OASIS: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (Big Brother Deluxe Edition)
Verdict: Britpop classic revived
Shortly before all the bucket hats, parkas and football shirts were packed away at the end of Oasis’s triumphant UK tour two weeks ago, Liam Gallagher let slip one of the biggest open secrets in music. ‘Right then folks, this is it,’ he told 81,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. ‘Champagne Supernova… see you next year.’
The band’s Live ’25 tour was the must-see rock reunion of the summer, sparking scenes of unfettered joy in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Edinburgh and Dublin, and bringing a welcome sense of harmony to a year otherwise characterised by division.
And frontman Liam, his friendship with estranged brother Noel now restored, appeared to confirm there will be more gigs in 2026.
Prior to that, the show rolls on to East Asia and Australia this month, before hitting South America in November.
Bond of brothers: Liam and Noel take to the stage in New Jersey in August. Oasis’s Live ’25 tour heads to Asia and Australia this month. But they’ve hinted at more UK concerts next year
Glasto flashback: Oasis were the Friday night headline act at the festival in June 1995 – the first time they shared top billing at the event. The other headliners? The Cure, and Pulp
But the band aren’t quite finished for the year on home soil. The first Oasis live album, 2000’s Familiar To Millions, is being re-released on CD and vinyl next month, and five songs recorded live on this year’s tour are now available on streaming services. It wouldn’t be a complete shock if those tracks were expanded into another full live album in time for Christmas.
There’s also this deluxe 30th anniversary edition of the band’s era-defining second album, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, out as a double CD (£14), triple vinyl LP (£55) and digitally.
In addition to fresh artwork that faithfully recreates the 1995 cover shot of London’s Berwick Street, the reissue contains five new ‘unplugged’ tracks, put together from the original studio tapes.
Noel insists that the group’s 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe, is the ‘definitive’ Oasis album, but it was Morning Glory that sent the Mancunians supersonic. Despite a muted critical response on release, it spent ten weeks at No.1 in the UK and sold more than 22 million (and counting) globally.
You gotta roll with it: Liam and Noel Gallagher, in 1995, when What’s The Story (Morning Glory)? first came out. The reissue contains five new ‘unplugged’ tracks
Back to Berwick Street: The 30th anniversary reissue of (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? faithfully recreates the 1995 classic cover, shot in London’s Soho
Eight tracks from the album were included on this summer’s setlist, with Don’t Look Back In Anger, Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova providing a show-stopping finale, amid a flurry of fireworks, every night.
As the band’s songwriter, guitarist Noel made little attempt to hide his influences on the original record. There were nods to Gary Glitter (Hello), John Lennon (Wonderwall) and Grant Lee Buffalo’s 1993 single Fuzzy (Some Might Say). But despite his magpie tendencies, the LP carried real emotional punch.
The light-hearted She’s Electric aside, Noel’s lyrics were decidedly melancholy, but the whole thing was given a euphoric edge by Liam’s barnstorming voice and the irresistible Oasis wall of sound.
The bonus tracks, four songs reworked from the album plus a new version of the superb B-Side Acquiesce, see Noel and engineer Callum Marinho stripping back the original arrangements…but not too much.
Noel’s falsetto harmonies sound more forceful on Cast No Shadow, and Morning Glory features acoustic guitar and piano. Liam plays tambourine on Wonderwall, while there’s a Hey Jude-like coda – and some very un-Britpop bongos – on Champagne Supernova.
As the new mixes prove, a great song can be interpreted in different ways. Oasis showed as much on the Live ’25 tour… and they’ll doubtlessly do so again when Live ’26 rolls around.
RICHARD ASHCROFT: Lovin’ You (Virgin)
Verdict: Captain Rock rejuvenated
One of the most obvious beneficiaries of Oasis’s Live 25 tour was Richard Ashcroft. As one of the opening acts for the Gallagher brothers’ summer reunion (alongside Britpop survivors Cast), the former Verve frontman inspired mass singalongs to anthems such as Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work and Lucky Man in a set drawn largely from 1997’s Urban Hymns.
It was a welcome return to the big time for the Wigan-born singer. He’s been described as the world’s best vocalist by Chris Martin, while Noel Gallagher, who affectionately calls him Captain Rock, wrote Oasis’s Cast No Shadow about him. His post-Verve career has been patchy, but he’ll be feeling rejuvenated when he starts his own solo tour next spring.
He’ll also have some new material to add to the stage show, with today seeing the release of Lovin’ You, his seventh solo LP and his first set of new songs for seven years.
A bit of Verve to kick things off: Ashcroft opened for Oasis on the first night of their UK tour and sparked singalongs with classics like Bitter Sweet Symphony and The Drugs Don’t Work
A follow-up to 2021’s Acoustic Hymns Vol 1 (a revamp of older tunes), it often feels like an unscripted trolley-dash between clashing styles, but it reiterates his talent as a crooner of poetic rock ballads.
The first surprise arrives on opening track Lover, which uses Joan Armatrading’s Love And Affection as a base for some nonsensical lyrics, sung over looped rhythms. ‘I’m the chilliest type, but I’m like lover,’ sings Ashcroft.
Elsewhere, Heavy News is an unremarkable rock number, and I’m A Rebel — made with Madonna’s French producer Mirwais — an unexpected disco detour.
He’s more at home amid the swirling strings and horns of the title track — which interpolates Mason Williams’s Grammy-winning 1968 instrumental Classical Gas — but it’s the ballads that play to his strengths.
Some pedal steel guitar adds a country feel to Out Of These Blues. His emotional crooning on Live With Hope is almost up to Urban Hymns standard.
Richard Ashcroft plays Co-Op Live, Manchester, on November 8, and tours the UK next year (ticketmaster.co.uk).
