Posted on: November 30, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Everyone remembers who Oasis are/were. They were the British act who in the mid nineties became nearly as famous as the Beatles while sounding somewhat similar to the Fab Four, albeit with slightly newer influences. The brothers that founded the band – Noel and Liam – were the equivalent of a Mick and Keith or a Steven and Joe, with a number of well documented blowups. The band has fallen out of the public’s eye in the last few years aside from car commercials; while Oasis did release “Don’t Believe The Truth” in 2005, it only sold 65,000 copies the first week in the United States. This was a far cry from their “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory”, which ended up selling 19 million copies.

Anyways, “Stop The Clocks” marks their foray into Greatest Hits territory. It is said that Noel chose the tracks that would ultimately be on the disc, but this seems curious, as there are five tracks from each of the band’s biggest albums. One would think that each of the bands albums would be equally represented, but “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants”, “Heathen Chemistry”, and “Be Here Now” only represent two tracks on this compilation. While it is important to casual fans that all of the band’s biggest hits make an appearance on the disc (“Wonderwall”, “Morning Glory”, “Champagne Supernova”, “Don’t Look Back In Anger” are all present), one has to wonder what solid tracks are being left off of this compilation. Obviously, there are going to be a number of songs that will not make the cut for a single disc, but perhaps an album that equally focused on the band’s cumulative output would have been stronger.

At least it seems like “Stop The Clocks” is trying to make the casual fan listen to tracks that they might not otherwise know; most of the bands biggest hits are on the second half of the disc, with “Morning Glory”, “Champagne Supernova”, and “Don’t Look Back In Anger” being the last three tracks on the disc. Still, for those individuals that might have missed out on Oasis the first time, “Stop The Clocks” is a good introduction into the band’s work. It can also represent a starting place for a fan that is looking to get into the next album by Oasis, which will undoubtedly come out sometime here soon (whether soon will be late 2007 or 2008, time will only tell).

Top Tracks: The Masterplan, Champagne Supernova

Rating: 5.5/10

Oasis – Stop The Clocks / 2006 Columbia / 18 Tracks / http://www.oasisinet.com / http://www.columbiarecords.com / Reviewed 06 May 2007

[JMcQ]

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