Alas! A great Oasis album! The best Oasis album since Be Here Now (yes I am a ābest since Be Here Nowā person, not a ābest since Morning Gloryā person) one which is great from start to finish, unlike the patchy efforts of Heathen Chemistry and Donāt Believe the Truth. Ā Dig Out Your Soul is the most ambitious Oasis album since Be Here Now. Their previous three albums missed the large-scale orchestras and choirs present in their 90ās output and instead relied more on the acoustic side of things. Dig Out Your Soul brought it all back, creating the most richly textured Oasis album - one soaked in a trippy, psychedelic, moody, 60ās inspired atmosphere.
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The first good sign with Dig Out Your Soul is the album cover - it rocks! I havenāt seen an Oasis album cover that good since The Masterplan but onto the actual songs, the first two tracks are excellent and theyāre not singles. The structure of Bag It Up reminds me of Rock ānāRoll Star in how the final portion of the song has no vocals with epic over the top instrumentation. This along with The Turning and The Shock of Lightning are the most balls to wall rockers Oasis have done since the 90ās. Waiting For the Rapture is a good mid-tempo rocker, although I do feel the demo version is more atmospheric. Ā I consider Iām Outta Time to be the best song Liam ever wrote. Oasis arenāt the first band to come to mind when I think of love songs; with several of their songs such as Wonderwall Iām unsure whether they would be classified as love songs but this is one song which can undeniably be classified as such and such a beauty at that. Falling Down is one of Noelās finest accomplishments, showcasing Oasis vision of the apocalypse. Itās strangely prophetic this dark and brooding song would be Oasisā final single, as well as with the album as a whole; signaling the final days of a band whose popularity was shrinking. The album still isnāt without its weak songs, coming in the form of Aināt Got Nothinā and The Nature of Reality. With the later, I can tell you a lot of Oasis fans hate this song with a passion: Me? I think itās more mediocre than terrible.
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The other important aspect of Dig Out Your Soul which Iāve not heard anyone else mention is this may be a concept album, or at least thatās the impression I get. The songs tell a story of an impending apocalypse as we are told to āBag It Upā because we are āWaiting for The Raptureā which occurs with āThe Shock of the Lightningā. The use of a John Lennon quote sampled in Iām Outta Time reinforces the apocalyptic theme (āItās every Englishmanās inalienable right to live where the hell he likes. Whatās it going to do, vanish? Itās not going to be there when I get back.ā) even more so as Lennon said this shortly before his own untimely death in 1980. The remaining songs dealing with the aftermath of the apocalypse such as the alien sounding (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady and To Be Where Thereās Life (I believe the title of that one explains itself). This all culminates in the albumās final song Soldier On, that we will soldier on until the very end.
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Dig Out Your Soul can proudly sit beside Oasisā first three albums and partially makes up for the bandās lackluster run during the 2000ās but hey, we donāt look back in anger, I heard you say.
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Oasis:Ā 1991 - 2009
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Dig Out Your Soul Era B-Sides and Rarities
In 2005 CD singles were on their last legs, by 2008/9 they had all but gone, becoming designated to collectorās items. With the three singles to come of Dig Out Your Soul, only one B-side was produced. Those Swollen Hand Blues from the Falling Down single - a good trippy, psychedelic number. The box set of Dig Out Your Soul contained a CD of bonus material comprised of alternative versions of songs, remixes and two alum outtakes, Boy With The Blues and I Believe In All. The rarities produced for Dig Out Your Soul wonāt give the likes of Live Forever a run for its money but they are with unearthing.