Oasis – Stop The Clocks (Big Brother)

Lawrence Poole

Bands must either fear or embrace this time of year, depending on their current standing in the musical climate.

As far as record company execs are concerned, releases in November and December are automatically prospective stocking fillers.

So the urge to plunder back catalogues and fill the shops with all-encompassing greatest hits packages is an undeniable one.

This, of course, is great if you’re a spent force who year after year repeatedly relies on the sale of re-packaged ‘best of’ collections and Christmas party targeting tours.

But what if you feel your career tour bus still has plenty of gas in the tank? A greatest hits package is surely a full stop you are happy to put off penning.

In Oasis’ case, when their former label Sony reportedly promised to release the collection with or without their co-operation, it could have been easy to turn a blind eye.

After all, following several lean years 2005’s sixth studio LP Don’t Believe The Truth had been an unqualified success, shifting over one million copies in the UK alone, and with all four members now sharing the song-writing duties there was a platform to build on.

Wisely though, Noel and the gang decided if they didn’t get involved a collection which might not have represented their best work could have hit the shops, so they set about putting together a release which lived up to the value for money and quality that has been one of the trademarks to date.

Knitted
Beatles’ collaborator Sir Peter Blake was drafted in to do the artwork, a DVD was compiled and what they believed to be the best 18 tracks of their 12-year career were handpicked and knitted together over two discs.

As expected, considering the reverence both the fans and band talisman and chief songwriter Noel Gallagher hold Oasis’ first two LPs in, 14 of them were recorded circa Definitely Maybe and What’s The Story? (Morning Glory).

Last album singles Lyla and The Importance of Being Idle, Standing On The Shoulder of Giants’ Go Let It Out and Liam Gallagher’s Heathen Chemistry-penned ballad Songbird make up the rest.

Contempt
No cuts from the overblown monolith that was Be Here Now made it, and considering Noel’s contempt for the record, it’s hardly surprising.

Instead, it’s a lithe and lean collection of the band at their visceral, urgent best (Rock ‘N’ Roll Star, Cigarettes And Alcohol, Supersonic), most melodic and poetic (Wonderwall, Don’t Look Back in Again) and youthfully triumphant (Live Forever, Some Might Say).

Supplemented with a gaggle of Noel’s finest and most contemplative B-sides (The Masterplan, Half The World Away, Talk Tonight) – when they are all there in front of you in black and white it’s hard not to be impressed.

And while the absence of the much overlooked one-off single Whatever, Be Here Now’s high point Do You Know What I Mean? and the Richard Ashcroft-inspired Cast No Shadow does grate on a personal level, it is just a pleasure to have them all on one disk.

Despite still possessing an enviable live reputation, as 2005’s City of Manchester Stadium dates attested to, it is extremely unlikely such material will be matched by the band.

One hopes they keep trying though as one thing is for sure, life without the brothers grim, the monobrow twins or whatever other nickname the tabloid press chooses to furnish their copy with when discussing the Gallaghers’ latest antics – would be a poorer place indeed.

Released on November 20

Source: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk