For rock music, 2025 is the summer of Oasis with Noel and Liam Gallagher returning for reunion shows that are sold out across the world. Early in the week they announced a 30th anniversary edition for their sophomore album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? With just a few unplugged versions of songs included, the lackluster offering will still be purchased by diehard fans of the band. Back in 2014, the band released a jam packed three-disc version of the album that is filled with B-sides, live versions, and rarities.
The first single released from the album in April 1995, “Some Might Say” was their first to reach to the top of the UK charts and last to have original drummer Tony McCaroll before being replaced by Alan White. Britpop mixed with a glam rock stomp, it’s an instant singalong classic. Harder in sound is opening track, “Hello”. It’s no surprise that this was the first song the band played at their first reunion show in Cardiff on July 4th. At that show, it was followed a few songs later by the darker, “Morning Glory” and its line, “All your dreams are made/When you’re chained to the mirror and the razorblade”.
All classic songs but it’s the ballads from this era that carry the day, all three of which closed the first reunion concert. With first album Definitely Maybe being the fastest selling debut in the UK at that time, it was a cult classic for anglophiles in other parts of the world. It was the single “Wonderwall” that broke the band into the North American mainstream. The beginning acoustic guitar line has been copied on several other hits for other bands before Liam’s rough voice comes in to sing the sweetest love song, appealing to both the girls and bricklayers in equal measure.
In the past few years, the Noel sung “Don’t Look Back in Anger” has nearly eclipsed “Wonderwall” in popularity. It has become a soccer stadium knees up for the punters while also sung by those in mourning. It’s become a standard that people can turn to at various points in their lives. Nipping at the heals of those two songs is album closer, “Champagne Supervova”. The skyward looking song takes on a celestial vision of life, one that also contains the inspiring yet nonsensical lyric of “slowly walking down the hall/faster than a cannonball”. Caught between a ballad and anthemic rock song, the seven-minute epic is one of their finest.
Following the same template from the Definitely Maybe deluxe edition, disc two is mostly devoted to that era’s B-sides. It’s these songs that helped cement the band’s legacy, with several becoming live staples and just as popular as the A-sides. Sung as a duet, the amped up “Acquiesce” with its line, “Because we need each other/We believe in one another” has always sounded like Noel singing to Liam, though he would never admit it. Left off the album due to Stevie Wonder wanting a major cut of sales, the Noel sung “Step Out” is lifted by a terrific chorus.
Like the album itself, it’s the major ballads that rightly grab most of the attention, both sung by Noel. Dismissed at the time by Liam as sounding too American, “Talk Tonight” is an acoustic track that details the night that Noel disappeared from the band on a tour of the US before returning several days later. It was a feature of Noel’s live acoustic set on tours throughout the 90s. Hailed as a classic from the jump, “Masterplan” is another of what Noel does extremely well – a song stuck between ballad and anthem. The string laden verses is matched by a banger chorus.
The last bit of the second disc and third feature the rarities including the vinyl only “Bonehead’s Bank Holiday”. Originally it was to be sung by guitarist Bonehead until a night of drinking to steady his nerves thwarted those thoughts. Instead, Noel takes the lead on the frivolous sing along. Another rarity appears in the Noel sung version of The Beatles’ “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”.
Further highlights include a demo version of “She’s Electric” where further comparisons to The Beatles are warranted and a fuzzy live version of single, “Roll With It”, famously held off of the #1 UK singles position by blur’s “Country House” released on the same day. The disc then closes with a spellbinding take on “Cast No Shadow” recorded at their famous 1996 Maine Road gig in Manchester and the Knebworth concert version of “Masterplan”.
Looking back, this was the apex of Oasis. The buildup from the debut to the group going supernova with (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, all with the solid background of some of their most beloved B-sides that still form the basis of their live shows both as a band and as solo artists. More pop in nature, this is the sound of a band at the peak of their recording powers singing songs that have become rock and roll national anthems the world over.
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? – 10/10
Extra Discs – 9/10
The Light Appears 