Revisiting Oasis’ Dig Out Your Soul
The first album I ever got excited about
The first band to really ignite my passion for music as a child was Oasis.
It wasn’t just the music but also the swaggering attitude of the Gallagher brothers that appealed to me. They didn’t give a damn what anyone thought about them and indulged freely (if rather excessively) in the rock and roll lifestyle. It was cool to like Oasis. Saying they were my favourite group was like giving the correct password to enter popular social circles. People would respond with a nod that seemed to say, ‘He’s cool, let him pass.’
Of course, the music was also good. When introduced to them by my older brother at the age of ten, I didn’t waste time in transferring as many of their songs that would fit onto my MP3 player. Many journeys were spent at the back of my mum’s car listening to “Live Forever” and “Supersonic” on repeat.
There was something about Liam’s vocals on Oasis’s early albums that resonated with me. I had never heard anything like it: nasally and almost grating, yet possessing a raw, fiery energy that seemed to scream out all of my unexpressed youthful longings. His style contrasted perfectly with Noel’s deeper, warmer voice that gave him the air of the wiser, slightly less volatile older brother.
The group’s crowning jewels, Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, came out before I was born. Be Here Now signalled a decline in quality that the band never really recovered from. They did release excellent songs like “Little by Little” and “The Importance of Being Idle”, but these were usually rare returns to form in albums lacking the consistency of early efforts.
I was optimistic that Dig Out Your Soul would be different. The first studio album for three years from a group that had been at the forefront of the Britpop movement in the 1990s was a big deal. Moreover, it was the first time that I was to experience those purest of joys: an album release by my favourite artist.
And what a thrill I felt at finally having new Oasis songs to call my favourites. New songs to listen to over and over again.
Listening back to Dig Out Your Soul now at the ripe old age of twenty-four, I would deem it a mixed bag. It starts off very promisingly with “Bag it Up”, a rollicking opener in the same vein as “Rock and Roll Star”. The first half of the record is in fact a solid effort and “I’m Outta Time”, one of the band’s few songs to be penned by Liam, remains a personal favourite. I remember listening to it endlessly when it first came out, entranced by its haunting quality. It always gives me a strong sense of the passing of years, and to hear Liam in an unusually pensive mood, far away from the cocky young man we’re used to, is a refreshing change.
Unfortunately, after this track, the record meanders with several uninspiring songs. While looking over the track listing recently, I realised that most of the titles from the second half had been completely erased from my memory, suggesting that they fit very much in the ‘instantly forgettable’ category.
The eleven-year-old me played the album countless times at home and on the move, already excited for future releases. Then, of course, a year later Oasis split up, as the often tumultuous relationship between Liam and Noel finally hit breaking point. I was hugely disappointed, but nevertheless loyally followed their new projects.
I bought the first two Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds records, as well as the debut album of Liam’s new group Beady Eye. There was some good material coming out from both sides, particularly the former, unsurprising given Noel’s songwriting ability.
However, the different directions taken by the brothers always left me with the same sad thought: This isn’t the same. And the truth is that it wasn’t. Oasis was no more, no matter how much I and millions of devoted fans wanted them to be. Without the brothers together, these new bands seemed to me more like ‘projects’ than anything capable of seriously matching the quality of their previous work. Their songs merely contained echoes of Oasis.
Gradually I began to lose interest in their music. Since Beady Eye, Liam has tried to reinvent himself as a solo artist, but I haven’t heard any of his songs, nor do I particularly want to.
My tastes have changed so much over the last decade that I actually removed all of the Oasis songs from my iPod to make room for something else. It was only recently, with this piece in mind, that I unearthed my collection and decided to take a pleasant nostalgia trip.
Many of the group’s songs may have lost the effect they once had on me, but there are still some, like “I’m Outta Time”, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Live Forever”, that sound just as great as they did back when I was younger.
Dig out Your Soul may not reach the heady heights of Oasis’ golden period, but it still holds a special place in my heart. The album signifies more than just their final album before they split up: it was the first record that I ever got excited for. It allowed me to express what music was beginning to mean to me at a young age. Now, thirteen years on, my favourite artists may be different, but I still approach every upcoming album release with the same youthful enthusiasm as I did back then.
