all time, but it didn't. The media tuck it to pieces, trying to pick holes and find faults with an album which is very brilliant indeed. So what was the problem with an album that rocks you from start to finish? Quite simply it was the wrong time and the wrong place. Where as Definitely Maybe was the fuel that started the British music industry's wake up and Morning glory was the pinnacle of the britpop era, Be here now was realesed in a time when cool Britanna was fading, the band had reached such a height with Morning glory that the only way was down. This album is not poor because of it's lyrical and musical content, but because it was released after Morning Glory.
Yes, the intros and outros last a minute each on most songs, the production is over blown, but just because it has fiddly guitar solos doesn't make it reason to tear it to pieces. If they had done an album identical to Morning Glory they would have been ridiculed with having no fresh ideas, (Yet the Red hot chilli peppers release album after album that sounds exactly the same and are given acclaim.) They could have gone the way of Radiohead and made two albums in a completely new direction, but then surely that's just a sly way to manouvere round the fact the pressures got to you and anyway, OK computer was whinging b******s with one good song in Karma Police. Instead Oasis didn't desert their fans, they brought the guitars out and rocked themselves to death it seems.
However, if you go back and listen to this with no predjudice, forget what you've heard from the media and really listen, then you'll hear some of the best Oasis tracks ever. I hope, I think, I know. Fade in-out, I'ts getting better man!! and the classic All around the world are the picks for me. If AATW had been placed on Morning glory it would have been heralded as an awesome titanic masterpiece, complete with all the na na na nanana's you could ever want. As for the other tunes, they're all good, sometimes bordering on the great and at times you can feel Noel searching. For all the bravdo of the guitar solos and the hugeness of this album, songs like Stand by me and Don't go away will almost bring you to tears, the lyrics sound like they come from a man who behind the swagger of the rest of the album still needs to be assured, still needs his band and public to stick with him. There was no pressure before the release of Morning Glory, but the hype that was Be here now must have left Noel wondering what the hell he could do, it was him against the world and unfortuntely the world turned against him when it never should have. If you don't have this in your collection buy it and if you own it, stick it on now, listen to every last note and marvel at the genius that is Noel Gallagher and Oasis.
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
One star is much more than this deserves, 7 Nov 2006
I bought this the day it was released. I really liked the previous albums and was in huge anticipation of this being a move forward. What an incredible disappointment. Noel and Liam really tried to talk this up. They said things like "we'll accept nothing less than album of the year" signaling that they thought they had really nailed it.
Since then Noel has done an about face and accepted that the recording process got mired in a drug fueled haze and loss of judgement.
I never managed to listen to this the whole way through it just never knows when to stop. What this band really needs is a strong producer who the Gallaghers respect but who is not affraid to lay down the law and knock some heads together. They have only partially recovered credibility since this low point but they are sastianed by an army of sycophantic followers who would accept anything. I still look forward to their next release with some hope.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Wall of, 20 Jul 2005
Ok Ok, slow down - so this definately isn't the complete balls up that the critics (and most of the public) would have you beleive. But at the same time it isn't a classic (put those five stars away NOW!!!)
In short, to listen to this album all the way through is quite a tedious experience. But that is not to say there aren't some gems on there.
First up, D'Y Know What I Mean. This single is probably one of the subtlest things they have ever done. It builds gradually and has endured far better than some of their more praised early efforts.
Stand By Me is a hands down classic. And All Around the World is still fun to listen to (if a little overblown and certainly not deeply complex in either its lyric or melody)
So two classics and one near miss: these are things that cannot be said about any of two albums that followed.
The rest is a bit tiresome (well Magic Pie is tolerable), everything goes on for far too long and the melodic and lyrical content is about as slight as anything you'll ever hear. BUT.... if they'd put a couple of the contemporary B-Sides on this album (Stay Young and Going Nowhere) it would have been a half classic.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
A let down..., 15 Feb 2007
This album sadly is as it is made out to be, a disapointment. Throughout almost all of the album the songs are simply a mess which go on far, far too long and I don't know what the hell happened to the bass... Songs like "All Around The World" and "D'you Know What I mean?" definatly have alot of potential and are good but it just feels like there something lacking. However, at one point the album really shines with "Don't Go Away" a brilliant song and Liam's singing is just perfect for the melocholic feel. This album is worth buying just for in fact. But unless you are a die hard fan, don't bother...
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Cocaine, self-importance and pop culture references., 28 Dec 2006
You can't blame Oasis for being arrogant in 1997. In 1994, they believed they were the biggest thing to happen to music since Nirvana, and they were probably right. In 1995, they believed they'd made the best second album since Nevermind, and they were probably right. In 1997, they believed that they owned the world, and so should be able to make an album as big, wide, slow and long as the world. And so they did.
There are parts of Be Here Now which are great in their own right; there are parts of it which are forgiveable in their own time; and there are parts of it which, no matter if you had just played Knebworth and sold eight million records, are horrific whether they were released now or ten years ago.
In the first category are the standouts of Be Here Now which remain sorely overlooked when Noel Gallagher came to write a tracklist for the Stop The Clocks compilation this year. Top of that list is 'D'You Know What I Mean,' the opening track, first single, and utter stunner which defines this album and is its standout song. Eight minutes long (that gives you an impression of how long the rest of the album is), most of that consisting of Sergeant Pepper-ish backwards vocals (that album clearly also influenced the cover) and feedback, it rips off the chords from 'Wonderwall' mercilessly but features one of Noel's best guitar solos. It's also - and that includes the rest of this album - the most massive-sounding song Oasis ever wrote and recorded. It is absolutely jaw-dropping. Not nearly as good, but still definitely worth hearing is 'Stand By Me,' a lovely tune moving towards less surealistic lyric writing and more heartfelt balladry.
In the second cateogry are the songs which sounded okay at the time, and - if you're open minded, like myself - are listenable at this point, ridiculous though they are. Among those are the hard-rocker 'My Big Mouth,' an apt song title for the Gallagers if ever there was one, and the Jonny Depp-assisted, swampy 'Fade In/Out.' There's also 'All Around The World,' which at nearly ten minutes in length is far too long, especially its 'Hey Jude'-aping 'na na na' sections; its reprise, on the other hand, instrumental and brief, is perfectly listenable. Finally, you have 'Don't Go Away,' a ballad with syrupy nonsense words, but with a lovely horn section and an oddly sweet vocal by the guttermouthed Liam Gallagher.
In the third category is most of the remaining forty minutes or so, which includes the reprehensible 'It's Gettin' Better (Man!!),' the boring 'Magic Pie,' the worthless 'I Hope, I Think, I Know' and the just plain awful 'Girl In The Dirty Shirt.'
Weighing in at nearly eighty minutes in total, Be Here Now could be a great slim album, but the music is just too weighed down by orchestras and horn sections to really get away with that. It's impossible to break up, but far from perfect in its current form.
What Be Here Now is, above all else, is fascinating, a work of astonishing hubris that set Noel Gallagher back for three years and probably contributed to the eventual departure of guitarist Bonehead and bassist Guigsy. Things got so bad after this album, that Noel let Liam write a song for the next one.
For Oasis fans this album is definitely worth buying for its good moments; it's then worth buying The Masterplan to see how good its b-material was in comparison. For anyone else, buy it to see how one can go way, way, way too far.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Been There Now, 12 Nov 2002
Here we have the album Oasis wish they didn't make - you'll be hard pressed to hear a track from Be Here Now at a live show - but is it as bad as they say?As an album, it's embarrassing. Clearly in love with the "epic" concept of Champagne Supernova, Oasis have gone for a whole album of them, which is all well and good when each song IS an epic, but songs like Fade In/Out, good or not, feel like they're just being senselessly repetetive. My Big Mouth is an aimless ear-blaster, I Hope, I Think, I Know is poppy to Stay Young extremes, The Girl In The Dirty Shirt is an example of good lyrics stretched over too much time... everything here is overproduced and over the top. Some of it really does feel drab and pointless, production or not - Noel's sole vocal contribution, Magic Pie, is a tedious pointless wonder. And after the really unfunnilly overlong All Around The World, just to demonstrate the Gallagher brothers' egos have truly launched into orbit, we have a reprise of the thing. One that is doubtless still going on, somewhere. Still, one or two moments of the album aren't so bad. D'You Know What I Mean is my favourite moment, managing not to sound a second overlong (odd as that sounds) and actually taking the "epic" concept and doing it properly. This is a song that has to be performed to many million people. Continuing on the single theme, Stand By Me is nice enough. A decent tune, some rather cryptic lyrics and decent vocals probably earnt it it's single status. But yes, it is overlong. All Around The World is Be Here Now to a tea really - over ambitious and grating, even though it has a few nice bits in it (particularly the somber opening and the dizzying ending). Don't Go Away is a stunner, Liam at his most emotional since Slide Away. And Be Here Now, the title track with it's opening toy keyboard notes and whistle chorus, is a diamond in the rough. Still too long, it's actually a good song and an enjoyable one. It's Gettin' Better (Man!!) is great fun, too. Everything here feels very positive, which is a good thing, but it's positivity for the Gallaghers. They're at the top looking down, and this "look at us" third album is the product. They're not a group you could grow attached to, were this your first encounter with them. It has it's moments, and for it's credit Liam sings really well. REALLY well - it's probably the best singing he's ever done, even if just to try and be he heard amongst some stupendously over-loud instruments. So at least he's got his act together in parts. It's understandably the hated album from the boys from Burnage. It does have finer moments, but has too many mistakes and far too painful a runtime to survive in the modern music industry. It's fan-only fodder, and you should really just stick to the singles here or get another album altogether.
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8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Once Again, The Critics Get It Wrong!!, 14 April 2001
By A Customer
4 years on, the music weeklies still delight in ripping it to bits, your mates can't stand it on the principle that it's not (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, and even Noel's started slagging it. So why in the world should you spend your hard earned cash on Be Here Now? Quite simply, because they're all wrong. I don't care how many times people tell me that this album could never live up to the hype, somehow it managed to surpass it. D'You Know What I Mean? will echo through eternity as one of the greatest 'come back' tracks of all time, whilst the touching Stand By Me and opus-like All Around The World complete the singles collection. This, however, is much, much more than a compilation of twelve 3 1/2 minute recognisable but unremarkable throwaways (a la (What's The Story) Morning Glory?), it marks the release of Oasis' first real album. It's expansive yet pensive, it's technical yet accessible, in fact it's everything the first two outings were not - it's rock 'n' roll. I'll refrain from giving the industry standard track by track description/commentary because I don't want to spoil the surprise. Trust me, it's a 74 minute sing-a-long which nobody should miss out on. Do yourself a favour, go buy it.
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