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REVIEW
BY JAMIE WOOD
Oasis; Standing
on the Shoulders of Giants: - Release
Date 28/02/2000
This is the fourth album released
by one of Britain's best bands of
the nineties. After the much hyped
and disappointing third album Be
Here Now, Standing on the shoulders
of Giants is a refreshing break
although it is hardly radical.
The album opens with the thrashing
instrumental F***in In The Bushes.
Loud drums and a whaling guitar
riff is a great opener and opens
the door for a promising album.
Next up the first single from the
album, Go Let it Out, which is dangerously
addictive. Highlights of the album
include two of Noels best songs
Where Did It All Go Wrong? and Sunday
Morning Call.
The only visible downside to the
album is Liam's pathetic excuse
for a song, Little James, which
for the first listen left me cringing
and begging him to leave the song
writing to his brother.
The album is back to Oasis' high
standards and is bound to sell stackloads
and with a sell out stadium tour
in the summer it is safe to say
that Oasis will be back where they
belong…. taking the p*** and putting
bands like Five and the Spice Girls
back in their place.
REVIEW
BY TIM HARPER
Richard Ashcroft-
"a song for the lovers"
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It
seems like only last week that
Ashcroft was walking carelessly
down a London high street to
the strains of Bittersweet Symphony
and pissing everyone off. But
he's actually been away for
over two years.
Thank god he's back. It is testament
to just how much of a driving
influence he was in the Verve
that his debut solo single "a
song for the lovers" is very
similar to much on the last
Verve album, "Urban Hymns".
And its not just the single,
but the B-sides also. |
"(Could
be) a blues thing, a country thing"
is a crap title, granted, but if
you enjoyed the mellower moments
on Urban Hymns then you are going
to drool with anticipation for Ashcrofts
solo album when you hear this.
And its not that surprising when
you discover that all but two of
the musicians from The Verve play
on the single. But there is a touch
of 60's lounge singer cool creeping
into Ashcrofts approach that sets
this aside from his collective work
to date.
The restrained but effective strings,
his laid back vocals that carry
a gentle power that could teach
the Stereophonics more than a thing
or two.
He may even be growing up. But the
important thing is that he really
does know how to write and sing
sweeping, emotional songs.
By the time "song for the lovers"
reaches its slow fade out I was
hooked on the first listen, it has
lived in my stereo ever since.
REVIEW
BY CHRIS ADDISON
Drum & Bass - How Things Came
To Be
The
music scene is a strange thing.
One minute your groups on top of
the world the next no one can remember
your name.
A similar thing has happened to
the UK Drum & Bass scene. In the
early nineties Drum & Bass, or jungle,
to the insiders was the hippest
dance scene in the country. London
clubs were full of rave nights from
Monday to Sunday, and that's no
hyperbole.
Jungle was extremely popular but
managed to hang on to its underground
roots. Staying in underground clubs
and its records never entered the
charts. That was the way the ravers
liked it. It was clubbers music
for clubbing people, not your meat
market that played teeny bopping
rubbish to drunken revellers.
The music industry shunned the scene,
calling it seedy and dark, which
again was to the preference of its
supporters, but inevitably the one
thing that manages to ruin almost
everything in life spelled the demise
of the UK Drum & Bass scene; money.
Until the summer of 94' the average
jungle tune wasn't to the preference
of the average top 40-chart person,
that was until a man named General
Levy released a record titled "Incredible."
This was the first jungle tune made
for the charts and not for the raver,
the real junglist.
Incredible soared into the charts;
the public loved its pseudo melody.
This had a knock on effect to the
jungle scene. Before, junglists
could bask in their exclusivity,
now the scene had been invaded and
was free for any Tom, Dick or Harry
perpertrator to call themselves
junglists. Ravers like myself had
to prove ourselves by naming the
pre - chart era junglist as O.J's
(Original Junglists.) The clubs
then filled up with "civilians"
exited with their newly found theatre.
People were starting to walk away.
Within no time the clubs that ran
from Monday to Sunday were on Fridays
and Saturdays, then just Saturday.
The legend was dying.
Resurrection came in the form of
the north of England. Fortunately
for Drum & Bass, musical trends
always start in London then filter
their way up into the north of the
country. This was to be jungle's
second chance.
In 97' the emergence of the second
child of underground music; Garage
had wiped jungle from the ears of
London. Their only hope was to ship
up and fly north.
The promoters realised that there
was still a massive following for
this great music but it was no longer
in the bandwagon, pendulum swinging
City of London, so they concentrated
on holding raves in Milton Keynes,
Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham
and Leeds.
The results that followed proved
that it the ravers of the north
who were the O.J's. Those who stuck
with the scene through thick and
thin.
The scene has now been restored
to its former glory, not restricted
to the "fashion" hungry, fickle
London but available nation-wide.
One of the main people behind Jungle's
second wind is DJ and producer L.
Double. He was one of the people
who were not about to let the music
whither away and die. Besides he
had more to stake than the love
of his music, L. Double owns one
of the biggest Drum & Bass record
labels in the country, Flex Recordings.
L. Double now works regularly in
the north of England, especially
Leeds. We travelled to Leeds where
he was playing out to another sell
out Drum & Bass event to talk to
him about his music influences,
his show on Galaxy FM and his general
feelings about the jungle scene
in the UK today.
REVIEW
BY TIM HARPER
Oasis - "Who
feels love"
You
have to respect Noel.
Not only has he taken the massive
(and unsuccessful) gamble of letting
Liam write a song for the album
"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants",
but he has also tried out a little
musical variety on the usual Oasis
formula.
I have for a long time considered
Noel one of the best songwriters
England has produced in over a decade.
But lets face it, the formula was
getting boring, something had to
give.
Well it didn't, and the album was
a relative flop. No surprise then
that the next single to be culled
from the album is one of the more
experimental tunes.
"Who Feels Love" is an interesting
excursion for Oasis. A 60's hippy
lyric with some equally 60's guitar
noises, but all glazed over with
a thoroughly modern set of bleeps
and squeaks.
The result is an epic, if a little
meandering, pop song that will stand
as one of the more creative moments
to come from an uninspired album.
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