Review Summary: Panic is on the way.
In the 90's, Oasis were in the top of the world. Definitely Maybe was an album that mixed some Classic Rock influences with their trademark anthemic choruses. (What's The Story) Morning Glory? invested on these choruses and brought more pop sensibilities without losing the rock edge. Be Here Now was a mix of both, focusing in a more gigantic instrumentation and attempts of epic, long songs, and it was bashed by both fans and critics, but I liked it anyway. After some rumors about the band breaking up, they comeback with Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants...
Some of the criticisms about Be Here Now were that the band wasn't innovating, and that it sounded just like everything they had done before. Well, I guess it would be better if they had stayed that way. The excess of guitar of Be Here Now was switched by an absurd lack of it on SOTSOG, instead, we have these psychedelic beats and keyboards that are awfully uninteresting. The band had lost two of its members, so Noel recorded most of the instrumental trying to experiment with some effects and to renovate their sound, but it just sounds lazy and hollow, like there's something missing in it.
Noel's non-sensical compositions lost its charm, and Liam's vocals aren't half as good as they used to be.
Well, and what about the choruses? Oasis' hooks were always uplifting and memorable, they won't disappoint this time, right?
Wrong. The hooks are uninspired and plain boring, except for Gas Panic! and Sunday Morning Call. Gas Panic! is the only time where this new psychedelic formula works, with a confident chorus and an excellent use of multiple instruments. Sunday Morning Call is your typical Oasis ballad, but it works just fine here because it doesn't try anything new like the rest of the album.
Some songs had potential to be enjoyable, like Go Let It Out, which is extremely repetitive and has lazy lyrics, but it's catchy enough to sing along, and I Can See A Liar, that has an interesting riff but an awful vocal production.
And then, there's the poor ones. Who Feels Love? is a terrible prototype of a song, and its annoying vocals and strange beats are a turn-off for everyone that liked Oasis someday. And Little James, which is the first song Liam wrote for the band, and it's clear why. Its laughably lyrics and soulless instrumentation, and it's up there with the worst songs they ever made. Even if Liam wrote better songs in the future, it's a bad one to start.
But, there's one song that is better than everything on this album, and it's a b-side. It's called Let's All Make Believe, and it has one of the best melodies Noel ever composed. It's a beautiful ballad about the egoism of mankind these days, with one of Liam's greatest vocal performances, and it's a sign that Oasis still can write a wonderful tune.
Standing on The Shoulder of Giants is an uninspired mess that could have been great if it still had an Oasis soul and energy to it, but it's just a hollow and uninspired album that doesn't sound anything like them. It sounds like a band ready to give up, and it's obvious that these changes came because of the critics' backlash on Be Here Now. Almost every potential it had was brought down by an unsatisfying production and average vocals.
Oasis have never been this bad before, and thankfully, not after it too.
Standout Tracks:
Let's All Make Believe(b-side)
Gas Panic!
***in' In The Bushes(which is an interlude, but it's a great one)
Sunday Morning Call
