Oasis. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? Their second album was even better than the first, loaded with unforgettable arena anthems. For my money, it was the greatest rock album of the 90s. The Gallaghers never came close to topping it, but that’s what happens, I suppose, when you’re “chained to a mirror and a razor blade”. What’s important is that three decades on, Morning Glory has lost none of its lusty energy. This 30th anniversary re-release comes with five unplugged acoustic extras, which we’ll get to. There’s still no Step Out – the robust banger of a track was withdrawn because the chorus sailed a little too close to Stevie Wonder’s Uptight. A shame, it was arguably Noel’s greatest theft in a long career of, ahem, musical borrowing. Does that matter? All the greats borrowed. Morning Glory is packed with memorable numbers. One of the best is closing Champagne Supernova, a spacey masterpiece of nostalgia, blessed with Paul Weller’s guitar solo and that reproving Lennon-like refrain, “Where were you when we were getting high?” Don’t Look Back In Anger is an equally sublime if ambiguous Britpop hymn, written and sung by Noel, with lyrical nods to Lennon’s history – ‘I’m gonna start a revolution from my bed’. There’s a deliberate Glitter Band steal on opener Hello, and a touch of Quo on Roll With It. The happiest track is She’s Electric, a playful ditty bubbling with salty seaside postcard humour – the sister with the blister, the cousin with the bun in the oven, and the nudge-nudge admission, “I quite fancy the mother”. There’s infectiously brilliant hit single, Some Might Say, the archetypal Hey You, and the two Swamp Song tracks. Wonderwall, another classic, the beautiful Cast No Shadow and Morning Glory itself all get the acoustic treatment too along with early B-side Acquiesce and Champagne Supernova. Wonderwall (a George Harrison reference) has been played acoustically by countless buskers, but nobody whines like Liam. It was a stunning album, under-appreciated by rock critics at the time. It has aged better than they have.
Carter Faith. Cherry Valley. Country music is booming and Carter, 25, is riding the wave all the way to the top. Upbeat narratives like rib-tickling honky-tonk foot-tapper Grudge hark back to Tammy Wynette. And Bar Star is a jaunty joy. But Emotional ‘what-if’ number, If I Had Never Lost My Mind, shows another side of the North Carolina songbird. You’ll find heartbreak here, and victories, plus promise aplenty.
Idlewild. Idlewild. The Scottish alt-rock quintet, now in their 30th year, felt more akin to US art-punk bands than laddish Britpop. Their skill is to marry belting riffs to strong hooks and pop sensibility. They move between slow, captivating Stay Out Of Place, to the insistent, sweeping appeal of Like I Had Before and I Wish I Wrote It Down. The closer, End With Sunrise, does just that.
Pavlov’s Dog. Wonderlust. Hailed as the USA’s first prog rockers, the Missouri septet always had an medieval folk feel. Songs like Jet Black Cadillac come with a sweet twist of melancholy. They may not have sold records like Yes, but David Surkamp’s vocals haven’t lost their trembling appeal. Abbie Steiling’s stunning violin comes to the fore on the darkly melancholic opener Anyway There’s Snow.