Be Here Now by Oasis
Be Here Now is the third studio album by English rock band Oasis, released in August 1997. The album was highly anticipated by both music critics and fans after the band's worldwide success with their 1994 debut Definitely Maybe and its 1995 follow-up (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. Be Here Now's pre-release build up led to considerable hype within both the music and mainstream press. At that point, Oasis were at the height of their fame, and Be Here Now became the United Kingdom's fastest selling album to date, selling over 420,000 units on the first day of release, and over one million within two weeks. As of 2008, the album has sold eight million copies worldwide. Oasis' management company Ignition were aware of the dangers of overexposure, and before its release sought to control the media's access to the album. Ignition's campaign included limiting pre-release radio airplay, and requesting that journalists sign gag agreements. These tactics resulted in the alienation of members of both the music and mainstream media, as well as many industry personnel connected with the band. Ignition's attempts to limit pre-release access served to fuel large scale speculation and publicity within the British music scene. Although initial reviews were positive, retrospectively the album is viewed by much of the music press, the public, and by most members of the band as over-indulgent and bloated. In 2007, Q magazine, having given the album a five-star rave review on its release, described the fact that Be Here Now is often thought of as "a disastrous, overblown folly-the moment when Oasis, their judgement clouded by drugs and blanket adulation, ran aground on their own sky-high self-belief." The album's producer Owen Morris said of the recording sessions: "The only reason anyone was there was the money. Noel had decided Liam was a shit singer. Liam had decided he hated Noel's songs Massive amounts of drugs. Big fights. Bad vibes. Shit recordings."
How do you react to becoming the UK’s biggest rock band? Just get bigger and bolder. From “D’ You Know What I Mean?”’s filmic psych and string-drenched weepy “Don’t Go Away” to “All Around the World”’s 36-piece orchestra and escalating key changes, everything on Oasis’s third album is rendered in epic scale. Sharp melodies and Liam’s serrated vocal penetrate the rich production to stop it becoming cloying and, for all the grandeur, “My Big Mouth” and “It’s Gettin’ Better (Man!!)” crackle with the feral energy that made Oasis so thrilling in the first place.
