(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?  – Oasis – 1995

First listen?: No

Heading into the final week of The UK’s Greatest Hits we have (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? possibly the most iconic album of the 90s. I doubt there is a household in the UK that hasn’t had this album blasting out at one point or another. I could start talking about Britpop as a genre, or Oasis and their place in it, but above all of this history sits (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. It’s a timeless album. Packed full of hooks; big, loud, impatient hooks. That’s the key here for me. No matter which way you look at it, every single track on here is a hit. Roll With It, Some Might Say, She’s Electric and Morning Glory are all 90s classics, despite only the first 2 of them receiving a single release in the UK. Every track is fluid and really goes somewhere. The song writing on display here from Noel Gallagher is so believable and simple too, he’s never self indulgent on (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?. It’s the ballads that truly shine in this respect though, songs that inadvertently created the next decade of popular music. A track like Wonderwall showed that it was okay for songs to be simple catchy sing along ballads, Cast No Shadow following suit. For me though it’s those other two massive hits that confirm the album’s place as one of the all time best of the decade. Don’t Look Back In Anger is a perfect pop record. It’s probably a scientific fact, I’m pretty sure if you dissected that song you’d find the perfect structure, pace and peak moments for a listener. The magic is that it feels natural, every line sung with honesty and emotion. Of course I’ve failed to mention the biggest song on the album, both in length and arguably popularity; Champagne Supernova. An 8 minute song that feels like 3. Every moment as essential as the last, it’s a song that closes (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? as it should, with one massive country-wide singalong. The Gallagher brothers can be dicks sometimes- forget that, all the time – but if there’s anything they’ll be remembered for it’s this album. One of two albums I remember as part of my earliest childhood memories, the first Simply Red’s Stars if you’ve not been keeping up, it feels like home. I’m sure it does for a lot of other people too and I couldn’t think of a better way to start our top 5.

Rating: 9/10

Will I listen again?: Definitely.

Best Track: It’s a toss up between the final two songs above, but I have to go with Champagne Supernova here. Interestingly enough, it has never charted in the top 100 in the UK.